OKC-IX, LLC

PROJECT PURPOSE

An IXP is essential technical infrastructure where networks come together to connect and exchange Internet traffic. Some of the types of networks that connect to exchange traffic are: Internet service providers (ISPs), mobile operators and content delivery networks (CDNs) such as Google, Baidu, Akamai, and Facebook. Building a successful IXP is not just a technical engineering job ? time and effort needs to be invested in developing trust, common understanding and mutual agreements in the local community. Many of the people and organisations involved in setting up an IXP are traditionally competitors. By deciding to work togetherthey contribute to a better, more resilient local Internet infrastructure. This happens when there are people on the ground, championing Internet access for everyone and build a community to support this cause. For an IXP, a strong community is the foundation for success. An IXP is essential technical infrastructure where networks come together to connect and exchange Internet traffic. Some of the types of networks that connect to exchange traffic are: Internet service providers (ISPs), mobile operators and content delivery networks (CDNs) such as Google, Baidu, Akamai, and Facebook. OKCIX wishes to employ existing statepublic and private assets to createOklahoma's very first truly managed Internet Exchange Point. Members ofOKCIX are comprised of industry experts who have already placed a significant investment in this idea. The current members are Sam Curtis (STS,LLC), Kurt Kraft (MIDCON RecoverySolutions, LLC) and Robert Nordmark(previously with Onenet). We anticipate a rough capital budget need of $6mm with a $1mm annual OPEX requirement.OKCIX will compel all Oklahoma InternetService Providers worldwide content delivery networks, etc... to become members of the peering fabric by showing the dramatic savings associated with employing a free peering fabric. When Covid hit, it became evident that content typically provided in group settings needs to be available on a house by house basis and remotely available. This fabric is an essential piece of the broadband puzzle in Oklahoma by keeping internet peering within the state and giving Oklahoma City and Tulsa parity with cities like Kansas City and Dallas . This will, in turn, lower costs of internet in rural Oklahoma which will increase throughput and service quality. The total grant requestwill be $10mm.

EVIDENCE

None

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

It is difficult to align this project with specific communities in Oklahoma as that would be more applicable for a "last mile" broadband application. However, this IXP will ultimately benefit all Oklahoma "last mile" broadband service providers in that we will reduce their respective transport and transit operating cost and bring those cost in line with other major metros like Dallas etc... This project will be of mutual benefit for all Oklahoma broadband service providers in that we will keep Oklahoma broadband traffic in Oklahoma when and where we can. This will ultimately improve the latency and accessibility of content to Oklahomans in general. This was evident in the COVID-19 pandemic where we all needed to rely on applications like Zoom. Well it would have improved those broadband experiences if the Zoom servers where collocated within an Oklahoma data center. Otherwise the Zoom traffic for a Call that was between , for example, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, would traverse Dallas or Kansas City unnecessarily .

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

OKC-IX, LLC will employ data key performance measurement tools to identify traffic patterns for each Oklahoma interconnected broadband service provider. We will analyze this data to identify instances where two or more Oklahoma broadband service providers may benefit in peering their associated traffic. This , in essence, will be like making a long distance phone call a local call. Members of the IXP will interconnect at multiple data center locations within Oklahoma and avoid transmitting interstate traffic when and where possible. All major cities in the USA have and maintain at least one Internet Exchange Point or IXP. An IXP is necessary to keep Oklahoma traffic in Oklahoma. This project will benefit all members of the IXP and is not intended to be a profit center for the owners of the IXP. We need to bring Oklahoma to the forefront of broadband and avoid relying on other major metros to route our internet traffic. This will compel content delivery networks like Google, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, etc... to collocate their servers within Oklahoma. OKC-IX team members have successfully started this project by aggregating Oklahoma broadband providers traffic to peer with Netflix at an existing Oklahoma data center.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma