OmahaIX, the premier Midwest Internet Exchange, has launched a new web page outlining everything you need to know about peering. 

The Complete Guide to Peering page features a wealth of information about peering, how it works, why it’s needed, the benefits it provides, why it’s cost-effective, how to choose a peering location and more. This resource serves as an overall guide and features links to blogs and eBooks that delve deep into topics such as data gravity, choosing where to peer, and cost comparisons. 

As the guide explains, peering is when two independent networks directly connect to exchange traffic. It’s crucial to guaranteeing agile, fast networking, and necessary to support the growth of cloud gaming, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other bandwidth-heavy, leading edge innovations. Prior to direct interconnection, businesses could not ensure their traffic made it to its intended destination efficiently. Using third-party transit providers and upstream connectivity partners came with transit costs and liabilities, but more importantly, a lack of traffic control. Transit providers could go so far as to send traffic to the opposite coast of its final destination. Peering eschews those time-consuming detours, enabling connectivity that meets the demands of the latest innovations.

OmahaIX, located at the edge interconnection hub and colocation data center 1623 Farnam in Omaha, Nebraska, already boasts an impressive roster of peers, including Microsoft, Qwilt, Meta and Akamai.

To learn more about peering, check out OmahaIX’s Complete Guide to Peering.