Julio Hernandez
In October, MEX-IX reached a new peak of more than 650 Gbps across its McAllen and El Paso hubs. The platform had passed 500 Gbps for the first time in February, which means traffic grew more than 30% in just eight months. Behind that number is a shift in where content is delivered: more of it now reaches Mexican users directly at the border, through networks that peer with each other every day.
Where content and eyeballs meet
An internet exchange creates value when two sides meet in the same place, the platforms that create content and the networks that deliver it to end users, and at MEX-IX that meeting happens right at the border.
Global content and CDN platforms such as Akamai, Gcore, CDN77, Fastly, and Meta peer directly with leading Mexican access networks, including Megacable, Bestel/Izzi, Totalplay, Telefónica, Axtel, among others. For the networks that connect, this brings four practical benefits:
- Competitiveness: direct access to Mexico’s main access networks and the largest content platforms, with no intermediaries in the path.
- Operational efficiency: one port at MEX-IX reaches the whole ecosystem, instead of separate connections to manage with each network.
- Resiliency: two exchange points at the border, McAllen and El Paso, and less dependence on a single transit provider.
- Better end-user experience: content reaches users in Mexico over a shorter path, with lower latency and fewer delays.
“Crossing 650 Gbps is a milestone we’re really proud of, and it belongs to the whole MEX-IX community. Every network that chose to peer at the border helped us get here. When content platforms and Mexican access networks meet here, each new member makes the exchange stronger for everyone already connected. We’re excited to keep growing together.”, said Alejandra Moreno, Ecosystem Success and Peering Advocacy Executive at MDC Data Centers.
McAllen: the densest point of exchange
McAllen remains the core of the platform, where all Mexican networks operating in McAllen are connected with MDC and where the largest share of access networks and content platforms peer. Because of that density, a new participant can reach the most relevant Mexican networks through a single port, alongside Hurricane Electric and leading CDNs.
El Paso: more networks, more traffic
Since February, El Paso has kept adding new networks, and the volume exchanged there continues to rise. Today, it brings together content platforms such as Meta, Akamai, and Gcore with Mexican networks including Totalplay, Central, Nidix, and IENTC. For carriers serving northern and western Mexico, that makes it a second point of exchange and a more diverse path into the country.
“For years, peering with Mexican networks at the border meant McAllen, and that’s still where most of the traffic is exchanged,” said Joel Pacheco, Head of Revenue at MDC Data Centers. “What has changed is that MEX-IX El Paso now gives networks serving northern and western Mexico a second place to peer, right where routes split toward Dallas and Los Angeles.”
New participants, new reasons to peer
Recent additions to the platform include Fastly (AS54113) and Tencent’s ACE CDN (AS139341) in McAllen, as well as Meta (AS32934) in El Paso.. Each new content platform makes the exchange more valuable for every access network already connected, and each new access network does the same for content, which is how an exchange grows: by adding networks that move real traffic.
Don’t take our word for it: check PeeringDB
Logos on a website only tell part of the story. That’s why we recommend validating every IX, including ours, through PeeringDB, the industry’s neutral reference database for interconnection.
PeeringDB shows which networks are connected to an exchange, at which location, and with what capacity. It is maintained by the networks themselves, not by the exchange, which makes it the most reliable way to compare what an IX claims with what it actually delivers.
Before choosing where to peer, ask one question: are the networks that carry most of your traffic connected and active? You can answer it for MEX-IX in minutes:
Keeping your own PeeringDB record up to date matters just as much. It is how other networks find you, decide whether to peer with you and configure sessions with you. If you have questions about creating or updating your network’s PeeringDB entry, our team is happy to guide you through it. Just reach out.
We applied this standard in our article on why the real value of an internet exchange is its community, and we think it should apply to every exchange at the border.
What comes next
The growth since February follows one pattern: content is moving closer to Mexican users, and the border is where it meets them. As that continues, MEX-IX will keep expanding capacity in McAllen and El Paso.
If your network serves users in Mexico, the networks you need are already peering at MEX-IX. Download the MEX-IX brochure or start the conversation with our team.
