Joining AMS-IX

Big news: bgp.rodeo is now peering at AMS-IX!

For a small network like mine, AMS-IX always felt a bit out of reach. It’s the largest internet exchange in Europe — not exactly the kind of place that rolls out the welcome mat for a one-person operation. Or so I thought.

Bright Networks Club

Enter the AMS-IX Bright Networks Club. The BNC is a program specifically designed to help smaller and newer networks get connected to AMS-IX. They recognize that the internet community grows stronger when more networks can participate, and they’ve made it genuinely accessible.

I have to give AMS-IX a lot of credit here. It would be easy for an exchange of their size to focus exclusively on the big players. Instead, they created a program that lowers the barrier for networks like mine. That takes vision, and it’s a meaningful contribution to the community.

The setup

Since I already had infrastructure at Nikhef, getting connected was straightforward. AS202585 is now on AMS-IX with a 1G port, peering happily via the route servers.

It’s a pretty surreal feeling seeing your little network show up on the AMS-IX member list next to the likes of Google, Cloudflare, and Netflix. But hey — a route is a route, no matter the size of the ranch.

Thank you

A sincere thank you to the AMS-IX team and the Bright Networks Club for making this possible. Also a shout-out to Asimo Networks, one of the partners AMS-IX works with to help connect smaller networks — they made the process smooth and easy.

If you’re running a smaller network and think AMS-IX is out of reach, check out the BNC. You might be surprised.

Yee-haw!