(Commercial Internet Exchange Association, Herndon, VA, www.cix.org) Pronounced "kicks," it was a membership organization that promoted the development of a level playing field for ISPs. Founded in 1991 by Rick Adams, Marty Schofstall and Susan Estrada, it created the first public, commercial interconnect point on the Internet, originally in Santa Clara, California, and later in Palo Alto.
Instead of bilateral peering agreements between two parties as is common with other IXPs/NAPs, CIX was multilateral, whereby all members must exchange traffic with each other. In 2002, CIX disbanded and the US ISPA (U.S. Internet Service Provider Association) organization was created as its successor. See US ISPA, IXP, NAP and peering.
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