Easy! IT | IT Term | Internet Exchange (IX)
This article is a rough explanation of the Internet Exchange (IX).
Everything might not be exactly correct in this article but it’s beneficial for beginners to understand IT terms. If you want to learn IT but don’t have any experience working in the IT industry, I hope it helps you understand IT. And I hope that this article motivates you to study IT more.
What is the Internet Exchange (IX)?
- It comes up when discussing how the Internet works.
- Internet Exchange connects ISPs together.
- “Internet Exchange” is simply referred to as “IX”.
We are talking about connecting ISPs together, it’s a concept that comes up when discussing how the Internet works. In IT jargon, this connection point is referred to as an Internet Exchange or simply IX.
1. Summary
The point of interconnection between internet service providers (IPs) that connects your line to the world of the internet.
To explain it more simply, it is the place where the line from one ISP connects to the line from another ISP.
2. What is the ISP?
Let’s look in order:)
First, as background information, let me explain about “Internet Service Provider (ISP)”. If you already know about it, please skip this part.
When you send a letter to your friend, you put your letter into the post office box. And the post office collects those letters in the box. The post office is not the only one. It could be the only one in your town but there are a lot of post offices around the world. If the post office finds letters which should be sent to the other town, the post office will exchange those letters with other post offices.
You can think that ISP uses the same systems as the post office system. If you contract with ISP A, your computer transmits your data to ISP-A. And if ISP-A can send that data to the destination directly, ISP-A does.
But she could contract with ISP-B, and then ISP-A can’t transmit data to her. IX (Internet Exchange) can resolve this problem. IX connects all together including ISPs, data centres, network companies and so on.
3. What is Internet Exchange (IX)?
In the same way, in the world of the internet, ISPs work together to exchange data and deliver it to the entire world.
If you send data, it comes out of your computer and it will be sent to the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that you contract with.
Then, the ISP will send the data to the ISP that the receiver has a contract with.
In the end, that ISP will send your data to her computer.
Thus, ISPs are connected to each other through interconnection points called “Internet Exchanges (IX)”.
In other words, the service providers that provide the internet are ISPs, and IX connects those ISPs together.
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