Towardex and DE-CIX have formed a partnership to connect Boston's Hub Express System to the DE-CIX Internet Exchange in New York.

Announced earlier this month, the strategic partnership will pair the New England-based HEX, dubbed the nation's first Meet-Me Street, with DE-CIX's peering fabric.

This means that DE-CIX's Internet Exchange becomes directly accessible to Boston’s densest concentration of network operators, regional broadband providers, colocation facilities, and transatlantic cable operators.

Towardex was established by James Jun and Gavin Schoch. The company is an independently owned network infrastructure provider that delivers dark fiber, blended bandwidth, and connectivity between data center facilities in the Boston area.

Founded in 2012, the company has built itself up as a connectivity hub for Internet networks in the city, and was set up by Jun and Schoch due to their frustrations at the inefficiencies of networking and Internet infrastructure in New England.

The first section of the HEX was opened in 2023. The purpose of the system is to allow carriers to interconnect fibers across the city without being bound to any single carrier hotel, with no monthly recurring cross-connect fees.

“Bringing the Hub Express System to DE-CIX is a huge deal for both New England and the Northeast. This is the first time that a major Tier 1 IX has been made available at a large-scale manhole system to enable network interconnections,” said Schoch.

“Instead of forcing networks to backhaul traffic to rigid, centralized, and outdated carrier hotels, we are making the world’s largest Internet Exchange operator directly available in Boston’s streets. This Carrier Turnkey Connectivity partnership allows carriers to sell access to the DE-CIX ecosystem without colocation cross-connect costs being passed on to their customers, reducing sales friction and enhancing the value of their fiber assets in the Boston area.”

DE-CIX is the largest exchange in the Northeast, and covers an area spanning Long Island to the East and Piscataway and Edison to the South and West. It connects more than 260 networks from across the city, with an infrastructure that spans 40-plus data centers.

According to the company, the interconnection between HEX and DE-CIX will enable networks to bypass traditional interconnect bottlenecks to reach the DE-CIX New York fabric. The company claims this enables providers, be it data center operators or service providers, access to unparalleled speed, ultra-low latency, and greatly reduced costs to connect to DE-CIX.

"For networks in Boston, New York represents the lowest latency location to reach clouds, content, and networks not available locally,” added Ed D'Agostino, vice president, DE-CIX North America.

“As a DE-CIX Carrier Turnkey Connectivity partner, connecting to a Tier 1 market becomes easy to implement and offers cost savings. The Towardex partnership removes the cross-connect fees on both the Boston and New York sides and provides low-cost transport between the cities, significantly reducing costs compared to the traditional model and creating a win-win situation for all involved. Combining the strengths of two innovative infrastructure players, this partnership enables us to enhance access to networks and the quality of connectivity in New England.”