About NCIX

Our Story

The Northern Canadian Internet Exchange was established to address a critical gap in Canada’s internet infrastructure: the absence of a carrier-neutral interconnection point serving the country’s northern regions. Prior to NCIX, network operators in these areas faced disproportionately high transit costs and routing inefficiencies that added unnecessary latency and expense.

NCIX was founded on the principle that local traffic should stay local. By providing a neutral interconnection platform, we enable Canadian networks to exchange traffic directly — reducing dependence on distant interconnection points in Vancouver, Toronto, or the United States.

Today, NCIX serves 47+ active peers across content provision, transit, and access network categories, with a combined peak traffic volume of 3.8 Tbps.

Mission

To provide world-class, carrier-neutral interconnection infrastructure that enables content providers, network operators, and service providers to exchange traffic efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively — strengthening the resilience and independence of Canada’s northern internet.

Core Values

Neutrality — We are committed to carrier-neutral and service-neutral operations. All participants are treated equally regardless of their size, commercial relationships, or network topology. There is no preferential treatment. Ever.

Transparency — All pricing, routing policies, and technical specifications are publicly available. We communicate openly with our members and the broader networking community.

Security — NCIX enforces routing security best practices across all peering sessions: RPKI origin validation, strict prefix filtering, and ASPA implementation on the route server.

Community — We actively support the development of a healthy Canadian peering community through open membership policies, educational resources, and participation in regional network operator groups.

Governance

NCIX operates under a professional management structure with a technical advisory board comprising representatives from major peer categories: content networks, transit providers, and access operators. The advisory board meets quarterly to review policy, capacity planning, and infrastructure roadmaps.

Membership decisions, policy changes, and fee structures are reviewed annually with input from the member community.

Facilities

NCIX operates two geographically diverse data centre facilities in northern Canada, providing redundancy at the physical infrastructure level. All facilities feature:

• Diverse utility power feeds with N+1 UPS systems and diesel generator backup
• In-row precision cooling with hot/cold aisle containment
• 24/7 on-site security with card access and CCTV coverage
• Carrier-diverse meet-me rooms for cross-connect provisioning

Peering at NCIX

NCIX supports three interconnection models:

• Public Peering — shared switching fabric, suitable for most networks
• Private Peering — dedicated bilateral connections for high-volume pairs
• Route Server — simplified multi-lateral peering via a single BGP session

See the Joining page for eligibility requirements and the onboarding process.