Wichita State University, Connected Nation, and DE-CIX Advance AI-Ready Interconnection with new Internet Exchange Point in Kansas

Wichita State University, Connected Nation, and DE-CIX Advance AI-Ready Interconnection with new Internet Exchange Point in Kansas

First-of-its-kind partnership culminates in the groundbreaking of a new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) at Wichita State University, advancing AI-ready network infrastructure across the US heartland and establishing a blueprint for future rollouts.

Wichita, KS and New York, USA — 15 May 2025. Wichita State University (WSU), in partnership with DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator, and Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points (CNIXP), today celebrates the groundbreaking of a new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) – a facility which will enable networks to interconnect directly on a high-performance Internet Exchange (IX) platform – on its Innovation Campus. This will be the first of many university deployments in the initiative, designed to address regional interconnectivity gaps and enable low-latency, AI-ready network infrastructure across the US.

This unique initiative represents a return to the collaborative, public-minded ethos that defined the early ARPANET. “What’s powerful is that we’re returning to the Internet’s roots,” says Tonya Witherspoon, AVP of Workforce Development and Industry Engagement at Wichita State University. “ARPANET began as a collaboration between government and academia, building the neutral, non-partisan network infrastructure that enabled everything else to flourish. That model worked then, and it’s urgently needed now. Universities can once again serve as anchor institutions – not just for research and education, but for a fairer, more resilient digital economy.”

The new Kansas IXP marks the first deployment in a nationwide blueprint, uniquely devised by CNIXP and DE-CIX, to roll out at least 125 neutral IXP facilities in partnership with universities across the US. According to Hunter Newby, Owner of Newby Ventures and Joint Venture Partner in CNIXP, “We’ve already received Letters of Intent from over 10 universities and municipalities across the country to replicate what we’re building here in Wichita. This is the first, and it’s far more than symbolic. It’s a working model for rearchitecting US digital infrastructure, one regional exchange at a time.”

By situating IXPs on university campuses, CNIXP and DE-CIX are helping establish a new layer of national infrastructure: open, neutral, scalable, and future proof. For Wichita, already a hub of aerospace and advanced manufacturing, the new IXP will offer regional enterprises, cloud providers, and hyperscalers the performance they need to keep innovating in the AI era.

Tonya continues: “There are still 14 states in the US without an IXP facility, Kansas being one of them. In these states, businesses are forced to operate on-premises, disconnected from the performance and resilience that interconnection enables, or suffer the latency handicap of sourcing interconnection from neighboring states, increasing the distance data must travel. With reshoring and AI now national priorities, this is no longer sustainable. Neutral IXPs hosted by universities offer a modern path forward – one that blends innovation, economic development, and public trust.”

This initiative marks another milestone in DE-CIX’s 30th anniversary year and reflects a growing urgency for distributed, low-latency infrastructure as artificial intelligence use-cases move focus from model training to real-time inference. Applications such as autonomous robotics, agentic AI, and industrial automation all demand sub-10 millisecond response times, made possible only through local interconnection at the network edge.

“As AI evolves, so too must the infrastructure behind it in order to achieve near-zero latency” said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “To bring AI to life, DE-CIX orchestrates the interplay of clouds, networks, and AI agents across a global, latency-optimized ecosystem – one in which the IXP in Wichita is set to become a role model for similar set-ups and the creation of an AI-ready new Internet.”

Tonya Witherspoon, Hunter Newby, and Ivo Ivanov sat down on Tuesday to discuss the initiative, and how edge strategies, Internet Exchanges, and smarter interconnection can help reduce latency, boost resilience, and power next-generation AI infrastructure. Readers can watch the webinar, titled “Latency Kills: Solving the Bottleneck of Round-Trip Delay to Unlock the Future of AI”, by clicking here.

About DE-CIX North America

DE-CIX North America Inc., pronounced DEE-KICKS [dˈi:-kˈɪks], which began operations in 2014, is a wholly owned subsidiary of DE-CIX International AG, the international arm of DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator. Together, the DE-CIX Internet and Cloud Exchanges in New York, Dallas, Chicago, Richmond, Houston, and Phoenix, and the dedicated Cloud Exchange in Seattle, create the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in North America. DE-CIX provides network and data center neutral peering and other interconnection services in North America. DE-CIX’s IXs are distributed across major carrier hotels and data centers throughout each metro region it serves. DE-CIX operates more access points than any other Internet Exchange operator in North America. For more information, please visit https://de-cix.net/north-america

About Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points:

Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points, LLC (CNIXP) is a 50/50 joint venture between nonprofit Connected Nation, Inc. and network interconnection pioneer Hunter Newby.

Connected Nation’s mission is to improve lives by providing innovative solutions that expand access to, and the use of, broadband and related technologies for people everywhere. For more information, please visit: www.connectednation.org

Newby Ventures, LLC is a personal holding company for interests held in a variety of carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection facilities. Hunter Newby is its founder, chairman, and CEO. Mr. Newby has over 20 years of ownership and management experience in the network interconnection industry. He is both an active and former owner, co-founder, partner or board member in numerous carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection businesses including: ColoATL, DataVerge, Fibre Centre, Netrality Properties, NJFX and The Telx Group, Inc. For more information, please visit www.newby-ventures.com

About Wichita State University:

Wichita State University is Kansas’ only urban public research university, enrolling more than 23,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of its students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.