Introducing the 2025 Sustainable Peering Infrastructure grantees

The 2025 Sustainable Peering Infrastructure (SPI) Grant Program has selected 24 grantees working to strengthen peering and interconnection in their local and regional contexts. To advance the Internet Society’s 2030 Strategy to make access affordable and resilient for marginalized and underserved populations, the SPI program aims to improve local Internet interconnection infrastructure by establishing new, community-led Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) where they are needed, strengthening existing IXPs, and supporting the organizations and communities that enable peering and interconnection. 

IXP Support

IXP Support grants fund the establishment of new IXPs where they are needed or enhance existing IXPs, helping them realize their full potential in the Internet ecosystem.  

19 IXP Support grants were awarded in 2025: 

Albanian Neutral Internet Exchange (ANIX) – Albania
This project will upgrade ANIX’s equipment to ensure more reliable and uninterrupted service for the organization and connected networks, especially in the face of power instability. The project also has components for increasing capacity and mobilizing the community.

 Armenia IX (ArmIX) – Armenia 
The project will establish a new Point of Presence in Gyumri, enabling local peering and reducing latency. The project focuses on strengthened resilience with redundant paths, satellite backup installations, and modern routing security practices.

Asociación de Proveedores de Servicio de Valor Agregado (APROSVA) – Ecuador
The project focuses on modernizing and expanding the IXP in southern Ecuador by replacing obsolete core equipment with modern technological infrastructure following international best practices. The upgrade includes better automation, monitoring systems, routing security practices and training to support growth and long-term sustainability.

Bangladesh Internet Exchange (BDIX) – Bangladesh
This project expands network capacity and extends connectivity support while aiming to bring in new members to increase the volume of local traffic exchange nationwide.

Bangladesh Internet Service Provider Internet Exchange Trust – Bangladesh
This project will establish a new IXP Point of Presence in the major urban center of Rajshahi. The project aims to reduce latency and costs, support universities and enterprises, and build a stronger regional peering community.

Cámara Colombiana de Informática y Telecomunicaciones – Colombia
This project will replace end-of-life switching and outdated service infrastructure to improve security, reliability, and scalabaility at NAP Colombia, a non-profit, neutral traffic exchange point.

Internet Society El Salvador Chapter – El Salvador
This project renews the infrastructure of the El Salvador Internet Exchange Point (IXSAL), the only IXP in the country, in order to extend service life for the current members and to attract new members.

GABIX – Gabon
The project aims to revitalize Gabon Internet Exchange (GABIX) and strengthen local peering in the country by upgrading the IXP’s infrastructure, building technical capacity, and engaging operators and decision-makers.

InteRed Panamá – Panama
This project will upgrade the InteRed IXP infrastructure to maintain quality of service, overcome capacity limits, and support projected traffic growth and new content providers.

ISPA-DRC – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kinshasa Internet Exchange (KINIX) is an IXP with a steady growth in traffic volume. The project focuses on extending capacity to relieve current congestion by upgrading the core infrastructure capability and increasing resilience by expanding the number of Points of Presence.

Lilongwe Open Neutral Internet Exchange (LIONEX)– Malawi
This project aims to strengthen the LIONEX infrastructure by upgrading the switching fabric to accommodate higher port speeds which will not only benefit current peers but also allow more members to join. The project will also strengthen the sustainability prospects of the IXP.

Internet Society North Macedonia Chapter – North Macedonia 
The project will modernize and expand IXP.mk to increase capacity, enable higher-speed peering, up to 100Gbps, improve resilience through redundant and high-capacity links, and attract new peers.

Pacific Internet Exchange – Multiple Countries
The project aims to establish a new IXP, spanning Fiji, Samoa, and New Zealand.  The project supports planning and detailed design for future sustainability as well as purchasing IXP equipment.

Red Avanzada Guatemalteca para la Investigación y la Educación (RAGIE) – Guatemala The project will upgrade core switching and supporting server infrastructure at the IXP GT facilities to meet growing traffic and CDN demands. This includes acquisition of equipment and corresponding technical support, as well as the implementation of specialized server infrastructure to strengthen management and monitoring.

Rwanda Internet Community and Technology Alliance (RICTA) Ltd – Rwanda
The project focuses on upgrading management switching, disaster recovery capacity, and security controls to improve resilience at Rwanda Internet Exchange Point (RINEX).

 Sierra Leone Research & Education Network (SLREN) – Sierra Leone
The project aims to support the establishment of SLREN’s interconnection with West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN) and the continued development of a sustainable peering ecosystem in Sierra Leone.

Internet Society Ukraine Chapter – Ukraine
This project seeks to build a modern IXP in the Odessa-Mykolaiv region, strengthening traffic exchange in rural areas and enabling long-term connectivity opportunities. Key activities include deployment of IXP infrastructure, capacity building, and sustainability planning.

Universidad Nacional de Asunción – Paraguay
The project aims to strengthen the Internet Traffic Exchange Point of Paraguay (IXPy) with new and modern IXP infrastructure. The project also includes specialized activities that will comprehensively strengthen the ecosystem.

Università degli Studi di Padova – Centro VSIX – Italy
This project upgrades the hardware to enhance the peering platform at Veneto Internet exchange (VSIX) in order to support scalability and future development. Decommissioned hardware will be reused to better support for CDN, leading to activate new caches and further improve the distribution of low-latency digital content.

Peering Ecosystem Support

Peering Ecosystem Support grants fund projects that strengthen the peering ecosystem by supporting organizations and systems that improve interconnection through capacity building, training, and community building. 

5 Peering Ecosystem Support grants were awarded in 2025:   

Asociación para América Latina y el Caribe de Operadores de Puntos de Intercambio de Tráfico (LAC-IX) – Latin America & Caribbean
The project supports LAC-IX in improving its operational work to meet growing demand from a rapidly expanding membership across Latin America and the Caribbean. The project strengthens the regional peering ecosystem through tools, trainings, convenings, and expanding services to their members including an onboarding program for their peers.

Internet Society Benin Chapter – Benin
The project aims to strengthen the local peering and interconnection ecosystem in Benin, with the goal of expanding its impact to the wider region. The chapter will develop activities to boost the visibility, utility, and sustainability of the local IXP ecosystem through capacity-building, tool development, regional cooperations, a West Africa-focused workshop, and French-language awareness content.

 IXP-Guinée – Republic of Guinea
The project focuses on establishing a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) lab to build local technical skills for current and future IXP members. The project provides a portable training kit to support hands-on learning and facilitate the development of local experts.

Niger-REN – Niger
The project seeks to build a sustainable, community-owned infrastructure that will integrate local BGP-based peering with federated identity and secure remote access to create a trusted national network for institutions, researchers, students, and service providers to collaborate.

The African IXP Association (AFIX) – Africa
This project strengthens the capacity of the African IXP Association to ensure long-term sustainability. AFIX will maintain the continuity of the African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) as an independent, community-owned, financially sustainable forum, and expand its reach, research, and stakeholder engagement to advance IXPs and interconnection across Africa. 

The Sustainable Peering Infrastructure program is made possible thanks to the support of organizations like ICANN and Meta.

For more information on peering and interconnection, upcoming events, and more, visit Internet Society‘s website. To learn more about the Sustainable Peering Infrastructure grant program, visit the program page on the Foundation website.