Because of our partner Peace Communications, as well as 365 Data Centers and DevDigital, Nashville now has its own internet exchange! All the tech people in the crowd (including us!) just cheered. But some folks out there may be scratching their heads. If that's you, not to worry. Read on to find out why the new Nashville Internet Exchange is a big deal for all of us, techies and non-techies alike.

As DevDigital explains on their blog, Internet exchanges are a lot like airports. To be more specific, they're a lot like big international airports. If you live in a city with an international airport, it's cheaper to fly to international destinations than it is if you live near a regional airport. The reason for this, of course, is that if you live near a regional airport, you have to first pay to fly to an international airport, where you will connect to your international flight. And, what's more, your trip ends up taking longer, because of all the connections you have to make.

Internet exchanges are to internet traffic what international airports are to international travel. Much of the traffic being exchanged between different networks over the internet has to be routed through an internet exchange. For businesses and ISPs (like Comcast, Windstream, AT&T, Level 3, Verizon, etc.) in Nashville, this has meant paying to have traffic routed through exchanges in cities like Atlanta. That is, until April 7th, when Peace Communications and their partners opened the Nashville Internet Exchange. 

Now, businesses and the ISPs a lot of us rely on to access the internet will have access to a local exchange, which means 2 important things:

1. Decreased costs

2. Increased internet performance

Pretty cool, huh? This is a big sign that Nashville really is becoming a new hub city for technology. As a technology company, we're glad to be part of that!