More than 10 years ago Init7 unplugged from the Exchange formerly known as TIX Telehouse Internet Exchange in Zurich.
When we decided to do this, it was evident that SwissIX was offering much more value for money, in fact, SwissIX offered ports without recurring monthly fees. SwissIX was completely community driven and a lot of volunteer work made it happen. The fact of free ports made SwissIX big in the number of participants. (Disclaimer: I was president of the SwissIX association between 2004 and 2009).
This has changed. The SwissIX association decided to charge for ports above 1 Gigabit a few years ago, in order to renew the infrastructure and to pay a salary for operations (to my knowledge SwissIX pays one part time employee). I respect that decision, while I was not supporting it. Consequently Init7 downgraded to 1 Gigabit then and did not accept new peers ever since.
The price for a 10 Gigabit port apparently was lowered recently to CHF 750 per month. Which sums up to CHF 9000 per year. The 2nd port is cheaper: CHF 400 per month. Details can be found here: https://www.swissix.ch/participation
I made a quick count of the ports and found ~100 ports with 10 Gigabit and two 100 Gigabit ports (according to PeeringDB). Assuming that 50% are secondary ports a quick estimate of the association revenue adds up to this sum:
50* CHF 750 = CHF 450000 50* CHF 400 = CHF 240000 2* CHF 2600 = CHF 62400
Total ≃ CHF 750000 per year, not including membership fees
I suppose that this amount is sufficient to buy the complete equipment required to operate the SwissIX peering mesh twice a year (yes, gear gets cheaper these days; though it's an absurd example) and still includes the salary of the one part time employee.
Since such a charging and revenue scheme is in force for several years I suppose SwissIX has accumulated a seven-digit fortune. However it seems that no one really knows about it, as the association of SwissIX didn't make financial reports accessible on the website (I assume they have been presented on the yearly General Meetings only, though it's not possible for all association members to be part of it). So the question remains for many of us: Where did the money go? SwissIX is hardly visible in the international community, so I guess "money was spent for Marketing" is not a valid answer.
SwissIX port fees are today among the most expensive in Europe (not including any membership fees), and all of these Exchanges are way bigger in terms of traffic and marketing efforts:
LINX 750£ + 424£ (1st, 2nd) AMS-IX 720€ DE-CIX - no price list published anymore, depends on your negotiation skills... Equinix Paris: €400 MIX Milano €750 which includes 1/3 cabinet and power
SwissIX claims to be "Not for Profit". Equinix, in contrary, is listed on the stock market. Still, the first 10 Gigabit port on Equinix Zurich Exchange costs CHF 400 per month and includes a cross connect. That's about half of the cost of the Not-for-Profit SwissIX.
More than 10 years ago, Init7 unplugged from the Exchange formerly known as TIX Telehouse Internet Exchange in Zurich. Now we are reverting this decision, as preconditions have reverted too. Init7 has cancelled it's membership of the SwissIX association to the end of 2018 and will unplug the remaining 1 Gigabit port anytime soon.
We are happy to accept new peering sessions at Equinix Exchange Zurich as long as the requirements are met (no peering with customers or customers of customers). We are also happy to accept new PNI peers in any common location, if resources are available. Please send inquiries to peering at init7 dot net.
Happy Peering and good luck, SwissIX.
PS. some useful URLs:
History of SwissIX: https://www.swissix.ch/about Where it all started - SwiNOG 1: https://www.swinog.ch/meetings/swinog1/
Dear Fredy,
Thank you very much for your explanation and to be honest to the community about the profit driven decision during the last years. I don’t want to comment the current financial statement the society but as every member is allowed to check these statements, I assume that they are correct.
As a former board member of the SwissIX association between 2009 and 20014 I also have to add that during the first 10 years of SwissIX, Init7 also made some special offers for there customers (Transit + SwissIX 4 Free). It was also a fact, that the financial statements during that time was critical an it was necessary to change that model to be able to buy the needed equipment. And it was also cheaper than all the other exchange points during that time.
It may be correct that it is now time to check the business model again and every member is free to challenge the board or vote for a new one. But political statements without any solutions is not the way the community is working. I wish the current members and the board all the best for the future.
So long, and happy peering.
Regards Erich (Board Member 2009 - 2014)
Am 10.12.2018 um 18:41 schrieb Fredy Kuenzler kuenzler@init7.net:
More than 10 years ago Init7 unplugged from the Exchange formerly known as TIX Telehouse Internet Exchange in Zurich.
When we decided to do this, it was evident that SwissIX was offering much more value for money, in fact, SwissIX offered ports without recurring monthly fees. SwissIX was completely community driven and a lot of volunteer work made it happen. The fact of free ports made SwissIX big in the number of participants. (Disclaimer: I was president of the SwissIX association between 2004 and 2009).
This has changed. The SwissIX association decided to charge for ports above 1 Gigabit a few years ago, in order to renew the infrastructure and to pay a salary for operations (to my knowledge SwissIX pays one part time employee). I respect that decision, while I was not supporting it. Consequently Init7 downgraded to 1 Gigabit then and did not accept new peers ever since.
The price for a 10 Gigabit port apparently was lowered recently to CHF 750 per month. Which sums up to CHF 9000 per year. The 2nd port is cheaper: CHF 400 per month. Details can be found here: https://www.swissix.ch/participation
I made a quick count of the ports and found ~100 ports with 10 Gigabit and two 100 Gigabit ports (according to PeeringDB). Assuming that 50% are secondary ports a quick estimate of the association revenue adds up to this sum:
50* CHF 750 = CHF 450000 50* CHF 400 = CHF 240000 2* CHF 2600 = CHF 62400
Total ≃ CHF 750000 per year, not including membership fees
I suppose that this amount is sufficient to buy the complete equipment required to operate the SwissIX peering mesh twice a year (yes, gear gets cheaper these days; though it's an absurd example) and still includes the salary of the one part time employee.
Since such a charging and revenue scheme is in force for several years I suppose SwissIX has accumulated a seven-digit fortune. However it seems that no one really knows about it, as the association of SwissIX didn't make financial reports accessible on the website (I assume they have been presented on the yearly General Meetings only, though it's not possible for all association members to be part of it). So the question remains for many of us: Where did the money go? SwissIX is hardly visible in the international community, so I guess "money was spent for Marketing" is not a valid answer.
SwissIX port fees are today among the most expensive in Europe (not including any membership fees), and all of these Exchanges are way bigger in terms of traffic and marketing efforts:
LINX 750£ + 424£ (1st, 2nd) AMS-IX 720€ DE-CIX - no price list published anymore, depends on your negotiation skills... Equinix Paris: €400 MIX Milano €750 which includes 1/3 cabinet and power
SwissIX claims to be "Not for Profit". Equinix, in contrary, is listed on the stock market. Still, the first 10 Gigabit port on Equinix Zurich Exchange costs CHF 400 per month and includes a cross connect. That's about half of the cost of the Not-for-Profit SwissIX.
More than 10 years ago, Init7 unplugged from the Exchange formerly known as TIX Telehouse Internet Exchange in Zurich. Now we are reverting this decision, as preconditions have reverted too. Init7 has cancelled it's membership of the SwissIX association to the end of 2018 and will unplug the remaining 1 Gigabit port anytime soon.
We are happy to accept new peering sessions at Equinix Exchange Zurich as long as the requirements are met (no peering with customers or customers of customers). We are also happy to accept new PNI peers in any common location, if resources are available. Please send inquiries to peering at init7 dot net.
Happy Peering and good luck, SwissIX.
PS. some useful URLs:
History of SwissIX: https://www.swissix.ch/about Where it all started - SwiNOG 1: https://www.swinog.ch/meetings/swinog1/
-- Fredy Kuenzler Init7 (Switzerland) Ltd. AS13030 Technoparkstrasse 5 CH-8406 Winterthur http://www.init7.net/
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Fredy Kuenzler