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4 February 2025

Accelerate business growth with strategic remote peering

GlobePEER Remote graphic

The initial goal of Internet Exchanges (IXs) was to bring together networks residing in the same metro and thus keep local traffic local. Remote peering allows networks to connect to IXs without being physically present there. 

Remote peering has received a bit of a bad rap, and if wrongly configured, it can lead to performance issues like higher latency and reduced resilience. But there is a demand for it: A study looking into large IXs revealed that remote peers account for 40% of their member base and growth is mainly driven by remote peering contributing twice as much as local peering.

​When does remote peering make sense?

There are various reasons, but they all depend on the specific needs and strategic goals of an organization. The decision to implement remote peering should be based on a careful analysis of traffic patterns, cost considerations, and long-term network strategy.

Reasons for remote peering

Enhanced connectivity: Remote peering enables businesses to connect with specific networks, content providers, or partners that are only available at certain remote IXs. In this way businesses can exchange traffic efficiently without the need for a physical presence in several locations.

Cost efficiency: Remote peering can be more cost-effective than establishing a physical presence in multiple locations. It reduces the need for additional colocation space, equipment, and maintenance in the remote location, whilst minimizing operational complexity and costs associated with managing multiple physical peering points.

Reducing operational complexity: With one contracting party, you eliminate the complexity of managing multiple agreements with transport providers, colocation providers, and  IXs, enabling easier administration and reduced legal overhead. A single SLA ensures consistent service quality, ensuring reliability and providing clarity with regard to performance expectations. Additionally, having one commercial and technical single point of contact (SPOC) centralizes communication, making it more efficient to address issues, implement changes, and receive support.

Network reach and performance: As businesses expand geographically, the need for robust and efficient interconnection capabilities becomes critical. Remote peering enables your organization to directly interconnect your network with networks not available at your physical peering point, bypassing the need for third-party transit links. This direct exchange of traffic fosters faster speeds and lower latency, ensuring that data travels the shortest path possible, reducing transit time and avoiding potential choke points.

Scalability: Remote peering allows networks to scale their peering capacity quickly and flexibly. This can be especially useful for growing networks or during periods of increased traffic demand. Geographically speaking, this flexibility enables your business to reach into new markets and regions without the logistical challenges of setting up physical infrastructure.

Use cases for remote peering

Strategic relationships: When establishing peering relationships with specific networks or content providers that are primarily present at another IX. This improves access to key partners and services and really is the key benefit of remote peering.

Entering a new market: When an organization wants to enter a new market (e.g., expanding services into Germany from Amsterdam) without committing to the cost and complexity of a physical presence in the target market (e.g. Frankfurt).

Traffic optimization: For optimizing traffic flow and improving performance for end-users in regions served by the remotely accessed IX, even if the organization’s main infrastructure is in another IX.

Capacity management: When an organization needs to quickly increase its peering capacity in a location due to rising traffic demands, without the lead time associated with deploying new infrastructure.

Setting up and managing remote peering is easy

Remote peering makes sense in a variety of scenarios, particularly when you need to reach specific networks or content providers that are not present at your physical peering location. Integrating remote peering into network strategies can drive business growth, streamline operations, and provide a competitive edge.

At DE-CIX, our platforms are interconnected, and with access in one of our IXs, you can peer remotely at others. Setup is easy and fast: You peer over a VLAN on your existing access, and we will take care of all interconnects needed and the access at the additional location. You get a fully redundant service with predictable latency and jitter values.

Moreover, you can leverage BGP communities to gain precise control over your remote peering configurations and traffic management. By using these predefined community tags, you can efficiently manage where your prefixes are advertised, enabling selective route announcements to specific locations or networks. This flexibility allows you to optimize traffic flow, prioritize specific connections, and implement failover strategies seamlessly.

Find out more about our remote peering solution GlobePEER Remote and take benefit of robust and highly customizable remote peering setup tailored to needs of your business.