The Internet didn’t begin in Silicon Valley. It began in the halls of academia. The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET, was a government-funded collaboration with universities that laid the first foundations of the modern digital world. Crucially, ARPANET was designed as a neutral, non-commercial infrastructure layer: a non-partisan foundation on which innovation could flourish. That neutrality wasn’t a technical choice; it was a strategic one. It ensured that early networks could interoperate, that knowledge could be easily shared, and that the next wave of economic value could be built without barriers. Now, in 2025, as the US embarks on its next wave of economic growth fuelled by artificial intelligence, that same foundational thinking and collaboration is urgently needed once again.
Wichita State University (WSU), through close collaboration with Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points (CNIXP) and DE-CIX, is leading that revival. Known nationally as an aerospace and engineering powerhouse, Wichita is now stepping into a new role – as a trailblazer in digital connectivity infrastructure. With the launch of Kansas’ first-ever Internet Exchange Point (IXP) – a facility which will enable networks to interconnect directly on a high-performance Internet Exchange (IX) platform – on the WSU Innovation Campus, Wichita is embracing the same spirit of public-minded innovation that once defined the early Internet. But this isn’t just a stroll down memory lane – it’s a timely, forward-looking move designed to address one of the most pressing infrastructure challenges of the modern age: the need for low-latency, AI-ready, neutral infrastructure across every corner of the country – especially in the traditionally underserved heartland.
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
For decades, Wichita has been synonymous with aerospace innovation. The city, known as the “Air Capital of the World,” is home to major industry players like Airbus, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation (which includes Cessna and Beechcraft), Bombardier Learjet, and Dassault Systèmes, all of which have established a strong presence on or near the WSU campus. These companies didn’t arrive by accident. They came for the engineering talent, the applied research, and the ecosystem WSU has cultivated – one that blends academic excellence with real-world problem-solving. Now that same drive is being channelled into digital infrastructure. With the groundbreaking of a new IXP on its campus in May 2025, Wichita is poised to serve not just as a manufacturing hub, but as a regional gateway for the AI economy.
An IX platform, like the one to be housed in the new IXP facility we are building in Wichita, may be invisible to most users, but its impact is not. By allowing networks to exchange traffic directly, IXs reduce the distance data needs to travel, lowering latency, increasing network resilience, and enabling the seamless execution of real-time data exchange. For AI, this is especially important. As the focus of AI usage trends from centralized model training to distributed inference at the edge, the ability to process and respond to data in milliseconds becomes a make-or-break factor. Whether it’s autonomous vehicles, predictive maintenance via digital twinning, the deployment of intelligent manufacturing processes, or the use of agentic AI bots to serve customers, success now increasingly depends on proximity to interconnection. The new IX, to be operated in conjunction withCNIXP and DE-CIX, will deliver just that, and set a precedent for other regions to follow.
A Blueprint for Innovation
Despite decades of Internet expansion, 14 US states still lack a single IXP facility – including Kansas. A decade ago, this may not have seemed like a big deal, but as AI innovation marches on, it’s becoming a structural disadvantage, hamstringing states and holding back their economic potential. Without a local IX, data must travel farther, adding latency, cost, and risk to everything from cloud access to cybersecurity. As a result, businesses in these regions are often forced to rely on on-premise solutions or suboptimal connectivity paths, limiting their ability to adopt next-generation AI technologies. Or they need to suffer the latency handicap of sourcing interconnection from neighboring states, increasing the distance data must travel. Such a lack of robust connectivity will soon become the Grand Canyon of digital divides, particularly as the US looks to reshore advanced manufacturing and industrial automation. While these states may lack the requisite IX infrastructure today, they do possess something equally vital for the AI wave about to engulf the nation: abundant land, affordable power, and a growing need for inclusion in the national digital economy.
The hyperscalers of this world recognize the opportunity. Many are actively seeking to build in these underserved regions, driven by energy availability and geographic proximity to end users. But the foundational layer – neutral interconnection – is often missing or misunderstood. Without it, deployments risk being siloed, expensive, or dependent on legacy architectures that don’t meet the needs of low-latency AI inference. This is where, in a first-of-its-kind collaboration, CNIXP and DE-CIX have stepped in. Their joint blueprint for neutral IXPs, anchored by universities, offers a new approach that combines global interconnection expertise with trusted, public-facing institutions. The IXP at Wichita State University is the first realization of that model, but over 10 other universities and municipalities have already signed Letters of Intent to follow suit, and the plan is to onboard up to 125 communities nationwide.
Federal Vs State Decision-Making
With new federal policy changes, universities have a timely opportunity. The government has shut down the Department of Education at the federal level and pushed all decision-making back onto individual states. There is a silver lining here, however; states now have a greater degree of control and each educational institution’s future is now firmly in its own hands, in many ways paving the way for them to become national trailblazers once again. After all, ARPANET succeeded because it was built on neutral, non-partisan infrastructure, managed by these very institutions and driven by their collective public interest.
This initiative from CNIXP and DE-CIX is simply reclaiming that ethos and applying it to the AI era. It worked then, and it will work now. By situating IXPs on university campuses, the project ensures that interconnection is not only technically robust but also governed with public interest in mind. And it comes at an opportune moment – with more education policy responsibility now shifting to state governments, universities are uniquely positioned to act. They can host the infrastructure, convene regional stakeholders, and ensure their communities are not left behind. It’s not just a monetization opportunity – it’s a national imperative, and one that Wichita is helping to deliver.
Beyond the Sunflower State
Wichita’s new IXP is a first, but it won’t be the last. It’s a model for what’s possible when public institutions, nonprofits, and digital pioneers work together to solve a national infrastructure challenge. AI innovation can’t thrive without low-latency connectivity, and the US can’t lead in AI without empowering every region to participate. Neutral IXPs are the foundation, and universities are the perfect place to house them.
Tonya Witherspoon is AVP of Workforce Development and Industry Engagement at Wichita State University. Tonya recently hosted a webinar with Ivo Ivanov, DE-CIX CEO, and Hunter Newby, Owner of Newby Ventures and Joint Venture Partner at CNIXP, on the subject: “Latency Kills: Solving the Bottleneck of RTD to Unlock the Future of AI” where they discuss this initiative and more. Click here to view the webinar.