The Internet has always been about connection – between people, between networks, and between ideas. In Canada, this spirit of collaboration goes back decades. The Montreal Internet Exchange (QIX) was originally launched in 1995 by RISQ (Réseau d’informations scientifiques du Québec, Quebec’s research and education network) as one of the first Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in the country. In 2013, members of the community came together to make QIX an independent non-profit dedicated to supporting open interconnection in Montreal.
For nearly three decades, QIX has helped networks large and small experiment, exchange traffic, and grow. But the Internet has changed. Peering and Internet Exchanges that were once local and volunteer-driven are now part of national critical infrastructure. Their scale and complexity, as well as growing expectations towards interconnection, now require something broader, stronger, and more sustainable.
That’s why QIX and several other exchanges across the country are coming together to form CANIX – a single, national non-profit organization built on the same community-first principles, but with the structure and reach to support the next generation of Canadian connectivity. This isn’t an ending, it’s a continuation – a new season for the same mission that began many years ago.
From Local Islands to a National Organization
CANIX isn’t a replacement for any single exchange: it’s the natural convergence of many.
We’ve unified under one legal non-profit entity, one brand, and one board, while keeping what makes each region unique. Local subcommittees ensure every community remains represented and connected to decision-making.
The idea is simple: a national groupment of IXPs that work together, instead of isolated teams. This model lets us share infrastructure, knowledge, and support while staying close to local operators and networks.
Our inspiration came from meeting our peers in the Euro-IX community: AMS-IX, France IX, LINX, INEX, DE-CIX, and others. Europe is three to seven years ahead of North America in terms of IXP maturity. Seeing how these organizations evolved was eye-opening. They’ve built sustainable, multi-service IXPs that remain true to their community roots while scaling across cities and countries.
These meetings gave us a preview of where the Internet ecosystem is heading and reminded us that if we’re not growing or adapting, we’re falling behind.
Learning from the Best
Each European exchange had lessons to offer.
At AMS-IX, we saw how innovation, adaptability and strong community involvement can coexist. They’ve become a regulated, mission-critical platform with near-perfect reliability, evolving from a single-metro IX into a diversified platform where peering is just one piece of the puzzle.
France-IX showed us the steps to follow for country-wide IXP amalgamations, as well as the blueprint for making impressive hardware investments while maintaining community ownership.
LINX proved that member-driven organizations can operate at a national scale while staying close to their roots, adapting product offerings to new member needs, blending professionalism with infrastructure transparency and keeping IXPs independent from each other.
And INEX reminded us that scale isn’t everything. Their team remains small and non-profit, reinvesting every dollar back into the community via events, training, and open-source tools like IXP Manager – a perfect example of giving back to the Internet.
We came home from these visits both humbled and inspired. Europe has already walked this path. Now it’s our turn to build a sustainable, modern IXP ecosystem, right here in Canada.
One of the most valuable lessons we brought back from Europe is how quickly the regulatory landscape can shift. IXPs in EU countries have already been contacted by government entities and asked to comply with national security or critical infrastructure frameworks. AMS-IX, for instance, now operates under formal audits and compliance frameworks as part of its role as an essential infrastructure, even without direct government oversight or support. Canada is heading in that direction too : Bill C-8 (formerly C-26) is already setting the stage for new oversight over telecommunications and critical infrastructure. As of now, IXPs in Canada are not regulated by the CRTC, but this won’t last forever. When the time comes, independent, volunteer-run IXPs will simply not be equipped to meet government requirements on their own. CANIX is designed to be ready for that future – to protect the community and ensure compliance doesn’t become a barrier to interconnection.
Unlike many of our European peers, CANIX’s vision is 100% focused on our own country: our goal is not to have the Canadian community fund international expansion. Furthermore, we’re well aware that Canada isn’t Europe and will never have the same population density: we’ve simply adapted European principles to our Canadian reality in order to create CANIX.
The New Realities of Peering
The technical side of things
IXPs used to be simple: a few networks, a switch thrown in the corner of a meet-me-room, and a few beers to seal the deal. This was achievable with secondhand office or enterprise-grade equipment. Today, things are far more complex. IXPs need flexibility (multiple services in a single box), built-in resilience (dual routing engines for critical devices), visibility (flows, telemetry) and, occasionally, automation features.
At the same time, the Internet community has grown beyond ISPs (Internet service providers) and CDNs (content delivery networks). Businesses, universities, and public institutions now need local and reliable interconnection. These are all organizations that can benefit from peering, but don’t specialize in operating a network.
The Internet deserves, and now demands the following:
- carrier-grade infrastructure, as more and more people rely on us;
- responsive and in-depth customer service to meet customer requirements (and rival with ever so cheaper Tier 1 transit!);
- constant resources to educate networks who are new to peering.
The days when IXPs could operate as volunteer-led, best-effort hobby projects are over.
CANIX is built for this new era. On top of having a 24/7 NOC (network operations center), all new locations are built to support 400G links, layer 3 capabilities, and multiservice ports. We’re designing our networks to be flexible and allowing members to interconnect however they need, whether through community partners, metro waves, private VLANs, or traditional peering ports.
We see ourselves as centers and wingers, not goalies; our job is to set up the plays, not block them. Instead of having a hands-off approach where peers are told to figure out everything themselves, we actively offer help to facilitate their deployments – no matter what that looks like.
Why these new services?
All the new services CANIX is launching serve one goal: facilitate peering. As requirements change and the Internet ecosystem shifts, certain networks require different things. Not everyone has the capabilities to align the services of 10 vendors to build a single, cohesive network. Once again, not all Internet players run a BGP network as their core business. All CANIX’s services are built in partnership with local data centers, ISPs, and staff – effectively creating new business opportunities for our members.
While more and more networks adopt these services to facilitate their interconnection needs (and sometimes even adopt remote peering through partner transport links), users that only wish to use classic local peering should not see their peering costs increase to subsidize other services.
Our services don’t aim to replace traditional telecom service offerings but rather make them accessible to a new kind of customers. Our European IXP fellows’ results clearly show that these “peering facilitating” services attract a new market segment that ends up benefiting the whole community by making it grow.
If your version of “the best Internet” only involves using the most basic form of IX peering, that’s okay – no one is forcing you to change your ways. Classic IXP peering will always be available at CANIX, as-is, at a fair price. On the other hand, if your organization needs maximum flexibility to adapt to new realities, the CANIX team will also do everything it can to support you.
Hardware realities
These new services require new hardware for both bandwidth and feature requirements. The typical Cisco Nexus 9000 products most IXPs in Canada currently use just don’t cut it anymore. Their price per port paired with ASIC, TCAM, QOS, layer 3 and flow limitations make them simply unfit for what a modern and flexible IXP requires in 2025. However, most Canadian IXPs can’t afford a refresh to a newer platform or an emergency switch replacement without outside help (i.e. sponsorships). By extension, their sustainability is jeopardized. No IXP member wants to be in such a position, and neither do we. IXP operators should be able to do what they do best: build and maintain the most awesome and secure networks. By grouping the purchasing power of Canadian IXPs, CANIX was able to get carrier-grade technology vendors like Nokia and Ciena to partner up and make all this possible.
The non-profit structure for an IXP
Just like in Europe, IXPs in Canada practically all followed the non-profit model. For a time, that structure was perfect. It allowed members to control the organization and, depending on their bylaws, gave the biggest and smallest peers the same amount of voting power. It was Internet neutrality at its best. However, over the years, IXPs have grown to be much more than a single switch in a closet, and liabilities have grown as well. Depending on the jurisdiction, some non-profits are also limited in the amount of money (profits) they can hold on to without losing their non-profit status. That’s a major issue for an organization like an IXP that needs to pile up cash for an expensive purchase of new hardware on a 5- to 10-year cycle. Furthermore, in Canada, board members are liable for their organization, which can create problems when they’re managing a 5-, 6- or 7-figure budget and no one on the board has the business acumen to operate it diligently. Over the years, IXPs have also seen numerous mismanagement cases and stray board members put their organization at risk.
Once again, to solve this problem, we’ve turned to our European peers. Since last year, the non-profit organization (now CANIX) is the sole (100%) shareholder of an incorporated company. This structure allows the organization to keep the same foundation that it was created with while adding a corporate veil between its operations and its board members – effectively further protecting the organization and giving it more financial flexibility for investments. The operating company, day-to-day operations are run by paid employees and contractors, just like in any other business. In the event the operating company generates more profits than it can reinvest, the only shareholder that can benefit from it is the non-profit, which again, is managed by a community-appointed qualified board that holds the necessary skills to manage the organization. This structure significantly reduces the required workload for the volunteer board members, who only need to overlook major decisions like the yearly budget. Obviously, the board also has its own limitations: any amalgamations or shareholder modifications require the members’ vote. All in all, this structure was selected after significant legal scrutiny to allow CANIX to become more sustainable both from a legal, financial and human resources perspective. In practice, this puts the right people in charge of the right things while maintaining a maximum amount of transparency and without hindering the organization’s nimbleness.
Sustainability Over Ego
We still operate as a non-profit because the Internet deserves a neutral, community-owned backbone. The people involved in CANIX could easily spend their time on commercial ventures that would be more profitable. Most people don’t realize how much the talents of the employees and board members of CANIX could achieve elsewhere – but we still decide to put in countless hours into this mission.
We do it for one reason, and one reason only:
We want to make the Internet better.
Every dollar that flows into CANIX is reinvested in network capacity, reliability, innovation, and the community.
Sustainability isn’t just about money: it’s about people, governance, and long-term vision. Our structure ensures local peers are heard while maintaining a unified national strategy. Our board and committees represent the diverse perspectives that make the Internet ecosystem thrive, from small regional ISPs to large global networks.
The same philosophy applies to our organizational structure. For years, technically-versed people carried the weight of everything – from racking switches to managing board meetings and budgets. That worked in the early days, but it’s not sustainable. Technical experts shouldn’t have to manage the burden of finance and legal details, just as legal counsels shouldn’t dictate network design. With CANIX, we’ve put the right people in the right places. Our technical subcommittee designs and validates every technical project before any business or financial discussion even begins. This structure ensures the network’s technical integrity always comes first.
Collaboration First
Wherever we can, we collaborate with existing IXPs. Together, we are stronger. We believe in helping local exchanges grow, share tools, and standardize practices. When collaboration works, everyone wins – members, operators, and the Internet itself.
Over the last year, we’ve looked at every collaboration angle possible. Most networks, data centers and IXPs share our vision and support us since before the CANIX launch. But sometimes, collaboration isn’t possible. Some exchanges enjoy the status quo or follow models that aren’t sustainable for long-term health of the ecosystem. In some of those cases, not wanting to leave certain communities unserved, CANIX deploys a presence in their area to ensure local peers have access to everything positive the organization has to offer.
Even then, the door always remains open. We invite every IXP that shares our vision to join us. Our goal is not to compete, it’s to connect.
One of the biggest advantages of coming together under CANIX is the benefit it brings to both large and small networks. Big players, hyperscalers and global carriers are all in search of standardization, reliability, and consistent support. As Canadian ISPs consolidate, people need to realize that the Fortune 500 networks could easily operate without IXPs if they wanted to, and some already do today. But smaller networks rely on IXPs to survive – for technical resilience, for cost savings, and for access to partners they otherwise couldn’t reach in a financially sustainable manner. By meeting the standards large networks expect, we ensure those same benefits are made accessible to smaller networks. The ecosystem only works if everyone takes part in it. When the big players stay, the small ones thrive, and vice versa. With one shared platform, we make it easier than ever to peer in Canada: one contract, one NOC, and one aggregated commit, all reducing friction and turn-up delays. This is yet again another example of how CANIX’s efforts end up trickling down to even the smallest internet players in the country.
A Shared Future
The Internet’s future depends on strong, sustainable, and interconnected exchange points. What started as QIX in Montreal is now part of something much larger – a national effort to modernize, professionalize, and strengthen the backbone of Canadian connectivity.
CANIX exists to serve the Internet community – not to profit from it. We’re here to build, to collaborate, and to ensure Canada remains a strong, open participant in the global Internet ecosystem.
The transition from QIX to CANIX marks the next chapter in that story. It’s not about replacing what came before, it’s about building on its foundations – learning from our peers, adapting to new realities, and preparing for what’s next.
Let’s make the Internet better, together.
Karl Morin
Chairman of the Board of Directors
CANIX
