Our History
1994
First NAP in Italy founded
The first Italian NAP was set up in a Lombard inter-university consortium in 1994 and, shortly thereafter, a second one was established in Rome in a similar consortium. It is no coincidence that both NAPs were located on academic grounds: the need for neutral terrain in which no areas of competition are created between the individual members is a feature that distinguishes all internet exchange points in the world (many of which are still hosted in public facilities, typically in research centres and universities).
1996
“Mix” founded
In the early 1990s, the campus in via Caldera, in the North-West area of Milan, began to host an increasing number of ISPs until currently becoming the most important catchment area for Internet network operators in Italy. The large concentration of ISPs in the campus, therefore, was a favourable ground for the creation of a NAP and so, in 1996, a volunteer and non-profit initiative within the campus, gave rise to a new NAP in Milan, the first “mix” (the term “mix” at the time implied the IX service, and there was no mention of MIX as a company).
2000
MIX S.r.l. founded
Over the years, the ease of connectivity achievable on campus was a determining factor for the growth in the number of operators at the “mix” compared to the first Milanese NAP, which, although still existing, could not further evolve.
This led to the issue that the “mix”, took on such proportions and with an extremely high volume of peering traffic, which required both internal regulation, which included the specifications of the levels of service necessary for its proper functioning, and of a host physical structure tailored to it.
Hence the birth of MIX S.r.l. (January 27, 2000) in which the majority of operators who contributed to the creation and development of “mix” participate as members, in order to guarantee neutrality and functionality.
Such a structure fits well into the Italian Internet reality and improves its use by making available to all ISPs, both national and foreign, a reliable band and at high speed that allows the management of traffic dedicated also to multimedia applications without any downgrading and certainly, represents a point of expansion towards Europe for the realization and increase of such applications
2001
EURO-IX founded
In 2001, seven European IXPs, including MIX, promoted the foundation of EURO-IX, the European Internet Exchange Association, whose aim is coordination, exchange of knowledge and experience, and the development of harmonization activities among IX of the different countries for the benefit of the entire European Internet community.
2015
Open Hub Med launched
On November 23, 2015 the consortium Open Hub Med, neutral and open point to all internet exchange operators was launched in the Italtel site of Carini (PA): MIX is a founding partner.
The Sicilian hub aimed to become the natural collector for the 135,000 km of submarine cables that currently land in Sicily and to reconstitute the ecosystem of Milan Caldera, thanks to the presence of MIX. Open Hub Med is not just a landing station, but intends to play a strategic role as a privileged route for traffic coming from Asia, the Middle East and Africa and heading towards Northern Europe, thus relaunching Italy’s role in international telecommunications.
2015
OIX-A certification of Open-IX
MIX obtained the OIX-A certification of Open-IX (released for only 5 IXPs worldwide) confirming the level of excellence in terms of security and reliability of services.
2017
ISO27001:2013 certification
MIX is the first Italian IXP to overcome the strict controls envisaged by the ISO27001:2013 certification, which covers all the security aspects of IT installations and processes.
2018
Free share capital increase to 1 Million
On April 24, 2018 the Shareholders’ Meeting of MIX srl resolved a free share capital increase from euro 99,000.00 (ninety-nine thousand) to euro 1,000,000.00 (one million), by transferring to a corresponding part of the share capital available reserves of the company entered in the balance sheet. The initiative was made possible thanks to the steady growth that the Company has recorded over the years, the result of major investments, aimed at the development of the Italian portion of the Internet.
MANRS subscription
MIX has always been aware of the security problems that threaten the functioning of the Internet every day, and implements actions to counteract them: this is why MANRS – Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security has joined the initiative supported by ISOC which promotes the adoption of a series of technical measures to make the global routing infrastructure more robust and secure
2020
MIX turns twenty
MIX operates as a “multiple interconnection” point to which the networks of over 300 Internet operators (ISPs, carriers, content providers, hosters) are connected to peer efficiently and at advantageous costs. At the beginning of 2020, the traffic exchanged exceeds 1 Tbps but a more than six times greater transmission bandwidth is available, which allows the exchange of Internet traffic for multimedia applications without any loss of performance.
MIX enters the 1Tbs club
The Covid-19 pandemic, which forces Italians to carry out most of their daily activities online, such as working, studying, watching a film or seeing relatives and frinds, leads to a surge in data traffic that exceeds 1.1 Tbs.
2021
MIX Palermo, the first regional IX of MIX
The MIX PoP activated in 2017 in Palermo/Carini in Open Hub Med in March 2021 officially became MIX Palermo, the first regional IX of MIX, a remote PoP with its own technical autonomy.
A new chairman
The Shareholders’ Meeting of 29 April appoints Alessandro Talotta as the new Chairman & President. Mr. Talotta takes over from Joy Marino, at the head of MIX since its foundation in 2000.
Mr. Talotta, who has held the position of Vice President of MIX since 2000, is CEO of Interxion Telecom S.r.l. and boasts over 30 years of experience in telecommunications with important positions in numerous large companies such as Italtel, TIM, Wind Infostrada and Sparkle, where he was Chairman and CEO.
2022
MIX Bologna
MIX Bologna was born in March: MIX’s tenth point of presence is located inside BOIX, the Lepida datacenter, pole for ICT services of the Emilia Romagna Region. The Bolognese PoP is the second of MIX outside Lombardy, after the one in Palermo activated in 2017, and is configured to all intents and purposes as a regional IXP, with its own autonomy.
Exceeded 2 Tbs of traffic at MIX
During the last day for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2022/2023, the streaming of the Milan-Salzburg and Juventus-Paris St. Germain matches made MIX exceed the 2 Tbs threshold of traffic exchanged.
Over 12 Tbs of connected capacity
MIX continues the development of its infrastructure and confirms as the leading IX in Italy with +30% connected capacity in 2022.