Connected Nation IXP development team attends Metro Connect USA 2024

Fort Lauderdale, Florida (March 14, 2024) - Late last month, the Connected Nation (CN) internet exchange point (IXP) development team attended the Metro Connect USA 2024 conference in Fort Lauderdale.

The team included Tom Ferree, CN Chairman and CEO, Brent Legg, CN Executive Vice President, Government Affairs, Tom Cox, CN Vice President, State Government Affairs, and Hunter Newby, CN’s IXP Partner and Owner of Newby Ventures. Newby participated in a panel discussion about the future of data center needs.

Metro Connect is one of the three main industry events that take place annually in the fiber transport, data center, network interconnection, and subsea fiber space. The focus of this year’s event was on generative artificial intelligence (AI) and the network infrastructure, data center infrastructure, and power needed to support it.

Quite simply, there aren’t enough of any of those things, with power supply and equipment supply chain issues being major impediments to the growth of AI. There also aren’t enough internet exchange points to facilitate the efficient exchange of AI-driven data traffic locally.

Check out some of the photos from the three-day event below!