Zaragoza takes a significant step toward establishing itself as a connectivity hub in the digital corridor connecting the Peninsula with southern Europe. The Government of Aragón and ESpanix have formalized a general action protocol to implement an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in the Aragonese Technology District Alierta (DAT_Alierta). This move aims to bring peering — direct interconnection between networks — closer to the territory and reduce dependency on IP transit through Madrid or Barcelona for regional traffic.
The decision comes at a time of intense competition among regions to attract investments linked to the digital economy — from data centers to edge computing projects — with a clear technical reality: latency and interconnection costs have become strategic variables for operators, companies, and content providers.
Aragón as a “bridge” of fiber between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean
The core argument accompanying the announcement is geographic and infrastructural: Aragón emphasizes its position on the backbone fiber network connecting routes from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, with links to Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, and southern France, offering competitive latencies of 7–9 milliseconds toward major economic centers. This combination — passage corridor, low latency, and capacity — is what allows the regional IXP to be seen not as a “secondary site”, but as a key piece to optimize routes and retain traffic closer to end users.
Practically, a local IXP acts as an “Internet roundabout”: if two networks (for example, an operator and a CDN) can exchange traffic in Zaragoza, they avoid routing through other points, reducing hops, lowering latency, and increasing efficiency. The effects are especially noticeable in latency-sensitive services: live video, gaming, telemedicine, streaming education, corporate traffic, and security applications.
From six locations to a new node in Zaragoza
ESpanix, identified as the largest IXP in Spain, currently operates in six strategic points in Madrid and Barcelona, and plans to add a new point in DAT_Alierta. The declared goal is ambitious: create a low-latency ring Madrid–Zaragoza–Barcelona, integrate international backbones landing at various points, and strengthen Zaragoza as a hub with a projection toward southern Europe.
In terms of scale, ESpanix boasts a base of more than 190 clients, over 2 Tb/s switched capacity, and a total capacity of 240 Tb/s. These figures aim to frame its expansion as a deployment with enough strength to attract relevant peering, not just “local traffic”.
What changes for operators, companies, and end users
The protocol and the associated narrative focus on four specific benefits:
- Reduced latency in local and regional traffic: a reduction “up to an order of magnitude” in regional content is suggested, which practically could mean dropping from tens of milliseconds to just a few when traffic no longer needs to travel to another exchange point.
- Cost savings on transit: potential ≥20% in similar markets by replacing some transit payment with direct peering where it makes sense.
- Increased resilience and digital sovereignty: retaining critical traffic and having alternative routes reduces exposure to external incidents, bottlenecks, or congestion on long-distance routes.
- ecosystem attraction: CDNs, cloud, AI projects, edge computing, and connectivity-intensive sectors (cybersecurity, telemedicine, gaming, or defense) tend to “follow” nodes where interconnection is cheaper and more efficient.
In short, an IXP turns connectivity into a local asset: not only consuming Internet, but also exchanging Internet.
Political and economic perspective: infrastructure to support the wave of data centers
The announcement arrives as Aragón seeks to establish itself as an attractive territory for digital investment. Recent years have seen substantial data center projects and investment plans in the region, driven by deployments that require not only energy and land but also dense interconnection: peering, redundant routes, carrier presence, CDNs, and efficient access to public and private clouds.
This is crucial to understanding why an IXP is no longer a “decorative” element in 2026. A data center campus without nearby interconnection tends to rely more on long-distance transit links; with a regional IXP, the door opens to local value chains: connectivity providers, integrators, managed services, observability/monitoring, security, and enterprise offerings with low latency.
“Faster, safer, and more affordable”: ESpanix’s message
Pedro Sainz, CEO of ESpanix, frames the expansion as a reinforcement of the resilience of national and international telecommunications and a catalyst for increasing traffic flow toward Aragón and the rest of the Peninsula, with an explicit goal: improve the competitiveness of local businesses and enhance the digital experience of citizens with “faster, safer, and more affordable” connections.
Additionally, this move sends a signal to the market: interconnection is no longer exclusively a “metropolitan” phenomenon but is being pushed toward a more distributed model, where territories compete to become natural exchange points, not just consumption hubs.
What to watch for from now on
Beyond the announcement, the real impact will be measured by three indicators:
- Who connects: the success of a regional IXP depends on attracting relevant networks (operators, carriers, CDNs, cloud on-ramps, enterprise networks).
- Volume and type of traffic exchanged: not the same “peak moments” as sustained and diversified traffic.
- ecosystem effect: if the node fosters new technical presences (caches, CDN PoPs, edge services) and enables new business services, the circle grows stronger.
If these elements align, Zaragoza will not only add a new exchange point: it will increase Internet density, which is ultimately what defines a digital hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ESpanix and why is it considered key to Spain’s connectivity?
ESpanix is a neutral point (IXP) where different networks interconnect to exchange traffic directly. Its relevance is often linked to the number of participants, capacity, and switched volume, because this facilitates more traffic remaining “close” and reduces latency and costs.
What advantages does a Zaragoza IXP offer compared to relying solely on Madrid or Barcelona?
A local IXP allows regional traffic to be exchanged without routing through other nodes, decreasing latency and in many cases transit costs. It also enhances resilience by providing alternative routes and retaining critical traffic within the territory.
How does local peering impact services such as streaming, gaming, or telemedicine?
By reducing milliseconds and network hops, local peering can improve live video quality, stabilize online gaming, reduce response times for business applications, and increase reliability for sensitive services like telemedicine or remote education.
What role does DAT_Alierta play in Aragón’s digital strategy?
DAT_Alierta is presented as the location where the exchange node will be implemented, aiming to concentrate connectivity and attract the ecosystem (operators, CDNs, cloud, edge) to reinforce Zaragoza as a regional hub.
via: espanix