What is a GIX?

A GIX is a Global Internet eXchange. The GIXs are the European counterparts of the Americans' NAPs (Network Access Point).

As one saw previously, the first function of a GIX is to allow inter-connection between Internet connected networks. Basically, it is physical connections between several ISP (Internet Service Providers) in a local area or metropolitan network. That means that the ISPs exchange queries/answers formulated on their respective networks, in order to obtain information located on another network.

It is these interconnections between ISPs that form a cobweb-like structure (one obtains indeed a tangle of intersected wire, which is not without reminding the complexity of a cobweb), and thus gave the name of "Web".