The company was founded to act as a wide-area Internet Exchange Point and application deliveryservice provider. The company's original business model was to use Ethernet and MPLS technology to build a distributed Internet Exchange Point as well as to provide point to point Ethernet connectivity. This model was reasonably successful, with over 140 networks peering traffic over the PacketExchange network. The commoditization of the IP market forced the company to evolve. In January 2005, PacketExchange acquired and integrated XchangePoint. In October 2007, PacketExchange was hired by the rock bandRadiohead for the internet release of their album In Rainbows. In February 2008, Rick Mace became the new CEO, and simultaneously PacketExchange secured an additional $12 million investment. The company added two network points of presence during 2008: one in the Telx colocation facility in New York and another in Singapore. In January 2010 Mzima Networks announced that its network assets were acquired by PacketExchange. Grant Kirkwood became PacketExchange's CTO. The two companies merged customer bases and operations resulting in a combined company with an extensive global network footprint that leverages its 10 Gigabit backbone to provide global Ethernet private line services, MPLS and VPLS networking, IP transit and peering services.
Mzima Networks
The Mzima Network was a data network and Internet Protocol computer network extending across the United States, Europe and Asia. The word Mzima means “alive” in the Kiswahili language. The network was started in Californiain 2001 by Mzima Corporation, N.A which acquired several companies with Internet networks. In 2005 the Mzima Network became the first all-10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone through a partnership with Force10 Networks. The Mzima IP backbone network expanded into Europe in 2006 providing connectivity for content providers, enterprise companies, and international telecommunication carriers. The fault-tolerant designed backbone network, connected Tier 1 network carriers and network providers that engage in private peering. It incorporated the Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering standard to adapt Ethernet technology to carrier networks. PBB-TE technology was incorporated into communications networking equipment by such companies as Ciena Corporation. This Ethernet technology provided fast re-route capabilities allowing optimization of unused network capacity. Since it provided an alternative to Tier 1service providers and multi-homed networks, the Mzima Network claimed route-optimized transit and private peering. In January 2010 Mzima Networks announced its network assets were acquired by PacketExchange. The two companies merged customer bases and operations.
