I recently started maintaining this graph which shows the total number of AS Numbers in Manitoba. You will notice the dramatic increase in 2013 and 2014.

When I tweeted the link to this graph, I got a reply back from Andree Toonk (of BGPmon.net) almost immediately:

@TheodoreBaschak cool! 2014 was a big year. Ix?

— Andree Toonk (@atoonk) February 14, 2015

He was completely right. The steep growth was a direct result of two IXP’s starting in Winnipeg/Manitoba.

After two years, approximately half of the 60 or so ASNs operating in Manitoba are currently peered at either MBIX or WpgIX. There is approximately 1 Gbps of traffic being exchanged locally. The ironic thing is now that the Manitoba Research Network (MRNET) has peered at MBIX, most of the small and rural ISPs have better/closer access to the Universities than customers of the big players. I am interested to know if the increased local peering makes a difference at registration time.