Attention hyperscalers, political leaders, and decision-makers: This project can help America win the AI race

On this episode of Connected Nation, we continue our coverage from Mountain Connect 2025 as we sit down with Connected Nation's very own Brent Legg, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs. We discuss the one-of-a-kind Connected Nation Internet Exchange Point (IXP) joint venture with Newby Ventures and why it's so important for the future of connectivity.

Learn about the latest policy and infrastructure needs—PLUS the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2025–2026.

Recommended links:

Newby Ventures

DE-CIX

Ivo Ivanov LinkedIn

Brent Legg LinkedIn

Hunter Newby LinkedIn 

Transcript

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Jessica Denson (00:00):
This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods. On this episode of Connected Nation, we talk with one of our own about why your city may really need a connected nation internet exchange point. Find out how one can improve your connectivity, help local businesses, and even impact the global AI race. I'm Jessica Desen, and this is Connected Nation. I'm at Mountain Connect, and I always try to, to ring in one of my, uh, colleagues to talk to us, and I got lucky this time because Brent Legg, who's executive vice president at Connected Nation, just came over and offered to sit down and talk to me. So I really appreciate that for Of course, anytime. Um, I know that you're always in meetings when I see you and you wave. Yeah. And, um, you're always so busy. So I really appreciate the time today. Of course. 

Brent Legg (01:05):
Thanks, Jess. 

Jessica Denson (01:05):
Yeah. So, uh, first off, let's, let's kick right into it and, um, connected nation internet exchange points. Talk about what's going on with that right now and where we are on the board. I know we're trying to get into 125 cities, correct?

Brent Legg (01:18):
We are indeed, yeah. In 44 states. So, uh, that's a lot of work to do. It's not all gonna happen at once. Um, we did break ground on our Wichita IXP on the campus of Wichita State University. You were there 

Jessica Denson (01:30):
On, it was exciting, 

Brent Legg (01:31):
May 15th, and had a great crowd of over, I think 120 people show up. There's a lot of people. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, got a lot of good media coverage out of it, and, uh, but now it's the hard work of actually building the building and getting that online by April. 

Jessica Denson (01:44):
Yeah. 

Brent Legg (01:44):
<laugh>. So there's a lot of work to be done, uh, on site in the factory, and then prep work on site to get that building up and going. And then that's gonna be our model, our showcase for mm-hmm <affirmative>. The rest of the country on what we want to do, what needs to be done in these 124 other markets, uh, in 43 other states. Right. Other than Kansas. Uh, this will be the first internet exchange point in the state of Kansas. Um, you know, Dix is our, is our partner on the ix, uh, the peering platform side of things. Um, and we've got a lot of opportunity, uh, in a lot of other places. So, uh, nine other universities and municipalities have committed land to us to build these facilities on their campuses or in their cities. Um, and then, um, we've got another, I would say 15 or so universities that are just really waiting for us to, to find the grant funding or other capital source to commit the land too. So we're up to about 26 land commitments right now, which is crazy. Um, and that just shows the demand that is needed, you know, or the demand that is there for these types of facilities that are needed all over the country. 

Jessica Denson (02:51):
So, lay a little bit of foundation for us. Talk about what an internet exchange point is mm-hmm <affirmative>. And why it's so critical. And I know that you've, you've spent several years now doing that. Yeah. One-on-one really trying to get people to understand and now it's ramping up. 

Brent Legg (03:06):
Yeah.

Jessica Denson (03:06):
Um, partly because of ai, which we can explore in a minute. Yeah. But talk about what an internet exchange point does, especially in neutral carrier one. Like, we're like, what connect Nations doing? 

Brent Legg (03:16):
Right. 

Jessica Denson (03:16):
And then we'll go into some of the AI stuff. 

Brent Legg (03:19):
Yeah, sure. So an internet exchange point, you can think of them as, as hubs for the internet mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. And this is not a new concept. Um, some people refer to these facilities as carrier hotels or meet me rooms. Hunter likes to joke from the stage that, you know, when you say the word meet me room, people think it's a, it's a dating <laugh>, uh, service or something like that. No, it's a, it's a physical place where networks come together to exchange traffic. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. In the same way that, you know, an airport hub, uh, serves airlines and you, you know, connect flights at, you know, places like Atlanta or Chicago or Dallas. Um, these internet exchange points are places where networks come together to exchange data traffic. And, um, for a whole host of reasons, more of them are needed across the country. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, one main reason is latency reduction. And we, we talk a lot about bandwidth and you know, how, and, and some people refer to bandwidth as speed. Um, uh, and that's a bit of a misnomer, but, you know, bandwidth is, is, you know, how much data throughput can you fit through? If you make it analogous to a water pipe, 

Jessica Denson (04:23):
Uhhuh, <affirmative>, 

Brent Legg (04:23):
How much, how many gallons of water can you flow through that pipe at a given flow rate? Um, uh, latency has to do with the distance of that pipe, the length of the pipe, the, the length of the water has to travel. So we kind of make that analogous to a garden hose when you turn on the spigot 

Jessica Denson (04:38):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Brent Legg (04:38):
Right. And the water starts flowing, it takes a second Right. For the water to come out the other end. Well, and it's really no different with fiber optic cables. Right. Um, um, the, the longer the distance that those bits of data have to travel, um, is introducing lag time to every, uh, interaction that you have online. And so, um, we want to see ultra low latency even in rural areas. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It's possible today in the big metro areas, but we've got to be doing more to, uh, to create places where information, where data traffic can be exchanged in smaller cities, uh, uh, than, than what we see today mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and if we don't, uh, as AI becomes more advanced, the applications that, that run on top of these AI data centers mm-hmm <affirmative>. Become more advanced, um, rural areas may have a different type of internet experience, may have a different type of AI experience, uh, than those metro areas. And we don't want smaller cities and towns and rural areas to get left behind this AI revolution that's coming. 

Jessica Denson (05:41):
And it really put a point on it. Big cities like Chicago, Dallas, la, they have these, but the mid-size ones like your Louisville, Kentucky's where I live, or, uh, Wichita, Kansas until now Yeah. Once this is built, don't 

Jessica Denson (05:56):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (05:56):
And they're, they're really being left behind, even though they're pretty large places. 

Brent Legg (06:02):
Yeah. There, there are places, uh, that are, you know, a million plus people that mm-hmm <affirmative>. Do not have, uh, an exchange, uh, point. Uh, there are a lot of, um, you know, college towns across the country that are, uh, you know, anchored by a major public university 

Jessica Denson (06:19):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Brent Legg (06:20):
Uh, research university. And yet from a networking perspective, they're hanging off of a big city like Atlanta or Dallas that's hundreds of miles away. Well, that's just not necessary today. Um, and, and AI is going to demand the need to develop more of these facilities in smaller towns like Lexington and Louisville mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, in places like Knoxville and Jackson and Little Rock and Fayetteville. And as we go westward, you know, to places, um, you know, like, uh, Boise, Idaho and, and Billings, Montana, <laugh>, and, you know, and up to Alaska and Air and Anchorage and Fairbanks. So, um, but we've gotta, we've gotta start that process. We've gotta start that movement, and that's what Wichita represents for us. 

Jessica Denson (07:04):
And, um, you mentioned D Cs, uh, and they're great. We also have another partner, uh, newbie Ventures. Correct? 

Brent Legg (07:11):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (07:11):
What are the two different roles that they hold and where CMS role in that? 

Brent Legg (07:15):
Yeah. So, uh, our partnership with Newbie Ventures is a, is a joint venture, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So Connected Nation, the nonprofit owns 50% of a, of a company called Connected Nation Internet Exchange Points, LLC. It's a Delaware LLC that we own 50% of. And, and Hunter Newbie, uh, through Newbie Ventures owns the other 50% of. So neither of us have control over the entity. It's 50 50 right down the line. Uh, and Hunter, of course, has a great deal of experience developing these facilities in major metro areas for the last 20 years. It's what he's done, it's what he's built his career around, 

Jessica Denson (07:52):
And he's passionate about it, <laugh>, and 

Brent Legg (07:53):
He is very passionate about it, and he knows his stuff. Um, so, um, so we're, we're, uh, linked arms, uh, in this LLC with, with Hunter, uh, to go do this. Um, you know, D cs operates what's called a peering platform, an internet exchange, an ethernet switch that exists within the internet exchange point facility, uh, where, um, uh, networks will be able to peer with one another. Um, and it gets a little bit complicated, but that the idea is you wanna facilitate that network traffic exchange over a DCX, uh, peering, uh, fabric over a switch mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, uh, so they are a, uh, a partner, uh, but not in the joint venture that we have with Hunter, if that makes sense. 

Jessica Denson (08:40):
So, um, we have just started planning a summit to kind of mm-hmm <affirmative>. Bring in business leaders and others to help them understand what this means. What does it mean if we don't, if, if a, say Wichita gets it. Yeah. And a, a a Boise, Idaho doesn't get it. What is, what's the impact on Boise and what's the good that happens in Wichita? 

Brent Legg (09:03):
Yeah. Well, uh, it, it means, you know, Wichita is going to have higher, um, internet performance, lower latency, able to, um, uh, experience, uh, you know, AI driven applications and services, um, in a more responsive manner, uh, than the cities that, that don't get it. Um, it's, it's, you know, internet exchange points also drive down wholesale pricing. So, you know, local internet service providers that have to buy wholesale internet access to the global internet routing table, or what's called IP transit services, may have to pay, um, to, to get to a city like Kansas City or Denver to be able to buy cost effective wholesale internet access to serve their customers. Well, that's going to be available on a wholesale basis at our facility in Wichita for, you know, probably a, a a 10th or more of the price 

Jessica Denson (10:00):
Uhhuh 

Brent Legg (10:00):
Than it's a, than it's currently available to them, which will allow local internet service providers to more, uh, cost effectively serve their, their end users, and hopefully pass those costs down to end users. So it's not just about latency reduction, it's about creating a marketplace for competition, for networks to compete for business, including wholesale services that are sold, uh, to ISPs. 

Jessica Denson (10:24):
And that just see that rolls over and rolls over. 'cause business, business grows when you have better connectivity. You have a global market. So it goes on and on and on the list. So, um, you, you have a deep, you have deep experience in government affairs. So let's touch on the AI plan that came out recently. 

Brent Legg (10:41):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (10:41):
What is, what are some good things in that, and what are some things that you'd still like to see? 

Brent Legg (10:45):
Yeah. Well, uh, we think the plan overall is, is very strong. Um, we think that, um, you know, we have to be doing more as a country, uh, to win the AI race, whether we like it or not. We are in a global competition with China and the outcome of, of that race, we'll determine the future of the world, frankly. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and we believe really strongly that, that America needs to lead in that regard and win that race for all the same reasons that we won the race to develop nuclear weapons, frankly, during World War ii. Um, it's not that we want to have to use them, right. But the first one there determines what happens next, 

Jessica Denson (11:26):
Uhhuh <affirmative>, 

Brent Legg (11:26):
And, uh, and, and, and so, um, the, I think the White House National AI action plan does a lot to advance the country's ability to compete and ultimately to win the race. Um, not being critical at all, but one of the interesting things about the plan is it really doesn't touch on, uh, network connectivity, fiber access, lowering latency, um, essentially the telecommunications infrastructure that undergirds 

Jessica Denson (11:53):
AI that's really needed for it, ai 

Brent Legg (11:54):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. That is, that needs to be further enhanced and, and grown. And, um, uh, so we have to be doing more in that regard too. So, uh, there may be some good reasons why they left that out of the plan. Uh, I don't know. But, uh, that's an area where we can't forget to focus on too. Um, because, uh, we, we need to scale up those telecommunications resources, including ips, like the ones that we're building, but also a lot of, um, uh, long haul and middle mile, uh, transport fiber, um, and submarine cables and, and submarine cable landing stations, and, uh, all of these things that undergird AI and make sure that it, it works. Um, 

Jessica Denson (12:36):
In your opinion, it seems like, I mean, probably to an outsider looking in, I know you've been working on C-N-I-X-P for several years now, and I've seen you put in the hard work and the miles flying all over the country. Uh, to you it might seem like this has been a slow build, but to outsiders looking in AI and this, and this need for this technology may seem like all of a sudden there it is. 

Jessica Denson (12:58):
Yeah. Ha. 

Jessica Denson (12:58):
Has it been something that you've had your eye on a little bit or, um, is it kind of just suddenly exploded? 

Brent Legg (13:04):
It's evolved quickly. Uhhuh <affirmative>? Um, I, I would say that, you know, the last time the country embarked on a, you know, a middle mile related grant program was in 2021, uh, there was a Middle Mile program in the infrastructure, bipartisan infrastructure law that Congress passed. Um, they had $1 billion of funding for 8 billion and $8 billion worth of applications for $1 billion in funding. And, uh, uh, so the money got eaten up really quickly, and AI wasn't really even on our, on our radar from a policy perspective so much mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, just three years ago. And now it's driving the policy discussions in Congress and with the executive branch in DC and globally. And, and we found ourself in this global arms race, uh, you know, with China. And, um, so it's driving so many policy discussions when it wasn't even, uh, you know, a, a, a thought. So, I mean, it was a thought, but it, it wasn't, it had not exploded to the degree that it has now, and it's on everyone's minds. So that has shifted the political and policy landscape 

Jessica Denson (14:09):
Significantly. Yeah. It really not only seems like, but I think in reality, everything you talk about, there's an AI level, whether it's business, school, broadband, whatever it may be. So what are some things that we could do is, you know, the having c ips better DA building data centers quickly, all design, how can we coordinate all that? How did, what did, in your opinion, what would be a a good approach? 

Brent Legg (14:35):
Well, it's challenging. I think there's a responsibility that some of the, the people behind these large, uh, AI data center infrastructure developments

 
(14:45)
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, and I'm, and I'm talking about Google and Meta and Apple mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, uh, Amazon, um, Microsoft. Um, I, I think that they're, they're pretty singularly focused right now on building as many hyperscale data centers as they can, which are very power intensive. Um, they're very costly. Um, and, um, they take up a lot of land. They take up a lot of water resources, and I really do think that they could be doing a better job of engaging, um, uh, communities, uh, working with stakeholders on the ground mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, and, and to, to look maybe more comprehensively about, um, how they're, how they could better help the communities that they're developing these data centers in mm-hmm <affirmative>. To, to include neutral interconnection infrastructure, like an internet exchange point, so that people that live in proximity to these big data centers can actually benefit from it. Uh, and not just have that data traffic backhauled to a city like Dallas or Atlanta. First, 

Jessica Denson (15:54):
They come back around 

Brent Legg (15:54):
<laugh> and, uh, yeah. So we're hoping that they would eng they engage a bit more, uh, on these, some of these broader policy, uh, discussions and, and think about the, the impact, uh, that they're having on the communities that they're going into. 

Jessica Denson (16:09):
I just talked with, uh, Mike Miller, um, a little bit ago about the same kind of thing, and he brought that up. He said there needs to be more being done. Uh, he's with HDR, we've partnered with him on some things. 

Jessica Denson (16:20):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (16:20):
But, um, he was saying exactly, echoing exactly what you're saying, that there needs to be more done. 'cause they're gonna have to go to rural communities to host some of these, because there's, there's not space in some big cities. Yeah, 

Brent Legg (16:31):
No, I mean, you know, Mississippi is a great example of the situation, and Mike's a super bright guy and a good friend. Um, um, you know, Mississippi's a good example of, you know, the fact that AWS Amazon Web Services is developing a, a 10 plus billion dollar data center in, uh, Mississippi, and, um, there is no internet exchange point facility in Mississippi. So essentially all of that data traffic that, that flows to and from that data center is gonna have to go through Dallas or Atlanta first. 

Jessica Denson (17:05):
And so you would think that having an IXP there would also benefit the data center? 

Brent Legg (17:09):
Well, it, it, it would ultimately, and, and I think that there is going to be a realization among the hyperscalers, the companies I just mentioned, that, um, you know, a missing element of this is a place to offload that traffic <laugh> Yeah. Locally. Um, and to see, um, a more dis a distributed approach to network interconnection rather than, you know, back hauling or tromboning, what we like to say, tromboning internet traffic to, that's two 

Jessica Denson (17:36):
Way describe it, 

Brent Legg (17:36):

You know, um, to a distant city far away, because ultimately some applications are gonna demand low latency, and essentially you get a millisecond of latency every 50 miles. Um, so, oh, wow. You know, if you're dependent upon a city, uh, you know, far away, um, you're introducing unnecessary latency both to and from, like, to get to that city. So, um, I, I think the hyperscalers are gonna come around to this notion that there needs to be a neutral venue for data traffic exchange, uh, locally within states. And we're working with the state of Mississippi right now to, to, to, to develop, um, uh, at least four, um, IXP facilities in, in that state. 

Jessica Denson (18:15):
Oh, wow. So do you think that some of that is just nearsightedness, you know, they're looking at the, the AI problem right now, and they don't, they haven't yet said, oh, well, we might need to also address this, or is it just that they're looking internal to solve all of it, or? 

Brent Legg (18:32):
I, I think they're hyperfocused on building mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, and no pun intended, there, they're hyperfocused on building, uh, as much data center processing capacity as quickly as they possibly can. Yeah. And everything else is an afterthought. I'd love for someone to meet with me and tell me that I'm wrong, <laugh> on that. Um, and, and, and we're eager to engage Uhhuh those hyperscalers. So if you're listening, uh, please reach out to me because I'd really like to have a conversation with you, uh, about how to positively impact, um, the, the communities that you're, you're building these data centers in. Um, but yeah, I think, I think eventually the, the topic around latency is going to become a higher, uh, policy priority as a country, as AI applications that are latency dependent become more prevalent, uhhuh, and it's gonna drive, uh, attention to that 

Jessica Denson (19:27):
Issue. So unfortunately, some of that might be, that they might see, have to see it before they start to think that way, unless we can get ahead of them 

Brent Legg (19:33):
<laugh>. Well, yeah, I mean, I think, um, I, I think they're just really focused on building as much compute, building out their large language models, uh, and then, you know, the next phase will come when it comes mm-hmm <affirmative>. But this is the, this is the big piece. And, and access to, uh, to power, frankly, electricity, um, to power these data centers is their number one policy priority. It's their number one issue. 

Jessica Denson (20:00):
So, you know, we just talked about the fact that AI suddenly exploded, and who knows what that leads to or what the next big thing is that we don't even, we can't even imagine at the moment. How do you prepare for that? Is, is it doing things like this help future proof? 

Brent Legg (20:16):
Well, certainly I think these facilities do, uh, provide, um, increased, um, resiliency to networks, um, alternative route traffic routing, um, higher capacity. It will naturally create more high capacity services flowing into and out of regions like Wichita Uhhuh, because now there's a physical address, uh, to bill to. And from that, that will become the nexus for connectivity, uh, in the city of Wichita and every place that we build these facilities. So, yes, it, it, it doesn't happen overnight, but if you look at the amount of network growth in a city like Kansas City, which was considered sort of a flyover city mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, uh, 20 15, 20 years ago, uh, Kansas City, Missouri is now the, the, the, um, the main hub for, for, for telecom. It's the main nexus, the main intersection. I think there are nearly 200 disparate networks that are, uh, exchanging traffic in Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, today at a building that our partner Hunter used to own at 1102 Grand Boulevard.

 
(21:26)
And, um, you know, so it started with building and growing that, uh, IXP, that carrier hotel in Kansas City. And, and, and then over time, seeing that growth, and that's the address you build to and from mm-hmm <affirmative>. Same thing will happen in Wichita o over time and every other city that we go into. So it is, um, you know, unless someone builds a form of, uh, of technology that we can't even comprehend, um, that speeds up the speed of light or, um, you know, alters physics in some big way, um, these facilities are gonna be needed for the next 50 to a hundred years for sure. Um, 

Jessica Denson (22:05):
So, uh, this was C-N-X-C-N-C-N-I xp. It's hard to say for a second there. 

Brent Legg (22:11):
It does. We might need to come up with a better brand, but right now we're gonna use the CN brand. 

Jessica Denson (22:15):
Good. It looks nice. 

Brent Legg (22:16):
Yeah. 

Jessica Denson (22:17):
Um, so it really was a, um, this idea born several years ago right before ai before this. What, what, what, what brought you and Hunter together with this? '

Brent Legg (22:28):
Well, we were, um, actually, uh, contracted by the state of Iowa to help school districts, um, identify a solution to, um, lowering costs and improving bandwidth, improving speeds, uh, for, uh, school districts in the state. Um, they were paying a lot for not great access mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we, we took a look at the E-Rate data. Uh, we found, uh, a region where we wanted to implement a pilot project. Uh, the state got behind that pilot project. Uh, we hired the retired, uh, E-Rate coordinator from the state of Utah actually, to help us with this project. And, uh, through that project we met our partner Hunter. And, um, it became really clear that, you know, the, the experience that he has building these facilities in the big metros is the same, uh, model, just in a condensed form, uh, that needs to be replicated all across the country. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we're, we found some kinship, uh, in, uh, in, in that partnership, and that we've grown that since 2018. Mm-hmm 

Jessica Denson (23:35):
<affirmative>. Well, I've seen you do the hard work, and I'm, I'm excited about what's ahead. What do you hope that 2025 and 2026 brings within this space? 

Brent Legg (23:44):
Well, we're hoping for some, uh, grant funding eligibility, uh, for the facilities that we want to go build. Um, we, we think there's a, a pathway to, uh, to that reality. Um, we also would love to see the hyperscalers get more engaged with what we're trying to do in a, in a big way. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and, um, so I think, uh, we're gonna press as hard and fast as we can to develop as many facilities as we can and to capitalize on, on the land commitments that universities and municipalities have already made to us. And, uh, and hopefully by the end of 2026, uh, we'll have, uh, um, a few dozen of these facilities either built or underway 

Jessica Denson (24:27):
Mm-hmm 

Jessica Denson (24:27):
<affirmative>. 

Brent Legg (24:28):
Um, that's my goal for the next year and a half. So we'll see how far we get. 

Jessica Denson (24:32):
Well, I, I'm excited to see too, because I know that I've watched you push it, push it, and people weren't talking about it, and now they are. So 

Brent Legg (24:40):
They are. 

Jessica Denson (24:40):
Great job, <laugh>. 

Brent Legg (24:40):
They're Well, thank you. Thank you. It's a, it's a, you know, it's a complicated topic and 

Jessica Denson (24:44):
It's, it is, 

Brent Legg (24:45):
It's not one that, uh, we really talked about a whole lot in this country from a policy perspective, Uhhuh <affirmative>. So we're trying to elevate that and increase awareness of that. And, and I think it's finally starting to, uh, catch the attention of, of people. 

Jessica Denson (24:57):
Yeah, I think so too. Yeah. So again, Brent Legg, executive Vice President with Connected Nation, thank you so much for your time. 

Brent Legg (25:04):
Thanks, Jess. 

Jessica Denson (25:04):
Yeah, I'll continue our coverage from Mountain Connect 2025 on the next episode of Connected Nation. Until then, I'm Jessica Denson and this is Connected Nation. If you like our show and wanna know more about us, head to connect nation.org or find our latest episodes on all major podcasts.