NATURAL STATE
COMMUNITY
INTERNET EXCHANGE
THE NATURAL STATE CHALLENGE
Strategic Analysis
For decades, Arkansas has struggled with digital infrastructure gaps—historically bypassed by major internet backbone routes, forced to rely on expensive backhaul to distant hubs, and watching tech investments flow to neighboring states. But now, in a stunning reversal, Arkansas is experiencing an unprecedented $14 billion datacenter boom with Google in West Memphis, xAI in Memphis, and major facilities in Little Rock, Conway, and Helena.
This represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform Arkansas from a digital deadzone to a premier interconnection hub. Yet these hyperscale investments remain isolated islands with no local fabric to connect them. Without a neutral exchange point, these massive datacenters must still backhaul traffic to Dallas, Atlanta, or Chicago just to reach Arkansas businesses next door. The infrastructure is finally arriving, but the critical interconnection layer that would make Arkansas a true digital crossroads is missing.
NO LOCAL FABRIC
Hyperscale datacenters arriving with no switching infrastructure to connect them. Local ISPs can't efficiently reach Arkansas-hosted content
MISSED REVENUE
Arkansas ISPs missing crossconnect fees, colocation revenue, and direct peering opportunities with $14B in new datacenter investments
FRAGMENTED ACCESS
No standardized interconnection points. Each datacenter requires separate, expensive connections to reach Arkansas networks
THE NATURAL STATE SOLUTION
DISTRIBUTED FABRIC
Strategic switch locations within major datacenters - West Memphis, Little Rock, Conway, and Northwest Arkansas - creating a statewide interconnection mesh
FACILITY PARTNERSHIPS
Partner with datacenter operators for space, power, and meet-me rooms. Revenue sharing model benefits facilities through crossconnect and colocation fees
ISP EMPOWERMENT
Arkansas ISPs gain direct access to hyperscale content, cloud on-ramps, and peering opportunities - keeping revenue and traffic local
Strategic Implementation
NS-CIX is Arkansas's neutral, community-driven interconnection fabric. We partner with local ISPs and datacenter facilities to establish distributed exchange points across the state. This collaboration creates the missing layer that unites isolated datacenters, service providers, and enterprises into one connected ecosystem.
Target locations include Google's West Memphis facility, Little Rock carrier hotels, Conway datacenter campus, and Northwest Arkansas technology corridors. Through revenue-sharing partnerships with facility operators and equipment sponsorships from leading vendors, NS-CIX deploys redundant Arista/Juniper switches with 100G/400G uplinks and diverse fiber paths between all locations. This distributed architecture ensures no single point of failure while maximizing accessibility for Arkansas ISPs and enterprises.
TURNKEY CONNECTIVITY
Pre-staged crossconnects, standardized pricing, and carrier-neutral access. Connect once to NS-CIX, reach all Arkansas datacenters
REVENUE STREAMS
Enable Arkansas ISP and facilities to generate income through port fees, crossconnect charges, and colocation services while ALSO reducing Arkansas ISP costs by 70%
INVERSE PEERING
With critical mass of hyperscale presence, out-of-state providers will pay to connect TO Arkansas rather than Arkansas paying to reach them
NETWORK MEMBERS
READY TO JOIN?
Join Arkansas's growing community of interconnected networks