On 15 April, Namex – Rome’s Internet hub and the main Internet Exchange Point (IXP) for Central and Southern Italy – celebrated its 30th anniversary. The milestone was marked in Rome at the Protomoteca Hall on the Capitoline Hill, with representatives from institutions, digital pioneers, and leaders of major tech companies in attendance.

Since its establishment in 1995, Namex has consistently invested in developing a cutting-edge digital infrastructure, which today serves millions of users through a continuously expanding network. Today, Namex is a non-profit consortium, bringing together 180 organisations and interconnecting 260 telecom networks. It ranks among the top 10% of the world’s most high-performing IXPs in terms of traffic volume.

GARR has also played a key role in the success of this infrastructure, having always worked closely with Namex to create an increasingly widespread and collaborative network ecosystem.

During the event, ten pioneers who helped shape Namex into the organisation it is today were honoured. Among them was Enzo Valente, founder and former director of GARR. His contribution was recognised as decisive, thanks to his determination in revolutionising the geography of Internet peering in Italy. In 1998, GARR managed to shift the main interconnection with TIM from Naples to Rome — a move that not only improved network performance, but also symbolically cemented the central role of Rome’s IXP on the national stage.

Another key moment in the collaboration between GARR and Namex came in 2003, when Namex was chosen to host Italy’s first root name server and the third F-Root instance in Europe, after Madrid and Moscow.

The anniversary celebration also offered an opportunity to reflect on the history and evolution of the Internet in Italy from the mid-1990s to today, featuring insights from some of its key players, including Massimiliano Capitanio, Commissioner of Agcom (the Italian Communications Authority), Maurizio Decina of Politecnico di Milano, Renato Brunetti, President of Namex, Paolo Nuti, Co-founder and former President of AIIP, and Enzo Valente, former Director of GARR.

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The 10 pioneers who helped make Namex one of Italy’s leading Internet interconnection hubs:   

• Bo Arnklit - MCLink
• Enzo Valente - GARR
• Francesco Proietti - Caspur
• Gianni Sandrucci  - Agorà Telematica
• John Souter - Linx
• Nino Catania - ANFoV
• Paolo Bevilacqua – Unidata
• Paolo Nuti  - MCLink/AIIP
• Renato Brunetti - Unidata
• Riccardo De Sanctis  - Namex
• Silvano Fraticelli - MCLink

Go to the event website NAMEX website

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