TorIX is incorporated as a not for profit corporation under the name "Toronto Internet Exchange Community".

The word "community" was chosen to reflect the nature of the group. The individuals that incorporated TorIX saw that the ad-hoc exchange had grown out of a strong community. They saw that that community would continue to expand, supporting the growth of the exchange.

And TorIX has seen tremendous growth in recent times, but now it struggles in various areas because the community has not been engaged in the development of the polices by which it operates. The blame for this shift falls not on the community members, but on the directors for failing to consult the membership. TorIX needs to re-align itself to become the member-based, community-oriented group it has been in the past.

I encourage the membership to ask its directors hard questions about the type of organization they see TorIX becoming in future years, and to support candidates who believe in constant and wide consultation; candidates who have not only the necessary technical understanding, but who also understand group governance and who believe in more relevant involvement from the wider membership.

I am open to discuss these issues and encourage you to contact me if you have questions or suggestions at (416) 443-7939 or torix@paul.ca.

Biography: Paul Andersen is the President of EGATE Networks Inc., responsible for the operation of servicing small and medium sized businesses. EGATE Networks is an Internet hosting and connectivity provider offering a variety of Internet services.

Mr. Andersen is a currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Internet Exchange and serves as the Vice-Chair.

Mr. Andersen has worked in the Internet Service Provider industry for over a decade and has been very active in the Internet industry governance. He has been a Member of CIRA's Board of Directors since 2001 and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Since 2003, Mr. Andersen has been a Member of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) Advisory Council which is responsible for advising IP allocation policy and related matters.

Kevin Blumberg is Co-Owner and CTO of The Wire Inc an Independent ISP specializing in the small and medium business market in Toronto, Ontario. Over the past 9 years he has shaped the growth of both the network and server infrastructure including deploying full service DSL, webhosting, mail and colocation solutions.

Kevin continues to expand the company's product roadmap and is constantly working with customers and vendors to strengthen solutions in the ever expanding internet space.

Kevin has been an active Torix member since 2005 and believes strongly in a inclusive membership driven exchange in Toronto.

I am one of the original founders along with Jason Lixfeld, Vince Mammoliti, and Jim Mercer. I was on the first board of directors and help set up and funded the original incorporation. I have always been there for the TorIX both financially and volunteering my time.

I have been on the boards of two public companies (Internet Direct Ltd. and Hostopia.com Inc.). I have a lot of Board of Directors experience and I can be of a real assistance to the Board of Directors as a member. I have been actively in the Internet business since the early 90s.

I believe that TorIX should look for some government funding. I also believe that it is time to get the big telecoms peering at TorIX.

I want volunteer my time in order to help the TorIX in its future success. Thank You for your consideration.

Co-Owner and CEO of TekSavvy Solutions Inc, a Canadian Internet Service Provider, which serves High Speed Internet in ON/QC/AB/BC and a variety of internet related services. Rocky is a strong advocate for Net Neutrality principals, which supports innovation, competition and choice. He takes an open book approach to both Internet and Business challenges and also participates quite frequently in online forums discussing every day activities with clients and competitors alike. In Business since 1998, as co-founder of TekSavvy, a family owned business, Rocky has enjoyed immersing himself in a variety of technologies/applications over the years.

I've been involved in the Internet community for a number of years, mostly behind the scenes doing everything from technical support, day-to-day datacentre management, provisioning (both logical and physical) and project coordination, and finally engineering and network operations. I deal with a vast array of network architectures on a daily basis.

At my current employ, AKN, we operate a primarily Layer 2 network that aggregates approximately 20 carriers across 50 NNIs at 9 POPs in Canada and the US. I'm currently in the process of a massive network upgrade across every POP that will see EoMPLS, VPLS, and L3 IP-VPN rolled out network-wide. With such a large L2 network, we see nearly everything, and have a vast body of operational experience, which I believe would be a huge asset in the governance of TorIX.

I'm also a huge proponent of the settlement-free interchange (SFI) and the public peering model, and believe in the intrinsic value it provides to all carriers, large and small, to provide a better customer experience by localizing traffic, reducing latency, increasing capacity, providing redundancy, and finally reducing costs. TorIX goes beyond all of this by creating a tightly-knit community that cooperates not just on peering, but all things operational as they relate to the Internet community.

I would like to thank the members for their consideration of my nomination to the board of directors and hope to be able to contribute the sum of my knowledge and experience in serving TorIX and the Internet community at large.

Martin Hannigan is long time Internet network builder. His past includes development of NSFNet and Internet networks at Bose Corporation, Microsoft, Level(3) Communications, VeriSign, and Verne Global ehf. Formerly the market go-to person and a founder of the burgeoning Iceland Data Center industry, he's worked closely with networks in Greenland and Canada creating a route to Europe via Greenland Connect and Iceland. He is currently employed by a large commercial CDN.

Over the past 9 years I have been involved in various parts of the internet community in Toronto, across Canada and elsewhere. My history in here includes time spent with one of the earliest DSL providers buying wholesale services from Bell (C1 Communications), significant time spent with the backbone and peering teams at Telus, and lastly with Rogers Cable IP design group before heading out to manage the network at BitGravity. I've had the opportunity to work with quite a few members of TorIX over the years, and have met many more of you through peering at TorIX while at Rogers. It's been great to see the exchange continue to evolve over the years. There are a few more steps to go through to become a truly world class exchange, and it has become clear that there is work to be done to overcome the current obstacles. I owe a debt to many of the participants that have helped me along the way and am offering my time both on the board and as an advocate for the exchange when working with networks that haven't found their way into Toronto yet.

Sameer Khosla currently sits on the TorIX board of directors as the treasurer for the organization. In this role, Sameer has been intimately involved in growing the exchange to include dozens of new peers and higher capacity platforms.

Sameer has also taken on the role of heading the TorIX Social committee, with responsibility for committee organization, management, event planning and execution. Beyond that, Sameer was solely responsible for identifying and working with potential corporate sponsors to raise funds for TorIX social events and community causes. With multiple successful events over the last 2 years, Sameer plans to continue and expand the roster of social committee events.

Sameer Khosla is the Managing Director of Neutral Data Centers Corp., a Colocation and IP transit provider at 151 Front. In this role he is responsible for Architecture, Engineering, Operations, Vendor Relations, Sales and Marketing. His wealth of experience, including positions with companies such as Cisco Systems, and deep personal networks in all aspects of the Network and Telecommunications industries have proved invaluable to the growth of TorIX.

TorIX has benefited greatly from the service of some extremely talented individuals during it's 11+ year history. In 1998, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time when Bill Campbell pulled me into his office with Jim Mercer and Vince Mammoliti and we talked about his idea for an Internet Exchange in Toronto. Shortly thereafter, "TorIX" was born. After 9 years of volunteering my time maintaining the day-to-day operations, I was privileged to be elected onto the Board of Directors along with some other brilliant minds at the first official election by the members since it's non-profit incorporation a few years prior.

After the first election, TorIX saw it's most successful period when it realized it's largest growth by over 400% from 4Gb/s in early 2007 to over 16Gb/s and added over 40 members in just over two years.

Working along side all of these extraordinary people who have helped build TorIX over the years has taught me a great deal and provided valuable experience. I would be grateful for the opportunity to focus my previous experience here again by serving on the Board of Directors and continue in a direction that will see TorIX gain even more success and acclaim for the next 11 years.

My main objectives in a renewed term on the Board of Directors include creating a financial model that will provide a stable and cost effective revenue stream for TorIX to scale the infrastructure while maintaining it's renowned stability and reliability. In addition, I plan to continue the previous Board's work that will ultimately see a transparent flow of information between the Board of Directors and the members and shift TorIX' operation to member-heavy committees, with the board acting in a much more hands-off capacity.

If you have any questions about my previous work at TorIX or my plans for it's future, please don't hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

TorIX will be entering its 11th year of service. Fortunately enough, I have been involved from the early conception of the exchange. It may have been only Bill Campbell at the time that dreamed that TorIX would become a major exchange point in North America. In reality with the increase number of peers and bandwidth that passing though the exchange, TorIX has evolved into more then just an exchange of IP traffic. It is has evolved into a community that provides each other with assistance, sharing ideas, expertise and simple friendship.

Currently serving on the Board of Directors, I have been offering my experience, business understanding and guidance to assist in the direction of the exchange. During this time, TorIX has seen exponential growth and success. Including operational downtime that is far less then most other exchanges around the world. This achievement has to be accredited to the current board, with major credit to the efforts of Jon Nistor and Jason Lixfeld.

Moving forward as more members are relying on TorIX as a critical part of there current day-to-day operation, I see the Exchange having to evolve again to this next level to meet the members requirements. This would include increasing the number of 10G and 1G ports which will eventually require the replacement of current switches to meet the capacity needs.

Another change would also include the Board itself becoming one level removed and act more to oversee the Exchange and future direction.

I am asking for vote for my renewal term on the Board of Directors.

Please like always feel free to contact me directly, Vince Mammoliti

In 1996, I cofounded Radiant Communications. It is now a public company doing over 20 million in revenue. I am currently a director level, but was CTO and on the board as well as chairman of the board up until 2000. At that point we decided to propel Radiant and was able to get Jim Grey (ex President of BCTel Advanced Com) to come in as President and raise 15 million in that year alone in private placements. By that point with the 3 management people in Radiant got Radiant profitable with over 2 million in revenue. Currently at Radiant I am responsible for the product development of all network products for the company. Oversee projects in Network Operations, but they do not report directly to me and have our programmers and our internal OSS do report to me.

Before 1996, I had a much different life. Was involved with Investor Relations with several small exploration companies and blind pools on the VSE and ASE. Most are gone, but some of those were Palmer Resources, Triband Resources and Curlew Lake Resources. Curlew is still in operation with some oil revenue. Certain a different life to now, but I have been on the board of all 3 of those companies. My point being I have had to deal with regulations that relate to being a director of a public company which are more onerous than a private one. I have even had training on corporate governance and other courses.

I have technical experience with:

With both my Radiant and previous experience, I believe I would be an asset to TORIX with my business, planning and technical abilities.

My name is Jon Nistor and I have been involved in many areas of the technology industry over the past ten years, from technical support through network design and capacity planning. I currently design customer solutions for Arbor Networks. I spend a great deal of time keeping up to date with the latest industry trends and engaging with various peers, organizations, and Internet Exchange Point operators. I have also actively participated in numerous conferences and events (such as NANOG).

I first became involved with TorIX when it consisted of only five peers, a very old switch, and a single server 100km from the exchange. Back then it was mainly comprised of very basic static web pages and a simple MRTG setup. My initial interest stemmed from an enjoyment of graphs, statistics and the wonderful world of SNMP. Since then, my role with TorIX has greatly evolved to include a myriad of other functions, including, but not limited to:

There are many goals I would like to achieve with TorIX, including:

One of my longer term visions is to grow TorIX to the point of joining the ranks of world class exchanges, such as DE-CIX and AMS-IX. I feel that this growth will benefit all consumers.

I have enjoyed my time working for and with the TorIX community as a member of the current board, and would love the opportunity to continue this relationship.

If you have any questions or comments, I look forward to hearing from you.

Greg Prosser is a Systems Architect currently working for Bell Canada.

Greg has been working in a one stop shop within Bell Canada performing architecture design, implementation, and day-to-day operations work for both networking and systems components of several large internal and external facing platforms within Bell and for Bell's clients since 2005. Greg brings with him operational experience in a large enterprise environment, along with classical training in Computer Science, having earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto.

With a strong commitment to community, Greg has been an active member of the TorIX social committee and various other groups. While not coming from an organization that is currently a member of the Toronto Internet eXchange, Greg has been participating and assisting behind the scenes for some time, and has previously been directly involved in the exchange as a member at a previous workplace.

I am honoured to be nominated and stand for election to the TorIX Board of Directors.

As TorIX continues it's rapid growth it faces many hurdles and challenges. If elected I look forward to working hard with the other board members to solve these challenges and to ensure that the exchange continues to flourish and operate with the high levels of stability and efficiency that the members expect.

I believe that the members should be consulted and updated regularly on all matters relating to the exchange whether they be operational, technical, financial or otherwise. It is through these regular consultations with the member community that the board can ensure that the wishes and concerns of the members are adequately addressed.

Please feel free to contact me at 905-409-5228 or email me at bill@sandiford.com if you have any questions or wish to discuss the issues that face TorIX now and into the future.

Biography:

Bill is the CTO of Telnet Communications, a growing CLEC and ISP operating in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada. Bill has over 13 years of experience in the ISP and telecommunications business with expertise not only in technology but also regulatory and business processes.

In his current role, Bill's responsibilities include the design, deployment, and operation of all aspects of Telnet's network and overseeing Telnet's application development department. Bill also has group governance experience as Vice President of the Whitby Dunlops Senior AAA Hockey Club. In addition, he was recently elected to the MetaSwitch User's Board which liaises between all MetaSwitch customers worldwide and MetaSwitch's engineering department and executives.

Bill has spent his entire career working for Telnet Communications since he co-founded the company in 1996 after attending Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada.

Outside of work Bill enjoys hockey, rugby, scuba diving, and piloting his Cessna aircraft to exotic destinations around North America and the Caribbean.

Tom Scholl is a member of the AT&T Global IP/MPLS backbone design & development team where he designs routing architectures for the AT&T core network as well as various network integration projects such as ATamp;T Mobility, U-Verse and SBC Internet Services. Tom has spent his last several years at SBC and Ameritech working in both operations and network engineering roles. He has presented several times at NANOG and always makes time available to help peers as well as provide education where needed.

Scott Silzer is a seasoned professional with over 12 years experience in the internet and telephony sector. His primary interest is in the development of unique and cutting edge telecommunications and internet based products. For the past 12 years, he has played a key role in the development of innovative network solutions. Scott has been a long standing member of the TorIX community serving as both an admin and as a member of the founding board. He has worked for both small and large members of the exchange in a variety roles and because of this experience is capable of addressing and understanding the deserve needs of the TorIX community big and small alike.

Paul Stewart is the Senior Network Administrator for the Nexicom Group. His background includes building and managing several ISP's dating back til 1991, and he has worked as a consultant to many other ISP's as well. Paul has sat on technical advisory boards for several Fortune 500 companies. Nexicom is currently peered with 9 public exchange points including TorIX.

My goals if elected to TorIX, are to work with everyone on the board to ensure the exchange continues to operate as it is today along with some changes over time. These changes would be gradual in nature and often include membership consultation. Better and more frequent communication with all members would be my first priority. I also firmly believe that TorIX is a membership driven organization where it is critical for all members to participate and share their viewpoints. The TorIX board should be well identified to all members along with their responsibilities and contact information. Quarterly meetings for the board would be proposed along with the option for any members to participate during the public portion of those board meetings in person should the need arise. Thank you for your consideration.

TORIX has been making waves over the past few years growing from a small regional exchange to an internationally recognized one. The growth in data exchanged from 3gbps in February 2006 to 15gbps in February 2009 shows the quality of the operation of the Toronto Internet Exchange. Along with this data growth has been the growth of Torix on the administrative side, which to the technical focused industry in which we all participate, has been the most contentious issue within in the recent history of Torix.

In my 15+ years of ISP experience, one thing that comes up frequently is that we're an industry that can easily make things complex in a very short period of time while attempting to solve a specific issue.

My focus would be to keep thing simple within Torix. Simple rules, simple services, and simple understanding by the members of what Torix can and will provide them, both technically and socially. Torix was and still is just a community based volunteer organization who's services are used by a great number of businesses.

Torix was built with the idea of making it simple and easy for all it's participants to exchange data among each other, and that would be my focus while keeping it moving forward.