What is "mae-east"

MAE-East was an Internet Exchange Point spread across the east coast of the United States, with locations in Vienna, Virginia; Reston, Virginia; Ashburn, Virginia; New York, New York; and Miami, Florida. It was the eastern branch of the MCI Internet Exchange. Its name officially stood for "Metropolitan Area Exchange, East".

MAE-East was founded in the 1990s as one of the first large Internet peering exchanges and by 1997 it was estimated half the world's traffic passed through it. At the time it was located in the underground parking garage of an office building in Vienna, VA.