AS4847 CNIX-AP China Networks Inter-Exchange

Autonomous System 4847 (CNIX-AP) is China Networks Inter-Exchange, a

Beijing-anchored Chinese interconnection and transit network. It is by far the largest

network in this stretch of the AS range, originating several million IPv4 addresses

across roughly a thousand prefixes.

What it's used for

• Carrying and originating address space on behalf of a long tail of Chinese networks: provincial ChinaNet blocks, independent broadband operators and data-centre companies all appear behind this AS.
• It takes transit from the major Chinese backbones and from international carriers, and sits upstream of a large number of smaller Chinese networks.

Notable

• A mixed-bag origin AS. Because it announces space registered to many different Chinese organisations, an address seen from AS4847 can be a data-centre server, a second-tier ISP's customer, or backbone infrastructure. Attribution is best done from the individual prefix, not from the AS.
• The APNIC record still carries its original description of an international link at Beijing connected to Sprint's global network, a snapshot of the era when China's outside connectivity ran through a small number of US carrier circuits.