MAE-East

So that was kind of the pun that was intended there.

But Mae East and Mae West were the two first nodes of the Internet.

So that's when DARPA started sending messages and information back and forth between the two nodes.

When I started ServerVault, May East had 60% of the internet traffic going through that node.

The region's story began before today's artificial intelligence.

In the early 1990s, an internet exchange known as MAE-East helped connect separate networks in the area.

An exchange is a meeting place where networks can pass traffic between them rather than remaining separate islands.

Later in that decade, America Online and other internet businesses established a substantial presence around Ashburn, bringing more connections and activity into the same landscape.