Welcome to MWPS 2026 
Join us on July 8, 2026
                  LOCATION
                           Hotel Fort Des Moines
                           1000 Walnut St
                           Des Moines, IA 50309
                  DATE & TIME
                           July 8, 2026
                           8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Location
​​​​Hotel Fort Des Moines
1000 Walnut St.
Des Moines, IA 50309
Parking
Valet parking is available for $18/daily or $36/overnight with
in & out access. There is also a self-park option adjacent to the
hotel, which is connected to the skywalk system.
Schedule - Wednesday, July 8th
8:00 AM
Welcome: Registration, Booth Set up & Breakfast
Registration: Mezzanine
Booth Set Up & Breakfast Provided: Grand Ballroom
9:00 AM
Why IPv6, Why Now? The Operational and Business Case for Deployment
Speaker - John Sweeting - LinkedIn
Company: ARIN
Location: Wedgewood Room
10:00 AM
Stop using 100GBASE-LR4 - Choosing the best 100G+ Optical Technologies
Speaker: Richard A Steenbergen - LinkedIn
Company: Petabit Scale
Location: Wedgewood Room
10:40 AM
Morning Break
11:00 AM
Reverse Q&A
Moderator: Jay Hanke - LinkedIn
Company: South Front Networks - QCIX - MICE
12:00 PM
Lunch 
1:00 PM
Iowa Data Center Roundtable
Moderator: Andy Whitaker - Nokia - LinkedIn
Panelist: Scott McCrady - Cologix - LinkedIn
Panelist: Mitchell Griffith - Aureon - LinkedIn
Panelist: John Cavanaugh - Lightedge- LinkedIn
Panelist: OPEN
Location: Wedgewood Room
2:00 PM
Openpipes Chicago
Speaker: Matt "Grizz" Griswold - 20c/OpenPipes - LinkedIn
Location: Wedgewood Room
2:40 PM
Afternoon Break
3:00 PM
IXP Building: When free becomes problematic 
Speaker: Martin Hannigan - Lightboard - ​LinkedIn​​​
Location: Wedgewood Room
4:00 PM
IX/Colo Roundtable
Moderator: Chris Malayter - Any2/Coresite - LinkedIn
Panelist: Matt Reed - OmahaIX/1623 Farnam - LinkedIn
Panelist: Aaron Wendel - KCIX/DesMoinesIX/NocIX - LinkedIn
Panelist: Anthony Steller - H5 - LinkedIn
Location: Wedgewood Room
4:50 PM
Awards Ceremony
Hosts: The Black Shirts
Location: Wedgewood Room
5:00 PM
Reception
Speakers
Exhibitors
DE-CIX
Representative: 
H5 Data Centers
Representative:
Rabin Mahanty
Great Plains Communications
Representative:
Mike Brodene
Nex-Tech
Representative:
Devin Grooms
South Front Networks
Representative:
Jason Barke
Nokia
Representative:
Tim Ames
1623 Farnam
Representative: 
Noc-IX
Representative:
Aaron Wendel
Segra
Representative:
Jennifer Windham

MIDCO
Representative:
Scott Christensen
Cologix
Representative:
Scott McCrady
Choice IT Global
Representative:
Phil Robinson
Fidium
Representative: 
RocNet Supply
Representative:
David Clar
Arvig
Representative:
Mike Miller


702 Communications
Representative:
Ken Budd
ARIN
Representative:
Misuk Kwon
Lightboard
Representative:
Martin Hannigan
Smartoptics
Representative: 
Adtran
Representative:
Karen Carleton
Who's Coming
Companies Attending
NOCIX

Fort Dodge Fiber

Lightboard

Great Plains Communications

Metronet

CellSite Solutions

RocNet Supply

Western Iowa Networks
Hurricane Electric

Nex-Tech

Open Pipes

Sharon Telephone Company

CL-IX

ImOn Communications

Arvig

Lincoln Data Centers

Cologix

H5 Data Centers

Segra

Nuvera Communications

Suhoso

Fidium

Amazon Web Services

Adtran
Choice IT Global

MIDCO

OPTK Networks

Ridgeview Data Center

Nokia

TDS Telecom

702 Communications

Micrologic
1623 Farnam

MTC Technologies

Vaultas

Wikstrom Telephone Company

SAT-IX

Olsson

Aurora Fiber Network

Smartoptics
South Front Networks

DE-CIX

Petabit Scale

FiberNet Communications

ARIN

Lightedge

Aureon
2026 Sponsors
 Join us on July 08, 2026
We look forward to hosting you!

Processing Registration...