It seems like that problem could be overcome by making the IX a cooperative owned by the members, maybe?

Even if an IX is a cooperative, that doesn't say anything about their costs and the costs of interconnection. Networks and buildings and cross-connects can get cheap for lots of reasons, but the nature of the ownership isn't really a factor. Cooperatives can be as poorly run or have as high costs as any commercial facility. In fact, you could argue that without some cross-subsidy of co-lo or one of the providers 'donating' space, a small cooperative is likely to be more expensive to put together than a large colo facility that has lots of revenue streams. Or you could argue the opposite. I'm just pointing out that motivation and ownership don't necessarily dictate final costs. That being said...

I am in almost that exact position (A peering n00b network) - Of couse, I'm fairly certain I'm paying sucker prices, but I can get a gigE to any2 at 55 s market for less than a third the price you quote.

Well, bully for you, but at this very instant I'm looking at a contract from PCCW which has a component of a cross-connect in Telecity London (Harbour Exchange) where the cross-connect has been priced out at USD 2400/month (maybe that also includes 1U of space; it's hard to tell). I do understand that this is NANOG with emphasis on the "NA" part, and so costs in other geographies may not be all that interesting, but some facilities do charge an arm and a leg (or maybe PCCW is screwing us over on the proposal). jms -- Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719 Senior Partner, Opus One Phone: +1 520 324 0494 jms@Opus1.COM http://www.opus1.com/jms