// internet engineer, est. 1994

I build the parts of the Internet
you only notice when they break.

IPv6 deployment, DNS & DNSSEC automation, and BGP peering — for service providers, enterprises, and a few branches of the federal government that would rather I not name names.

your address v4: resolving… · v6: resolving…

01 — whoami

30+ years of building things that route, resolve, and peer correctly.

Aaron Hughes

I have been shaping and engineering internet infrastructure since 1994 — back when "the cloud" just meant weather and IPv6 was a draft nobody outside a handful of IETF meetings had heard of. Over 30+ years I've built and run network and systems architecture for organizations from Lockheed Martin and Terremark to branches of the U.S. federal government, and spent the last decade focused specifically on deploying IPv6 at scale.

That '94 start was hands-on: early network operations work at Channel(1) Communications BBS, UltraNet Communications and RCN Corporation, then five years as VP of Operations at Yellowbrix, running the infrastructure behind one of the first web content-syndication platforms — the kind of job where you learn what "the network is the product" actually means.

I founded 6connect to fix a problem I kept running into everywhere else: IP address management, DNS/DNSSEC, and peering automation that actually understands how networks are operated, not just how they're diagrammed. It was later acquired by Hilco Global, and I still work on the strategy side of that world today.

Outside the day job, I spend a lot of time in the community that keeps the Internet's plumbing working — as a former Chair of the OIX board, former PeeringDB President, and former ARIN Trustee, and a regular conference speaker on network automation and IPv6 deployment strategy.

  • Founder, fmr. CEO6connectacquired by Hilco Global
  • Former PresidentPeeringDB2015–2023, 2025–2026
  • Former ChairOIX Boardformerly Open-IX
  • Former TrusteeARIN Board of Trustees6 years
  • Admin / volunteerPeeringDB10+ years
  • Co-founderBCOPBest Current Operational Practices

Active in NANOG, ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, and Peering events — and a regular speaker at conferences, globally.

02 — expertise

What I actually do all day

ipv6

Deployment, not theory

Dual-stack — and increasingly IPv6-only — deployment for service providers, enterprises, and government networks. Ten years in, and I still meet networks that treat IPv6 as optional. It isn't.

dns / dnssec

Answers you can trust

Authoritative and recursive DNS architecture, automated zone management, and DNSSEC that's actually maintained — not switched on once at a conference and forgotten.

routing / peering

The scenic route, avoided

BGP design, route policy, and interconnection strategy — plus a healthy obsession with PeeringDB data being accurate, since I'm the guy who hears about it when it isn't.

Global IPv6 adoption crossed 50% for the first time on March 28, 2026, per Google's IPv6 statistics. I've been deploying it since the number was a lot lonelier.

source: APNIC Blog ↗

04 — travel

1,361 flights and counting

Real numbers, pulled from my own flight-tracking history.

0+Countries
0Flights
238 long-haul
0km flown
82.8× around the world
0Airports
0Airlines
204d 8hTime in the air
over half a year, airborne
0Hours lost to delays
avg. 29 min late
737‑800Most-flown aircraft
236 flights

@asquaredworldtour

Aaron & Amanda's world travels, as they post them.

Follow on Instagram ↗

Street food (and the occasional Michelin star)

A decade of eating our way through queues, alleys, and cocktail bars that need a password — the cart gets the same respect as the tasting menu.

  • Tokyo — Ramen at Mutekiya is worth the queue; so is whatever's on the grill in the alleys of Golden Gai. Any Japanese beef, especially high-grade Wagyu, tastes exceptionally rich, buttery, and savory with a signature texture that dissolves on your tongue. From ¥200 to over ¥90,000 yen.. Just get it in your mouth
  • Florence — Lampredotto from the cart by the Porcellino, then a Negroni at the bar that invented it, Giacosa. Sformatino to start and Pappardelle al ragù di cinghiale at Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco is a must!
  • Edinburgh — Cardamom buns at Lannan Bakery, no matter how long the line runs.
  • New York — Cocktails at The Plaza is always our first stop. Saturday at Smorgasburg, nightcap at whichever speakeasy needs a password that week.
  • Rome — Lunch at a restaurant older than most countries, gelato at one older still. Cacio e pepe at Ristorante Roma Sparita in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood.
  • Singapore — Hawker centers over hotel restaurants, every time.

05 — contact

Let's talk IPv6, DNS, peering, or good street food.