The exact meaning of the acronym is lost in the mists of time; it means either Merit Access Exchange or Metropolitan Area Exchange. In either case, MAE now is just MAE, a registered trademark of MCI, now (September 2007) a Verizon company, and is an official Network Access Point (NAP) at which an Internet service provider (ISP) can access the Internet backbone and exchange traffic with other ISPs. Some NAPs are known as NAPs, some as Internet Exchanges (IXs), and some as MAEs. Tier 1 MAEs are located in San Jose, California (MAE West);Vienna,Virginia (MAE East); Miami, Florida; and Paris, France.Tier 2 MAE sites currently are located in Chicago, Illinois; Dallas,Texas; Los Angeles, California; and New York, New York. See also Internet, ISP, IX, and NAP.