Teraco Data Environments this week unveiled competition for local Internet exchange points JINX (Johannesburg Internet Exchange) and CINX (Cape Town Internet Exchange).
The company has opened the public peering facility, NAPAfrica, inside its own data centre in Cape Town and hopes to peer between the two already active Internet exchanges.
Exchange points are used to route local traffic.
“NAPAfrica will complement JINX and CINX, set up by the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA). Several of the network service providers connecting to NAPAfrica are looking at options to connect NAPAfrica to CINX and JINX, to allow peering between the exchanges,” the company explained in a statement.
“The launch of NAPAfrica is perfectly timed. With the liberalisation of the local industry and connectivity options within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world growing, network service providers want to co-locate where they are most likely to find others already connected. SA, with its advanced infrastructure and expertise, can play a vital role as the regional aggregator and enabler,” says Lex van Wyk, MD of Teraco Data Environments.
Teraco says the carriers and ISPs within the data centre include Telkom, Neotel, T-Systems, Vodacom Business, Fastnet, Ensync, WebAfrica and BCSgroup. “Several of which have already indicated intent to peer on the exchange.”
Alan Levin, CEO of local Internet service provider Vanilla, says the new exchange point will help to change old established data centre traditions. He says, customarily, data centres would only allow a specific number of peered racks per ISP within the centre.
“The principle of having the Internet exchange point within the data centre establishes a precedent in industry that says there should be unlimited connections between cabinets in the data centre. This has not always been the case.”
POPing up
Last month, ISPA revived the Cape Exchange, following the announcement that Google had decided to include a point of presence (POP) in Cape Town.
CINX was initially set up at the same time as the Johannesburg exchange; however, it was abandoned several years ago, because of a lack of support. Levin says the top three ISPs used private peering, which made the Cape exchange less viable.
With the growth in local traffic and Internet access, and the possibility that the ISPs will start routing local Google traffic, CINX has become a more viable option. “We are excited that CINX is up and running, and we can't wait for the Google POP to become a reality,” says Levin.
CINX went live at the end of September and NAPAfrica will go live at Teraco, in Cape Town, at the end of October. Teraco also plans a Johannesburg point for February 2010.
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