KwaZulu-Natal's capital city has flipped the switch on the new Durban Internet Exchange (DINX), which complements Africa's two largest Internet exchanges, the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) and the Cape Town Internet Exchange (CINX).
Managed by the Internet Service Providers' Association of SA (ISPA), the three Internet Exchanges (INXs) will enable South African Internet service providers (ISPs) to interconnect their networks and exchange local Internet traffic. “This saves costs and provides for greater reliability through enhanced redundancy,” says ISPA.
Graham Beneke, chairman of ISPA's INX working group, says that, while Durban has traditionally held a smaller Internet market than Johannesburg or Cape Town, it is also fast becoming a key telecommunications distribution hub. “[There are now] three major undersea cables landing a short distance up the North Coast, at Mtunzini.”
Beneke says the increased capacity has “catapulted” Internet traffic in the region. “ISPA builds INXs where there is current demand and scope for future growth. We have high hopes for the Durban exchange point.”
Data housing
DINX is located at SA's first vendor-neutral data centre, Teraco Data Environments, at the centre's new Durban facility (DB1) in Riverhorse Valley.
Teraco MD Lex van Wyk says the launch of DINX is a major step towards contributing to the health and growth of the Internet in SA. “Regionalising Internet traffic contributes directly to improved interconnection costs and resilience, which are both critical in building an affordable and stable environment in which digital platforms can thrive.”
Van Wyk says the installation of DINX within Teraco's Durban facility has been a long time coming. “It is already installed and operational.”
Teraco's Durban facility provides power, security, fire protection, cooling and cable management. According to Van Wyk, the data centre is located on the fibre ring of all the major licensed carriers - all of which have fibre nodes within the building.
Derek Hershaw, CEO of MWEB ISP, believes that an Internet exchange belongs in a vendor-neutral facility. “Teraco, through its continued build of neutral and open access centres, has already positively contributed to the cost of Internet access in SA, and I have no doubt their hosting of DINX works towards the same goal of improving the overall Internet economy in our country.”
CINX and JINX both already process significant volumes of Internet traffic, with more than 50 IP networks peering at JINX, and 25 peering at CINX. It is anticipated that DINX will offer the same significant performance and cost savings for Durban-based businesses that the existing exchange points bring to their respective participants.
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