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Jinx becomes voice exchange

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 25 Jan 2007

The Johannesburg InterNet eXchange's (Jinx's) move to support voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) over a separate virtual local area network marks a major shift for its controlling body, the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), observers say.

Alan Levin, chairman of the South African Chapter of the Internet Society, says: "This makes for a very interesting situation, because ISPA is not a traditional player in the voice arena and it makes them a voice exchange."

Levin says voice exchanges are generally best handled by a neutral third-party that has experience in dealing with the issue, and, while ISPA meets the first criteria, it does not necessarily meet the second.

Dave Gale, new business development director at Storm (also an ISPA member), says the move means ISPA becomes a "VOIP-ready peering point", and it could mean domestic call costs could be reduced between the association's members.

Open to competition

The high cost of domestic call rates has been an industry bugbear for some time, as Telkom's grip on the home market means alternative call methods, such as those offered by VOIP service providers, do not offer the same savings as realised over the international connections.

Gale feels that should a way be found to bring down domestic call charges, such as through the service offered by Jinx, then the local market will be open to competition much sooner.

Jinx has configured its switching fabric so it is able to support VOIP interconnection between ISPA members.

According to a statement released yesterday, Jinx enables ISPA members to interconnect networks and exchange local traffic in order to save costs, while VOIP commonly refers to the routing of voice conversations over the Internet.

Ideally positioned

"Because Jinx currently interconnects most major South African IP backbones, it is ideally positioned for VOIP interconnect," says Lynne Orrock, joint chairperson of ISPA.

She says Jinx's ability to support VOIP interconnection will facilitate interconnecting with value-added network service operators that intend offering VOIP.

The switching fabric at Jinx has now been configured in such a way that companies connected to it are able to keep their voice and data traffic separate.

Levin says the changes to the switching fabric (the way the switches are configured) means voice traffic will probably be given prioritisation in order to ensure quality of service.

According to the ISPA statement, it hopes the ability to easily exchange IP voice traffic at Jinx will encourage new members to join the association. ISPA already represents over 120 large, medium and small Internet service and access providers in SA.

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