February 2023: Changes to MoU
This is a membership consultation on a proposed change to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The change concerns clause 1.4 of the MoU, which currently outlines the requirement for all members to purchase a peering service.
The change will allow more networks and companies to become members, therefore increasing the value of LINX membership for all members.
By reaching a larger group of networks, LINX value increases for the larger content providers and networks, who will increase their capacity on the exchanges, therefore adding more value for all members.
A member consultation paper sets out the details of these changes and the reasoning behind them.
The member consultation on these changes begins at LINX 118. To be considered by The Board, member comments should be sent to consultations@linx.net by 27th March 2023.
Spring 2022: Changes to Articles and MoU
This consultation concerns proposed amendments to the Articles of Association and the Memorandum of Understanding. These are relatively minor technical improvements, not a substantial change to our governance.
The changes to the Articles
- Clarify who chairs the General Meeting, by inserting an explicit provision in the Articles; and
- Provide for a power of temporary adjournment of the General Meeting.
The changes to the MoU would empower the Board to lift the suspension of a member whose membership has been suspended, and to reimpose it, if certain conditions are met.
A member consultation paper sets out the details of these changes and the reasoning behind them. There is also a redline version of the Articles and the MoU.
The Board intend to proposed these amendment for ratification at the AGM to be held at LINX 116 in May. So that the Board may consider any comments received, we ask that responses are sent to consultations@linx.net by 30th April.
July 2021: Change of LINX subdomain mailing lists
This consultation concerns an amendment to the MoU and an MoU referenced document as follows:
1. to change all references in the MoU to LINX operated mailing lists so that they refer to the subdomain @lists.linx.net instead of the main domain @linx.net.
2. to make the same changes throughout the MoU referenced document, “LAN announcements reference document”.
Full details on the consultation can be found here.
These proposed changes were presented at LINX113 on 25th May 2021.
Next Steps
We would like to solicit feedback on the above with the target of presenting this as a formal resolution at a general meeting to be held at LINX114 in November 2021. The Board will consider amending the proposal taking into account any comments received.
February 2021: Member representation
This consultation concerns an amendment to the MoU to clarify that LINX has the right to decline to interact with a particular individual.
In normal circumstances, LINX members appoint their representatives to LINX, including for purposes and positions specified under the MoU. However if an individual were threatening, intimidating, or racially or sexually abusive towards a member of staff, LINX would need to refuse to interact with that individual for the protection of staff welfare, and would require the member the appoint a alternative representative. It is LINX’s intention only to exercise that right in extreme circumstances, with the personal approval of the Chief Executive.
The text of the proposed resolution is accompanied by more detailed explanatory notes / FAQ, here.
This text will be presented at LINX112 on 18th February, with a view to being tabled for formal approval at the Annual General Meeting in May 2021.
December 2020: Consultation on setting up of a LINX Elections Committee
This is an overview of plans to set up a LINX Elections Committee to help LINX with the 2021 board elections.
The role of the committee will be to:
- Encourage a strong slate of candidates (acting as ambassadors to seek our potential candidates).
- Assist in the elections process (by helping us in updating documentation/processes and supporting us in any ‘hustings’ type processes previously undertaken by staff).
- Ensure the election process is accessible, including and welcoming, to reach a wider range of potential candidates.
We hope the committee will give members an opportunity to help with the election process in a role which would not require the same level of time commitment as for example, serving on the board – so it may be an opportunity for those who want to serve the community to help in a different capacity.
- Initial announcement, presented at LINX111 on 15th December 2020 can be found here.
- Proposed Terms of Reference for the LINX Elections Committee can be found here.
Next Steps
If you have relevant experience and would like to volunteer (or know someone who does), or you have any questions, please contact Bekki Dube at cosec@linx.net.
Please contact us by 8th January 2021. We hope to get the committee working at the beginning of 2021.
May 2020: Consultation on removal of the multicast LAN
LINX is obliged to provide a multicast LAN as per the MoU. Currently the multicast LAN only has two connected ports and we have seen no sign of traffic increasing on this LAN . Most if not all other IXPs do not provide a separate LAN for multicast, and with the deployment of EVPN on LON2 and later on LON1, the need for separation of multicast traffic has diminished. With only two connected ports and low traffic levels the need to maintain a separate LAN for multicast traffic has seemingly diminished. We would therefore like to consult on changes to remove the separate multicast LAN, by making the following changes to the MoU:
- Allow all multicast traffic on the normal peering LAN.
- Only allow IPv6 multicast on the peering LAN in an effort to encourage adoption.
Full details can be found here.
We would like to solicit feedback on the above with the target of presenting this as a formal resolution at a general meeting held at LINX113 in May 2021. The Board will consider amending the proposal taking into account any comments received.
