News
Nokia Selected as Technical Partner for LINX Nairobi
LINX have revealed that the supplier partner for its LINX Nairobi facility in Kenya will be Nokia. This further enhances the relationship between the two companies following deployment of 400GE at LON1 in London.
LINX Nairobi is the first footprint in Africa for LINX. The Internet Exchange will be deployed from the new IXAfrica data centre in the coming months, and will implement Nokia’s 7220 IXR D3L and SR Linux Network Operating System (NOS) as part of its interconnection platform.
The 7220 IXR D3L provides high-performance, high-density, fixed configuration with a throughput of 6.4 Tb/s in a 1 RU form factor, allowing LINX to scale its capacity cost effectively.
For LINX, the vision of expanding into East Africa for was to bring its knowledge and engineering expertise and to grow alongside the expanding digital eco-system with a future proof platform, interconnecting local and global networks.
Manuel Ortiz Fernandez, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale business at Nokia, said:“LINX is one of the most innovative organisations delivering new interconnectivity services in Africa and the Middle East. We are pleased LINX has chosen Nokia’s market-leading 7220 IXR D3L and SR Linux, ensuring the new infrastructure built in Kenya has the capabilities needed to support the explosive growth we see in this region.”
Existing LINX members connected in the UK or US will be able to add LINX Nairobi as a new LINX interconnection location by using the IXP’s member portal. The new interconnection hub for East Africa will be offering ports from 1G to 100G from day one.
Nokia has offices in more than 38 countries across Africa and the Middle East and is committed to deploying the next generation of IP technology across this region.
From left to right; Afif Abdallah (Nokia), Inga Turner (LINX), Mohamed El-Destawy (Nokia)
LINX Network News
LINX Member Portal Self-Service Features Go Live
LINX has released a batch of complementary new features on its popular LINX Member Portal. These changes ensure that LINX members, and ConneXions partners, all have even greater control over the provisioning of services on their ports.
The main elements of the new Member Portal enhancements are:
- Instant Quotes
- Port Management Automation
- Enhanced Product and Service Order Forms
- Improved Self-Service Functionality
- Invite a Member Function (Closed User Groups and Private VLAN)
Read our in-depth blog which features tutorial graphics of the processes to follow with access to additional information.
LINX LON2: One of the UK’s Best Kept Interconnection Secrets
LON2 has been an integral part of LINX’s network in London for many years, and a key component of the exchange’s redundant dual LAN infrastructure, along with LON1.
The Benefits:
- Members can join LON2 with a single port at 1GE at no additional cost. You won’t even need to pay cross connect fees if you are already on the Telehouse Docklands campus
- LON2 has over 330 connected member networks present making it the second largest interconnection platform in the UK
- Networks can access LINX LON2 from multiple locations
- Using LON2 for Private VLAN and Closed User Groups, makes it a popular choice for members to use for services in addition to peering
- It provides access to many other services from partners through the LINX Marketplace facility
Speak to our knowledgeable Sales team via the link below who will be able to talk through the options that best suit you.
Events
Upcoming Events
- PTC ’23
- 15th-18th January 2023 – Hawaii, USA
- Attended by: Jennifer Holmes, Inga Turner
- NANOG87
- 13th-15th February 2023 – Atlanta, USA
- Attended by: Inga Turner
- APRICOT 2023
- 13th-15th February 2023 – Manila, Philippines
- Attended by: Inga Turner and Halil Kama
If you have any questions regarding LINX events, please forward them to marketing@linx.net and we will be happy to help.
LINX Meeting Dates for 2023 Confirmed
LINX have announced all the dates for its member meetings for next year. Please add them to your diary.
- LINX118
- Monday 27th – Tuesday 28th February 2023
- Park Plaza Victoria, London
- LINX119 inc. AGM and Board Elections
- Tuesday 16th – Wednesday 17th May 2023
- Manchester Central Convention Complex
- LINX120 inc. EGM
- Thursday 16th – Friday 17th November 2023
- Park Plaza Victoria, London
LINX117 Presentation Video Playlist
A playlist made up of presentations from the recent LINX117 member meeting and EGM is now available. If you were unable to attend in November, this is your chance to catch up on all the action.
Learn with LINX…the Playbacks!
LINX has been working alongside its training partner, Systems & Network Training (SNT), for many years to deliver quality programs for the networking community. Two recent online classes are now available to watch again on the LINX YouTube Channel.
How BGP chooses the best route (BGP metrics)
Routing protocols build routing tables to allow routers to forward packets the “best” way to a destination. This session will look at how BGP can influence incoming as well as outgoing traffic covering the longest matching rule, local preferences, AS path prepend and MEDs.
Network automation with Python
This session will look at the use of Python for network automation. SSH and text based work will be compared with structured data and using NETCONF/RESTCONF. Python libraries shown will include Netmiko, Paramiko, ncclient, requests, napalm and Nornir.
If you have missed any of LINX’s live events or training sessions we make as many as possible available to watch again in our Learn with LINX section and LINX YouTube Channel.
Industry News Round Up
Public Affairs News
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill: Government Announcement
To: DPA Digital Competition Policy Group membersFrom: Dave Wright
The Government announced on 17th November, as part of its Autumn Statement 2022, that it will bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the third Parliamentary session – apparently this means before April 2023 (www.inlinepolicy.com/blog/what_the_uk_autumn_statement_means_for_tech). The Bill aims to provide the Competition and Markets Authority with new powers to promote and tackle anti-competitive practices in digital markets, by providing the Digital Markets Unit (DMU), established back in 2021 on a non-statutory footing, with the tools to ensure fair competition, innovation, and growth in the digital sectors.
The DMU will be responsible for designating firms with ‘strategic market status’ (SMS), overseeing a mandatory code of conduct for those firms, and implementing pro-competitive interventions. It is intended that opening markets to greater competition will encourage new start-ups, spur innovation, and provide consumers with higher quality products and greater choice.
Since its creation, the DMU has worked on initiatives including exploring the potential codes to govern the relationship between tech giants and their advertisers. Last month, the BEIS select committee reiterated a call for immediate publication of a draft version of the bill, while also citing the need for the DMU to be given “teeth”, in order to protect consumers.
A recent communication from DCMS has confirmed that our industry engagement “has greatly helped shape the Government’s proposals in a way that will drive greater competition across the entire economy. We appreciate your ongoing engagement and we will be in touch on further details of the exact timings of Bill publication in due course.” Accordingly, the DPA is proposing to invite DCMS officials to a meeting of the Group in the near future.
If you have any comments, please email dpa@dpalliance.org.uk.
To find out more about the services offered by the Public Affairs team, please visit the LINX website.
Industry News Briefing
In our Industry News Briefing we highlight a few of the current news stories relating to the telecoms industry
- Elon Musk’s Space Internet in UK Trials
- To Save Energy Equinix Raises Data Centre Temperature
- OneWeb’s LEO Solutions Distributed By Paratus Across Africa
- 400 Digital Staff from BT Outsourced to Tata for ‘Legacy Technology’ Project
- Paris Metro Networking Deal for Nokia
- JPIX, Cisco and Qwilt Partner to Advance Japanese Streaming Media Delivery
If you are a LINX member and would be interested being featured in a future edition of the LINX newsletter please email us at newsletter@linx.net.
LINX Engineering Freeze
The LINX engineering freeze will take place on Friday 16th December until Tuesday 3rd January 2023.
Any queries, please reach out to our Member Relations team at mr@linx.net or our 24/7 NOC on the LINX Member Portal.
What You May Have Missed
LINX Sets New All-Time Traffic Peak During World Cup
As this newsletter was published the 2022 World Cup was reaching its climax. A number of traffic records have been seen across a number of LINX LANs at different times during the tournament as people follow the action in the office, and elsewhere. An aggregate traffic peak of 7.4Tbps was achieved on the 21st November.
If you like stats like we do, take a look at the latest numbers on the LINX website.
LINXcast Podcast
QTS Data Centers and the Importance of Internet Exchanges
In this episode LINXcast host Jez Orbell speaks with Sandy McMurty, Vice President – Connectivity Business Development at QTS Data Centers. It was a great discussion where Sandy talks about his career to date, the history of QTS, and the Northern Virginia region as a communications gateway.
Also discussed were current trends in connectivity, the importance of peering and IXPs like LINX for data centers, and what’s next for Internet infrastructure. How important will collaboration be within our industry to ensure we stay ahead of the curve?
If you have any ideas for a future podcast or would like to join us to discuss a topic, why not reach out to us!
