The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has become the first IXP in the world to be awarded certification by the Open-IX Association (OIX). The announcement follows news that LINX’s first overseas exchange, LINX NoVA, is now live.
LINX NoVA, an exchange located across three different physical locations in Virginia – Ashburn, Reston and Manassas – is operated by data center providers DuPont Fabros, CoreSite and EvoSwitch. It went into service on January 2, with the Open-IX certification being confirmed shortly after.
OIX encourages the development of neutral and distributed Internet Exchanges in North America while promoting uniform, cost-efficient standards of performance for interconnections backed by the Internet community. So, to be an Open-IX certified IXP an exchange must fulfil a number of technical and operational requirements.
“There has been a lot of attention worldwide for what we’re building here,” said LINX CEO John Souter. “Our members endorsed the idea that LINX should build a neutral, member-governed and distributed Internet exchange and that is precisely what we’ve done with LINX NoVA in North Virginia. The formation of Open-IX indicates that US operators are ready for a more transparent, mutual approach to peering, similar to what LINX has pioneered in the UK. This method of passing traffic is sometimes described as the ‘European model’ but it’s primarily about putting the member first.”
Commenting on LINX’s certification, Open-IX chairman Dave Temkin added, “As the first Internet exchange point to fulfill Internet community developed requirements for Open-IX certification, LINX has shown that it has key systems and best practice procedures in place to allow the Internet peering community to connect with confidence. Their new LINX NoVA exchange is certainly a game changer for our members and Internet communty in the U.S. market.”
