Partnership advances remote peering in Africa

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by TINTSWALO BALOYI 
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AFRICA Data Centres now offer remote peering through its partnership with INX-ZA, further advancing the data centre firm’s development in sub-Saharan Africa.

The former is a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group while INX-ZA is a division of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) of South Africa and operates a fully neutral, community-run internet exchange (IX) point in the country.

Remote peering is peering at an IX without the requirement of being physically present. Customers can use any Network Service Provider’s infrastructure to reach the IXPs, so they do not need to invest in any extra equipment.

Remote peering makes multi-region peering more accessible, efficient and simple to manage because Africa Data Centres has more IXs at its facilities than any other colocation provider on the continent, officials said.

“Bringing remote peering to the table is just one more way Africa Data Centres is helping customers reap the benefits of peering at INX-ZA without having to build and manage their infrastructure in Europe,” said Tesh Durvasula, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres.

He explained that instead of setting up a point of presence to access internet exchanges, customers can now connect directly to them using existing infrastructure.

“Having this ability not only reduces capital expenditure and complexity. Deployments can be achieved in a matter of minutes rather than months,” Durvasula added.

The introduction of remote peering, he said, lays the groundwork for more businesses to peer at internet exchanges (IXs) around the world.

“It is a faster and more cost-effective way to access a wide range of IXPs, reducing the number of suppliers and general network costs,” said the executive.

“Connectivity can be managed simply, without the expense of purchasing physical port or having to deploy equipment at each exchange point,” he explained.

Connecting to both INX-ZA’s Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) and Cape Town Internet Exchange (CINX) will enable carriers, ISPs and other entities to peer in a free and simplified manner.

Africa Data Centres’ customers will continue to deal with INX-ZA on a technical and community level.

“This next step makes sense to us and takes our relationship with INX-ZA to a new level while saving our customers time and money. It’s a win-win situation,” Durvasula said.

– CAJ News

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