Networks currently interconnecting through Internet exchanges can now use their peering ports to make virtual private network interconnects (VPNIs) to other networks, at no cost, INX-ZA, which operates the exchanges, said on Monday.
There are no bandwidth restrictions placed on the service or how it is used.
INX-ZA manager Nishal Goburdhan said the additional Internet exchange service is available at all data centres linked to the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (Jinx), Cape Town Internet Exchange (Cinx) and Durban Internet Exchange (Dinx).
Goburdhan said the decision to offer free virtual interconnects will help grow the domestic Internet by keeping costs low.
He explained that the VPNI service helps maximise efficiencies by enabling peering networks to re-use their existing peering ports to connect to other partners through a simple software configuration.
“Peers are already cabled-up and running existing services, so it literally just takes a few minutes for us to enable the service. That’s a fraction of the time that it would take to get completely new cables run across a data centre, tested and connected to two individual parties,” he said.
Internet exchanges enable networks to interconnect so that domestic Internet users benefit from faster connections and more efficient access to online services. Network operators benefit from lower costs, resulting in more affordable bandwidth.
South Africa’s first Internet exchange, Jinx, began as a project of the Internet Service Providers’ Association in 1996 and is now independently managed by INX-ZA. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media