Inter-IPX
Introduction
AMS-IX offers an Inter-IPX service with a supporting Service level Agreement (SLA) to IPX Providers as of June 8, 2011. This page gives a backround of the service and describes the main components and characteristics.
From GRX to IPX.
In 2001 AMS-IX was the first to set up a ‘GPRS Roaming eXchange’ (GRX) peering point. Currently 25 carriers, ‘GRX providers’, interconnect in Amsterdam in order to exchange the roaming data traffic of hundreds of Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) worldwide.
Figure 1. Current GRX setup: AMS-IX as ‘Inter-GRX’ interconnecting the GRX providers in order to support the exchange of roaming data between their customers, the MNO’s
Because of its function as the main GRX interconnect point, AMS-IX has been actively involved in the GSM Association’s ‘IP eXchange ‘ (IPX) Pre-Commercial Implementation project, and its related trials, to help further develop and fine-tune this follow-up to the successful GRX concept.
IPX was defined by the GSMA to solve a number of limitations of GRX and to prepare the industry for a future in which the distinction between mobile and fixed networking will gradually disappear, and where consumers will expect the same continuous quality of experience, no matter how and where they connect. This creates not only a need for a secure and reliable all-IP environment, but moreover it requires a guaranteed consistent quality of the services offered (‘QoS’).
The main focus points of IPX therefore are the guaranteed end-to-end QoS as supported by SLA’s, the involvement of other parties besides MNO’s, such as content providers and content delivery networks (CDN’s), application service providers, ISP’s and Fixed Network Operators (FNO’s), and the support of cascading billing throughout the whole supply chain. The IPX-services itself can range from (premium) voice, video-calls and –conferencing, streaming services, gaming, and online (mobile) banking, to name but a few.
Figure 2. Source: http://gsmworld.com/our-work/programmes-and-initiatives/ip-networking/ip_exchange.htm ‘The IPX solution is a premium quality solution that promises error free delivery of traffic whilst offering the flexibility to apply an appropriate level of quality as demanded by each different class of service.
The AMS-IX Inter-IPX Service
The earlier trials that were organized by the GSMA to prove the commercial viability of IPX, a number of which passed through AMS-IX switch-fabric, were successfully finalized in 2008 and it was decided to leave further development of IPX services and products to the market place. A number of carriers has since released press statements that they have IPX products on offer, and they have been requesting AMS-IX to come up with an IPX compliant service of its own, to facilitate the interconnection of IPX providers: in order to create efficient and robust interconnection there is a requirement for reliable hubs where the multilateral exchange of the high quality and premium IPX-services can take place.
The proposal that AMS-IX came up with following discussions with a number of carriers and other stakeholders, is called the AMS-IX Inter-IPX Service. It is primarily an extension of what AMS-IX already does best, i.e. the offering of a carrier grade interconnect solution, but in this case with an ex ante commitment to certain service levels as required in an IPX environment: AMS-IX offers its own Inter-IPX SLA, compliant with GSMA's IPX PCI document PTG-DL017.
Figure 3. AMS-IX Inter-IPX Service: interconnecting IPX Providers, and in the future possibly also content (delivery) parties, at the Inter-IPX exchange.
Set-up and commitment to KPI-levels
Technically the interconnection between an IPX provider and the AMS-IX Inter-IPX service will be implemented as a fully redundant connection to the AMS-IX platform. There will be a minimum of two physically separated links, which terminate in separate certified AMS-IX co-location facilities*.
A dedicated VPLS instance is defined for the AMS-IX Inter-IPX service to separate it logically from the other VPLS instances that are operated by AMS-IX such as the Internet and GRX services. Each connection to the Inter-IPX service will be configured in this VPLS instance so that each IPX provider can reach the other interconnected IPX providers.
Figure 4: Inter-IPX connections and probe set-up in the AMS-IX Inter-IPX platform. The AMS-IX patch panel is the demarcation point for responsibility.
The AMS-IX Inter-IPX service levels will be measured between probes connected to every access router that parties in the Inter-IPX VLAN connect to. See Figure 4. Each probe measures between all other probes the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):
- Service availability
- Packet loss
- One way delay
- One way delay variation (‘jitter’)
Since AMS-IX is agnostic with regard to the traffic that parties exchange with each other, service class differentiation will not be provided by AMS-IX: DSCP values in the packets that enter the Inter-IPX VLAN will be left untouched. AMS-IX commits itself to the highest, i.e. ‘conversational’, service class as defined by the GSMA (see GSMA IREG PRD IR.34) for the aforementioned KPIs, regardless of the services exchanged between IPX Providers. Reporting of statistics will be real-time through the AMS-IX member portal and once a month as a summary to prove SLA performance.
The aim of the service availability is 99.995% per month.
The AMS-IX Infrastructure is considered degraded if one of the measured Key Performance Indicators (KPI) between one Inter-IPX customer and another Inter-IPX customer is experienced at a rate larger than the aimed service level. The monitored and measured KPI with their target values are:
Inter-IPX Service Description: Inter-IPX Connections
AMS-IX will provide an SLA to IPX Providers on their Inter-IPX Connections to the AMS-IX Infrastructure. This agreement is applicable to availability of these Connections as well as to the performance of the traffic exchanged in the Inter-IPX environment within the AMS-IX Infrastructure. See for further details on the relevant KPI’s the AMS-IX Inter-IPX SLA.
An Inter-IPX Connection consists of two redundant regular AMS-IX Connections and can be one of the following:
- A set of two Single GE connections on two different certified AMS-IX locations (see the page on co-location)
- A set of two Multiple GE connections in a so-called link-aggregated (‘LAG’) configuration, of which one set individually is considered one regular connection, on two different certified AMS-IX locations (one LAG at one location the other LAG at another location)*
- A set of two Single 10GE connection on two different certified AMS-IX locations
- A set of two Multiple 10GE connections in a so-called LAG configuration, of which one set individually is considered one regular connection, on two different certified AMS-IX locations (one LAG at one location the other LAG at another location).
The Customer Inter-IPX Connections are terminated on the AMS-IX patch panel. This patch panel is the demarcation point between Customer and AMS-IX. Once again, see Figure 4 for a schematic layout of the setup. The responsibility for the (LAG) connection between the Customer router and the AMS-IX patch panel is with the Customer. The responsibility for the (LAG) connection from the AMS-IX patch panel is with AMS-IX.
Pricing
The service has an initial one-time set-up fee of Euro 1000 and a total monthly fee of Euro 1500 for the two 1GE ports and Inter-IPX SLA. The service does not include any co-location or cross-connect services. For the Pricing conditions also see our general pricing section.
For further information on the AMS-IX Inter-IPX Service, but also for more details on the launch event , the AMS-IX Inter-IPX Service SLA, the SLA Report template, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Bastiaan Goslings
Inter-IPX Product Manager
General Contact details:
E-mail: info@ams-ix.net
Telephone: +31 (20) 305 89 99
*A LAG consists of 2 or more single connections (connection members) of the same bandwidth that together behave as a single logical connection, e.g. two single 1GE connections together forming a logical 2GE connection. An Inter-IPX Connection that uses LAG configuration will then always consists of two redundant LAG connections forming one Inter-IPX Connection.