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TelecityGroup, IX Reach and AMS-IX enable direct UK connectivity to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:23:00 +0100

London, 17 January 2012: TelecityGroup, Europe's industry-leading provider of premium
carrier-neutral data centres, has today announced an agreement with IX Reach and AMS-IX
to enable TelecityGroup customers in the UK to directly connect to the Amsterdam Internet
Exchange, AMS-IX, in the only official AMS-IX enabled sites in the UK.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) such as AMS-IX form an essential part of the global Internet
infrastructure, enabling the large-scale switching of Internet traffic between networks.
Interconnecting over 470 carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other Internet-
related companies, AMS-IX is one of the world’s largest IXPs, providing unique peering
possibilities across Europe and beyond.

All of TelecityGroup’s carrier-neutral data centres in London Docklands and Manchester, in
addition to its London Powergate facility, are now ‘AMS-IX enabled’. They are the only UK
data centres to have this capability, enabling TelecityGroup UK customers to immediately
enjoy the benefits of direct connectivity into AMS-IX.

All of the AMS-IX connections that are originated through this new service will terminate in
the largest AMS-IX node which is located in TelecityGroup’s Amsterdam South-East facility,
which itself is adjacent and directly-connected to TelecityGroup’s new Amsterdam 5 data
centre, due to open in 2012.

By working with IX Reach, which specialises in simplifying connectivity to Internet Exchanges,
TelecityGroup is ensuring that its customers can enjoy direct point-to-point Ethernet
connections into AMS-IX, using IX Reach’s pre-configured international capacity between the
UK and Amsterdam.

Monica O’Meany, CEO of IX Reach comments: “We have been a partner of AMS-IX for many
years and our core network enables us to provide dedicated, highly efficient connections
into AMS-IX. Such wide peering options can vastly reduce upstream costs for Internet-centric companies, and a single connection to an Internet Exchange like AMS-IX may reduce the reliance on multiple transit connections as well as improve end user reliability. We’re very pleased that by working with TelecityGroup and AMS-IX, so many companies in London and Manchester will now be able to enjoy these direct benefits.”

Job Witteman, AMS-IX CEO comments: “TelecityGroup and AMS-IX serve some of the
world’s largest companies in the digital industry including ISPs, international carriers,
mobile operators, content providers, TV broadcasters and many other related businesses in
Amsterdam already. With remote connections into our exchange now available from London
and Manchester through IX Reach, companies in the UK will be able to enjoy the vastly
improved redundancy and network performance benefits that connecting to AMS-IX
brings.”

Adriaan Oosthoek, Managing Director, TelecityGroup UK comments: “Our data centres are
at the heart of the digital economy, and this agreement with IX Reach and AMS-IX means
our customers will have even wider connectivity and peering options from our ‘AMS-IX
enabled’ facilities. Whether they are Internet start-ups, content companies, cloud computing
providers, or other companies looking to expand in Europe, this agreement will provide
our customers with vastly enriched connectivity options across the continent. It is another
reflection of our commitment to develop highly connected customer ecosystems in our sites
and to lead the way in delivering new capacity and connectivity to meet customer growth
requirements.”

Around Europe, TelecityGroup’s data centres host a number of key national IXPs, allowing competing networks to interconnect and exchange Internet traffic at national and international level with speed and efficiency at a significant reduction to transit costs. Alongside AMS-IX, these include three other top European IXPs: LINX in London, DE-CIX in Frankfurt and Netnod in Stockholm. TelecityGroup is also a patron of the European Internet Exchange Association (Euro-IX) which represents over 40 affiliated IXPs.

ABOUT TELECITYGROUP PLC
TelecityGroup is the leading provider of carrier-neutral data centres in Europe, operating
highly connected facilities in key cities.

These data centres are the places in which separate networks that make up the Internet
meet and where bandwidth-intensive applications, content and information is hosted. As
such, they are the key network hubs, or enabling environments, of the European digital
economy. TelecityGroup’s customers take advantage of the highly connected facilities
to run, store, share, distribute and access digital media, IT applications and information
effectively and efficiently.

TelecityGroup has an unrivalled multi-year announced capacity expansion programme in
Europe. Capacity expansion is ongoing in all of the Group’s key markets. This provides its
growing customer base with visibility as to how their needs for capacity can be met into
the future. This is important to many of the Group’s customers as their needs for scalable
capacity are expected to grow due to macro trends, such as the emergence of cloud
computing, whereby an increasing amount of IT infrastructure is being migrated towards
centralised, highly connected data centres.

In addition to organic investments, TelecityGroup aims to make acquisitions within Europe,
either for the purpose of entering new markets, or to provide growth capacity in existing
markets where its data centres are fully occupied.

Telecity Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: TCY).

www.telecitygroup.com

Outstanding data centres.
Expertise you can trust.

For further press information, photography, or to request an interview, please contact:
Owen Waters
Nelson Bostock Communications +44 (0)20 7229 4400
telecitygroup@nelsonbostock.com

About IX Reach
IX Reach is a telecoms company that operates its own international network
reaching over 25 major cities across Europe and North America. IX Reach
specializes in creating bespoke solutions based on point-to-point and point-to-
multipoint connectivity with speeds ranging from 50Mbps up to multiple 10Gbps.
The IX Reach network offers a stable, reliable and flexible platform designed to
support customers such as Internet service providers, other carriers and businesses
needing to grow their network efficiently and quickly. Through its partnerships
with key Internet Exchanges, Datacentres and Cloud operators, IX Reach offers all
the benefits of one simple solution.

More information available on our website: http://www.ixreach.com
For more information about IX Reach please contact IX Reach marketing:
Tel: +44 845 013 0845
Email: marketing@ixreach.com

You can also like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IXReach
or follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/IXReach.

Atrato takes the lead with 100GbE ports at AMS-IX

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:13:00 +0100

Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Atrato IP Networks has become the first AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) member with a 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) port connection.

In 2011, AMS-IX was the first Internet Exchange worldwide to roll out 100GbE ports, forecasting for traffic growth and higher demand for capacity. Today, Atrato takes the lead not only by becoming the first network with a 100GbE connection to an Internet Exchange anywhere in the world, but also as the first network to be able offer split capacity of 10Gbps (Gigabit per second) and 1Gbps to greater economies of scale.

100GE Business Case

Job Witteman CEO of AMS-IX explained: “We had networks adding multiple 10GbE ports at a time, and we understood that we needed to offer 100GbE capacity not just for the reduction of cost, but because it is easier to manage.”

AMS-IX chose networking vendor, Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD), to deliver its 100GbE environment. Mr. Witteman added: “Atrato’s lead with 100GbE is not only a sign of their growth and success, but a clear effort to give their customers the best service and capacity available”.

100GE technology

AMS-IX deployed Brocade MLXe Series routers in order to deliver multi-terabit scalability and high port densities. By evolving this environment further and deploying Brocade’s 100 GbE module, AMS-IX benefitted from performance and scalability with 32 wire-speed 100 GbE ports in a single Brocade MLXe-32 router and 16 wire-speed 100 GbE ports in a single Brocade MLXe-32 router. Each two-port 100 GbE module delivers 400 Gbps of data throughput per module without compromising the performance of features. such as IPv4, IPv6 and MPLS. Atrato’s 100GbE Port now fits into AMS-IX’ platform, providing its customers individual 10Gbps, 1Gbps or even fraction capacity. Atrato’s entire network had already been built on the Brocade XMR series routers.

“As the amount of data consumed continues to soar, the pressure being placed on the Internet has never been so great,” stated Ken Cheng, Vice President of Service Provider Productsat Brocade. “Brocade service provider solutions have proven themselves by powering the largest IXPs and Service Providers in the world. With the introduction of 100 GbE density, Brocade continues to provide optimal solutions for customers, along with value-added services such as IPv6 and MPLS VPNs.

Over the last several years, Atrato has enjoyed tremendous growth in number of customers and size of its network. I n 2011, Atrato was recognized as AMS-IX most successful reselling partner. Aydin Yildiz CEO of Atrato IP Networks commented: “We are very excited about 100GbE and what it will mean to our network, to our customers and their respective end users.”

Mr. Yildiz added: “We have always put a lot of effort in the quality and support of our services, and with the network advantages 100GbE provides, our services and customer proposition has become even more competitive.”

About Atrato IP Networks

Atrato IP Networks is a leading provider of high quality IP transit, carrier services, remote peering and managed services. With a customer base comprising telcos, ISPs and hosting companies, Atrato develops its network to support these demanding, high traffic businesses well in advance of projected bandwidth growth.

Founded in 2005, the network was built avoiding limiting legacy technologies to ensure high performance, reliable and scalable services for customers. Atrato’s network covers all the major POPs in over 15 countries. Connected to more than 25 internet exchanges, the resiliency and low latency of the network is guaranteed.

For more information on Atrato IP Networks, please visit www.atrato-ip.com.

About AMS-IX
AMS-IX - Amsterdam Internet Exchange - is a neutral and independent Internet exchange based in Amsterdam-The Netherlands since the early 1990’s. AMS-IX has more than 470 Interconnected global networks and traffic peak of over 1400 Gbps (1.2 Terabit per second), making it one of the most diverse and largest Internet Exchanges in the World. The AMS-IX platform provides a professional, high quality, non-blocking peering services for all types of IP traffic, be it regular IP data such as e-mail or web content, to also video/TV and voice. AMS-IX additionally hosts the first mobile peering point worldwide, the Global GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX).
More information on: http://www.ams-ix.net

For more information about AMS-IX, please contact Cara Mascini:
Tel: +31 20 305 89 99 Fax: +31 20 305 89 90
E-mail: pr@ams-ix.net http://www.ams-ix.net

Werelds eerste 100 Gigabit aansluiting van Atrato op de Amsterdam Internet Exchange

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:44:00 +0100

Atrato IP Networks wordt eerste service provider met een operationele 100 Gigabit Ethernet aansluiting op een publieke internet exchange en markeert daarmee de volgende fase van de groei van het Internet.

Op 10 januari 2012 is een mijlpaal bereikt doordat service provider Atrato IP Networks als eerste organisatie met een snelheid van 100 Gigabit verbinding maakte met een publieke internet exchange. De aansluiting van Atrato op de Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) in het datacenter van TelecityGroup in Amsterdam Zuidoost is wereldwijd de snelste enkelvoudige aansluiting op een publieke internet exchange die ooit gemaakt is en is daarmee een belangrijke ontwikkeling voor internet als geheel.

Als één van ’s werelds grootste connectivity hubs ziet Amsterdam het internetverkeer voortdurend groeien. Om te voorzien in deze groei heeft AMS-IX, de op één na grootste internet exchange ter wereld, haar aanwezigheid in het datacenter van TelecityGroup in Amsterdam Zuidoost uitgebreid om hier de grootste en snelst groeiende netwerkaansluiting te creëren, met een capaciteit van meer dan 1.200 Gbps. De aanwezigheid van deze node, gecombineerd met een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid mondiale en nationale netwerk operators, maakt de vestiging van TelecityGroup de meest geschikte locatie voor Atrato om de capaciteit van haar netwerk te vergroten.
Aydin Yildiz, CEO van Atrato: “Ons succesvolle partnerschap met AMS-IX heeft geleid tot een steeds verder toenemende vraag naar bandbreedte bij AMS-IX, dus de stap naar 100 GE is een logische. Deze nieuwe verbindingssnelheid bevestigt TelecityGroups positie als belangrijkste connectivity hub voor Amsterdam, wat het de voor de hand liggende keuze maakt voor Atrato en andere organisaties waarvoor netwerkdichtheid een kernbehoefte is.”
Henk Steenman, Chief Technology Officer AMS-IX: “Dit nieuwe tijdperk van ontwikkeling is mogelijk gemaakt door de nauwe samenwerking tussen drie organisaties. Samen met TelecityGroup en Atrato hebben we dit uitgebreid getest met klanten en het is een groots moment om de 100 GE poort operationeel te zien gaan in onze grootste datacenter node.”
Deze wereldwijde primeur in een datacenter van TelecityGroup verstevigt haar positie in het hart van de digitale economie. TelecityGroup opent binnenkort haar vijfde datacenter in Amsterdam, op een locatie naast het datacenter in Amsterdam Zuidoost, om de toenemende vraag te faciliteren met nog eens 6.000 m2 aan klantruimte en 9 MW aan capaciteit.
“De wereldprimeur van Atrato – de eerste 100 GE aansluiting op AMS-IX – bevestigt dat TelecityGroup de beste locatie is voor organisaties die de hoogste eisen stellen aan connectiviteit, continuïteit en customer service.” zegt Martijn Kooiman, Sales Manager bij TelecityGroup Nederland. “We zijn er trots op om weer een nieuwe mijlpaal met AMS-IX te hebben bereikt, waarvan de grootste node is gehost in de Amsterdamse datacenters van TelecityGroup.”

New vacancies at AMS-IX

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:01:00 +0100

We are currently looking for a NOC Engineer and a PR & Communications employee. For more information please see Working at AMS-IX

AMS-IX builds PoP in EvoSwitch Datacenter

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:37:00 +0100

EvoSwitch Datacenter has today officially been added to the list of colocation providers with an AMS-IX Point of Presence (PoP), the PoP is currently being build and will be ready end of Februari, beginning of March. In addition to being an AMS-IX collocation EvoSwitch will be the first datacenter of its kind for which AMS-IX uses a single 100GE backbone connection.

EvoSwitch, who became an AMS-IX reselling partner in 2010, already has connected numerous networks and built a solid reputation and experience in the interconnection market. The state-of-the-art and energy-efficient site has 10,000 m² of space and is located in the Amsterdam region, with close proximity to the main airport of the Netherlands. Today, EvoSwitch serves more than 35 regional carriers and thousands of hosting, telecom, IT and enterprise customers.

AMS-IX launched its 100GE ports last year. The increase in capacity was a step in preparation to the traffic peaks many Internet networks and providers will be facing. This growth is thought to come from an increase of Internet use and demands of rich media (i.e. video streaming) over the Internet. A number of regional networks are preparing for the 100GE roll out at the moment, to ensure quality to their customers and manage traffic and network cost levels during live events, such as the 2012 Olympics and the Euro Cup.

“The greater Amsterdam region is growing fast and attracting more and more IP density. This demand is partially created by companies such as EvoSwitch and its customers”, says Job Witteman, CEO of AMS-IX. “It is an impressive step forward to both the region and the collocation market that EvoSwitch’s Green and e-efficient datacenter will roll out a 100GE connection on a full basis, including backbone.”

EvoSwitch’s AMS-IX PoP will go live in February 2012. EvoSwitch expects to connect numerous networks in the first half of the year.

“We are continuously looking for ways to improve the service to both our new and existing customers. With access to one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world we offer a lot of added value”, says Eric Boonstra, Managing Director of EvoSwitch.

About EvoSwitch
Established in 2006, EvoSwitch is a next generation carrier neutral datacenter in the Amsterdam region with excellent connectivity due to the presence of many international carriers and the AMS-IX. It provides housing space and IT infrastructure solutions, peering and connectivity and in-house cabling. Customers can make use of full cabinets, custom cages and private suites. EvoSwitch offers datacenter services with 24/7 customer support from engineers and technicians. Customers include Wikimedia, Codemasters and Logica.
EvoSwitch delivers an energy-efficient “green” framework within which clients can design their own green data infrastructures. The data center is 80% more energy-efficient than traditional data centers, enabling substantial savings. It uses 100% green power and is a carbon neutral facility. Customers of EvoSwitch can make use of the Green Fan logo, a partnership of leading IT companies committed to environmentally friendly outcomes.

For more information about EvoSwitch, please contact EvoSwitch PR & Marketing:
Tel: +44 207 025 8215
E-mail: evoswitch@fireflycomms.com
Website: www.evoswitch.com

Record capacity take-up Amsterdam Datacenter Market

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0100

The capacity volume take-up of datacenter space in Amsterdam has reached records before the end of the year 2011. What was already a record-breaking business in 2010 will be outdone even in 2011.
This is one of the conclusions of the European Data Centres report of CBRE.

In the first three quarters of 2011 almost 10.000 m2 of datacenter space was rented. With this take-up Amsterdam has a marketshare of 33 procent of the total capacity take-up of dtaacenter space in the main cities of Europe. Amsterdam outperforms European cities like London, Paris and Frankfurt. Remarkable is that where Amsterdam shows growth all the other cities show a decline in take-up. This is due to its position as a connectivity hub and in response to the large number of technology and telecoms companies operating in the city which require significant and increasing levels of data processing capacity.

Amsterdam houses a lot of co-location centers and in European context is one of the most important cities in this market. Co-locationcenters are datacenters where users can rent hostingspace and connectivity for their servers. The popularity is amongst other things the result of the availability of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX).

Dutch link: http://www.vastgoedmarkt.nl/nieuws/2011/12/08/Recordopname-datacentermarkt-Amsterdam
English link: http://www.cbre.eu/emea_en/news_events/news_detail?p_id=9185&title=Amsterdam_Data_Centre_Take-up_Soars_As_European_Economic_Crisis_Continues

AMS-IX realizes one hundred new connections to the Internet exchange in 2011 and grows organization

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:18:00 +0100

The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) continues to enjoy a record breaking year in 2011 with regards to new customers and connected capacity.
By the 16th of November AMS-IX had already connected a total of one hundred networks for 2011, making it the highest number of connections in one year and the largest growth the exchange has seen in new customers since it emerged more than17 years ago.

The volume of growth symbolizes a boost in overall business for the not-for -profit organization and an achievement creating value all of the connected parties that exchange traffic at AMS-IX and its partners. AMS-IX grew with more than 20 % in new customers to a collection of close to 500 unique Internet parties by the end of the year and saw 32 % growth to 5.2 Terabits per second of connected capacity. A unique growth story in this world of decline, but Internet use is known for not following the world’s economic trends.

Job Witteman, AMS-IX CEO explains, “What our customers are looking for when joining an Internet Exchange is a large pool of networks they can exchange traffic with. The snowball effect created when a large volume of new networks join, is not only good for our new and existing customers, but for the Internet ecosystem as a whole.”

AMS-IX points out that more than 60% of its new connections originated from the efforts of their partners and resellers. The AMS-IX partner program was launched in 2010 to complement transport or datacenter services offered by service providers and adding a connection to one of the largest exchanges as part of their service portfolio. AMS-IX careful and selective process of partners has played a big role as the technical skills, business approach and industry reputation are important values that both AMS-IX and its customers take into account.

Economic trends do play a role in the hike of new connected networks. Job Witteman continues “European Networks were quick to see the cost benefits of joining AMS-IX in the early Internet era, what we now see is that Asian Middle Eastern and African networks also taking advantage of these benefits as they develop into cross regional networks.” He adds, “ This has also enabled us to grow our exchange community and organization. We increased staff to help manage new services and growth, and right now we are even expanding our offices this year into the building next door.”

Community + General Meeting registration is open

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:23:00 +0100

This year, we do not only have a General Meeting at November the 16th, but also a full Community Meeting agenda from 10am onwards and a drink in social setting afterwards.
The Community Meeting agenda includes updates from the technical and commercial teams and several external speakers with topics relevant to peering, IP interconnection or related subjects such as network equipment, protocols or datacenter developments. Please join us this day by registering with this link. (AMS-IX login required)

AMS-IX now offering 3 month free SLA trial

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:19:00 +0200

As you may know, AMS-IX has had a record-breaking year in terms new connected parties, number of ports and the launch of new services. As a result, we are able to offer you a three-month free trial of our Service Level Agreement (SLA). The free trial offer can be requested now and will be available starting the 1st of November 2011. All of the benefits and conditions are described here and you can also view here real time SLA statistics.

Should your company want to take part in this optional service and offer, please contact sla@ams-ix.net or order an SLA on your port(s) through http://my.ams-ix.net/.

New vacancy at AMS-IX

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:16:00 +0200

We currently looking for a System Engineer. See for more information Working at AMS-IX

100 Gbps capacity ports starting to happen at AMS-IX - with Ziggo to be first

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:29:00 +0200

Ziggo one of the top leading Internet Service Providers in the Netherlands has become the first network at AMS-IX with a 100Gbps connection built from10x10 Gigabit Ethernet ports. The trend to higher capacity is evident with many networks increasing the number of connected ports at AMS-IX and a visible growth of overall traffic to nearly 1.4Tbps at peak times. (See AMS-IX Traffic Graph)

Abraham de Keizer, Ziggo’s Interconnect Manager added, "We are pleased to take advantage the higher capacity options at AMS-IX, so much in fact that we are planning a second 10 x 10Gbit Connection at another collocation in a few days"

AMS-IX uses Link Aggregation to make from 10 separate physical 10Gbit interfaces into a single logical 100Gbit interface. The network load is therefore balanced across all links and also provides failover/redundancy as well.

“It is the single biggest capacity link we have at AMS-IX currently and it’s a clear sign of the level of growth at Ziggo ” stated AMS-IX Network Engineer Maksym Tulyuk.

In addition to growth of multiple 10GE (Gigabit Ethernet) ports, AMS-IX is testing 100GE port connections with a series of customers, vendors and organizations. AMS-IX stable platform, new service levels agreement, plus their advances to higher capacity 100GE Ports have helped position AMS-IX for future Internet growth and attract twice as many new connected parties from around the globe.

News of a customer’s first single 100GE connection is expected to follow soon.

Get your Capacity Europe pass with discount with AMS-IX

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:11:00 +0200

Capacity Europe 2011 is the flagship carrier meeting for the European telecoms market. This year, AMS-IX has become a sponsor of this years Amsterdam event and will have a stand present to show cast all of its services, innovations and impact. With over 700 expected visitors, hundreds of Regional and international operators and a variety of networking events to help do business with one another, AMS-IX would like to offer any of it existing customer and members the opportunity to attend with an additional AMS-IX discount.

Please feel free to contact us at marketing(at)ams-ix.net if you are interested and/or visit the capacity Europe site here: http://www.capacityeurope.com/

Interview Job Witteman AMS-IX CEO - professionalizing AMS-IX

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:24:00 +0200

AMS-IX CEO Job Witteman: "In 2000 it was a cowboy kind of market, companies tried everything. One initiative failed, the other didn’t and which ever succeeded was then adopted. The professional players of that time saw their market share disappear, and then they would buy what they had lost in market share. The companies that managed to survive are the parties who have found a successful niche. Many of them later were incorporated into larger players. "
The market has also become more professional in its service to the customer. "We see that the bills are paid on time; there are real business procedures. These are very serious companies. That makes the market more responsible than a few years ago. Creativity is perhaps less, but now customers know what they want. The Internet is just there, it is as well established as electricity to your home. That was not the case twenty years ago . Now if there is no Internet connection, there is a valid and real reason to protest."

Read full Dutch language article here : http://www.executive-people.nl/executive_people/2/1045/exclusief_interview_job_witteman__ceo_amsterdam_internet_exchange__nieuwe_stap_in_professionalisering_ams_ix.html

Manchester Datacenter enables networks to Amsterdam

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:48:00 +0200

Monday, 19th of September 2011, Manchester, UK

AMS-IX, IX Reach and UK Grid have today announced details of a collaboration to enable customers in the North of England to connect directly to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange AMS-IX from UK Grid’s carrier neutral datacenter, Manchester One @ Synergy House.

The three-way partnership has been formed to facilitate immediate peering and connectivity to 457 connected AMS-IX customers from UK Grid’s Manchester One @ Synergy House data centre. This makes Manchester One @ Synergy House - the first datacenter to be ‘AMS-IX Enabled’ under the new program being launched by AMS-IX.

Being ‘AMS-IX enabled’ allows UK Grid to offer their customers direct point to point Ethernet connections into AMS-IX using IX Reach’s pre-configured International capacity between Manchester and Amsterdam.

The partnership with IX Reach allows any network present in Manchester One @ Synergy House - to connect to AMS-IX in a very cost effective way with capacity readily available starting from 100Mbps and up to multiple 10Gbps. IX Reach provides an SLA that guarantees 24/7 monitoring and maintenance of each connection they provide to AMS-IX via their UK based Network Operations Center (NOC).

“Manchester is a fast growing city in Northern Europe with continuous influence in the telecoms market which makes it one the key cities that has captured our attention so we are very pleased to be partnering with AMS-IX and UK Grid to offer our signature cost effective solution to connect AMS-IX to all the existing networks in the North of England” said Monica O’Meany, CEO of IX Reach. “We have been a partner of AMS-IX for many years and have multiple International customers who use our streamlined and straight forward approach to access one of largest Internet Exchanges in the World.”.

Cara Mascini AMS-IX Chief Marketing Officer said, “With over 450 Internet related companies connected, AMS-IX provides unique peering possibilities beyond borders. For customers taking just one connection at UK Grid’s datacenter, the AMS-IX route server ensures that over 300 parties can potentially be reached from day one by only one peering session. When entering new regions it’s vital for AMS-IX to work with partners that can deliver on quality and service and it’s a bonus when we find a collaboration of parties who complement each other - UK Grid and IX Reach fit the bill perfectly.”

Now offering private connections to AMS-IX, UK Grid’s Manchester One datacenter is a carrier neutral facility offering Tier III SLA’s. The datacenter provides collocation solutions within 25,000sq ft of datacenter space and recent expansion has delivered capacity for up to 300 further racks.

Rob Garbutt, UK Grid CEO comments, “This is exciting news for both UK Grid, British interested networks and our customers. UK Grid has always placed high value on strong relationships with reputable and proactive partners such as IX Reach and AMS-IX to deliver business class solutions to our own clients. Again we’ve shown that through these partnerships we can continue to be a pioneer in the collocation market place.”

From today, AMS-IX connections can be delivered directly to UK Grid collocation client equipment via single cross connects via IX Reach equipment.

About AMS-IX

AMS-IX - Amsterdam Internet Exchange - is a neutral and independent Internet exchange based in Amsterdam-The Netherlands since the early 1990’s. AMS-IX has more than 450 Interconnected global networks and traffic peak of over 1300 Gbps (1.3 Terabit per second), making it one of the most diverse and largest Internet Exchanges in the World. The AMS-IX platform provides a professional, high quality, non-blocking peering services for all types of IP traffic, be it regular IP data such as e-mail or web content, to also video/TV and voice. AMS-IX additionally hosts the first mobile peering point worldwide, the Global GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX) and the first interconnection of IPX networks (Inter-IPX).
More information on: http://www.ams-ix.net

For more information about AMS-IX, please contact AMS-IX marketing:
Tel: +31 20 305 89 99 Fax: +31 20 305 89 90
E-mail: pr@ams-ix.net http://www.ams-ix.net

About IX Reach

IX Reach is a Telecoms company that specializes in creating tailored solutions, offering a full range of network connectivity services, data center collocation and enterprise IP products. Our international network extends to cover over 25 major cities in Europe and America. IX Reach’s aim is to help customers to extend their network footprint quickly and cost effectively so that they can connect to International Internet Exchange points in a fast, flexible and reliable way. We deliver traffic from anywhere to anywhere so that all network operators can benefit irrespective of size and location. For more information please email enquiries@ixreach.com or visit our website www.ixreach.com

About UK Grid

UK Grid provides carbon neutral, carrier neutral collocation solutions across four data centre facilities in London and Manchester. With over 300 clients and 75,000sq ft total data center space, this makes UK Grid one of the largest independent collocation suppliers in the United Kingdom. UK Grid offset all CO2 emissions through environmental projects, are members of the Green Grid and are certified to ISO27001, IS09001 and ISO14001. UK Grid were named in the UK’s top 10 fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte (Fast 50). For further information please contact sales@ukgrid.net, call 0845 260 4743 or visit www.ukgrid.net

Deployment of 100Gbps Ethernet Interconnection from Amsterdam to Geneva by AMS-IX, CERN and SURFnet

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:11:00 +0200

The ongoing testing of Ultra Long-haul 100 Gbps deployment these past weeks, between Amsterdam and Geneva, has included AMS-IX 100GE platform and the use of commercial Ethernet equipment for the Interconnection of IP networks.

The testing, which began with SURFnet (The National Research and Education Network (NREN) organization in the Netherlands) and CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in July 2011, has added the support of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) for this later commercial testing.

Using 100GE Brocade equipment at both ends and the support of AMS-IX and CERN Network Engineers, SURFnet was able to test the longest 100Gbps connection deployed so far to CERN in Switzerland, a distance of 1650 kilometers.
CERN’s Internet Expert Edoardo Martelli explains, “For us the test wanted to prove the interoperability of the 100G technologies among different vendors and the reliability of the transmission over long distance”. He added “The test was very positive and during the trial it was possible to transfer a constant stream of 100Gbps for several hours in several days without any loss. The test ran for several days and gave us good solid results”

AMS-IX Network Engineer Martin Pels "The joint trial gives us the opportunity to test the use of long-distance 100GE links for connecting remote customers to the Exchange. It also gives us valuable input into the use of 100 Gigabit Ethernet together with DWDM transmission equipment” Martin Pels points out “ This input will become of interest to AMS-IX as we plan towards deployment of 100GE in the core of our network."

SURFnet contributed to the test with the support of technology partner Ciena. Gerben van Malenstein, technical product manager of NetherLight from SURFnet commented, “We are pleased that all these parties took part in this testing, as it is a typical example of the international collaboration on research & innovation that we want to facilitate. This test proves that SURFnet is prepared for international 100GE-interconnectivity”. Gerben van Malenstein added, “This demonstrates that bandwidth is not a technological barrier to further expansion of NetherLight, SURFnet’s GLIF Open Lightpath Exchange (GOLE).”

About AMS-IX

AMS-IX - Amsterdam Internet Exchange - is a neutral and independent Internet exchange providing services since the early 1990’s. AMS-IX is one of the largest Internet Interconnection Points worldwide. More than 450 Internet networks come together in Amsterdam from all over the world to exchange Internet traffic of over 1300 Gbps (1.3Terabit per second). The AMS-IX platform provides professional, high quality, non-blocking peering services for IP traffic with a diverse profile, be it regular IP data such as e-mail, but also video/TV, as well as voice. AMS-IX additionally hosts the first mobile peering point worldwide, the Global GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX) and Inter-IPX the first and only one of its kind.
More information on: http://www.ams-ix.net
For more information about AMS-IX, please contact Cara Mascini:
Tel: +31 20 305 89 99 Fax: +31 20 305 89 90
E-mail: marketing@ams-ix.net http://www.ams-ix.net

About SURFnet

SURFnet is the National Research & Education Network (NREN) organisation in The Netherlands. SURFnet develops and provides innovative services for education and research in the field of a hybrid network infrastructure, trusted identity and a pioneering collaboration environment. SURFnet provides access to these services to over one million users in higher education and research in The Netherlands. SURFnet is part of SURF, the collaborative organization for higher education institutions and research institutes, which are together working on breakthrough innovations in ICT. More information can be found at www.surfnet.nl/en/.

http://www.cern.ch/

AMS-IX and Kenya IX agree to collaboration at AfPIF 2011

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:58:00 +0200

The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) and Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) have finalized a collaboration agreement to help the development and growth of African regional Interconnection. The collaboration, which includes the donation of AMS-IX Gigabit Ethernet Equipment to Kenya, focuses on strengthening the capacity, resilience and stability in the Region and helping the growth of the Internet ecosystem as a whole.

Over the past couple of years Internet traffic to the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) has been growing at a phenomenal rate. The local Internet community has come to appreciate the benefits provided by IX’s,to such an extent, that the government has now requires any entity wishing to provide Internet related service to the government, must be peering at an Internet Exchange. With the development of memberships and strategic partnerships, KIXP has seen the increase of not just traffic levels, but also of value-add services, improved technical support and a growing role in the industry. Fiona Asonga, CEO of KIXP says, “As Kenya’s Internet continues to grow, the collaboration between AMS-IX and KIXP will go a long way in boosting our technical capacity “. She then explains, “At KIXP, we believe that we should not be re-inventing the wheel but learn from those who have been successful and make the necessary adjustment to suit our environment. The collaboration with AMS-IX is definitely going to be a learning experience for KIXP”.

This Collaboration was agreed upon at the African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) in Ghanna this August 2011.

A multi-stakeholder forum, the event brought together a range of key players such as: infrastructure providers, Service Providers, IXPs and regulators and members and partners of the Internet society (ISOC). Fiona Asonga comments on ISOC ”we also recognize the effort of our long time partner ISOC with whom we initiated the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum. It is through ISOC’s support in hosting AfPIF that we have gotten the opportunities to network and identify suitable partners like AMS-IX, for collaboration.”

Henk Steenman, Chief Technical Officer, “The benefits of good Interconnection in Africa are becoming more and more apparent, AMS-IX is glad to be in a position to support Kenya (KIXP)” He continues “Internet progress happening in many regions of the African Continent today, does not get the deserved focus. AMS-IX can see the next big Traffic growth booming from the variety of ideas, networks, users and innovation we have witnessed (at AfPIF) this year”

AMS-IX adds their support to the African Peering and Interconnection Forum in Ghana

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:03:00 +0200

One of the Worlds largest Internet Exchanges - AMS-IX - will support the APIF in addressing some of the key interconnection challenges and opportunities developing in the African Internet Market.

As a multi-stakeholder forum, the event will bring together a range of key players such as; infrastructure providers, Service Providers, IXPs and regulators, and will aim to build on the success of the inaugural AfPIF event held in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2010.

Michuki Mwangi, Senior Development Manager for Africa & the Middle East said “The success of Internet Exchanges (IX’s) across Europe and the positive effect IX’s have had on the Internet ecosystem at large, are good examples of the effect that regional collaboration can have on the African Internet Networks and Market”. He added, “We are pleased to count on the continuous support and experience from the AMS-IX Team.”

The 2011 APIF theme is: “Regional Interconnection: Outlining the business case”, which aims to foster a robust discussion on cross-border interconnection approaches, economics and challenges. The event will cover key Interconnection issues in Africa and provide participants with insights into maximizing regional opportunities.

Job Witteman AMS-IX CEO said, “Strong, well set-up exchanges attribute to the resilience and stability of the Internet as a whole,” he added, “AMS-IX is happy sharing its knowledge, supporting start-up Exchanges and adding a contribution.”

The African Peering and Interconnection Forum - APIF - will be hosted by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) on the 8-9 August 2011 in Accra, Ghana.

AMS-IX donates equipment to the Armenian Internet Exchange

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:42:00 +0200

Just a few months ago in late March 2011, Armenia suffered an outage of all 3 wholesale network providers (ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa) due to an alleged search for copper by a 75-year-old woman in the neighboring state of Georgia.

All services were restored in a matter of hours but the incident highlighted the need and importance of the Armenian Internet Exchange, the requirement for a better collaboration of national and regional providers, and the need for ISP’s to make their interconnection more robust and resilient.

European Internet Exchange Association (EURO-IX) took the initiative to find support for Armenia by bringing AMS-IX experience in(Amsterdam Internet Exchange) and defining what supportcould be best offered.

After consultation with all parties, the donation of a Foundry BigIron 15000 switch was made by AMS-IX to support a scalable number of ports and better redundancy.

“As one of the largest IXs and with an increasingly public profile, we often get ‘consulted’ by start-up and developing exchanges for tips and tricks of the trade. A few years ago we introduced a support program called -IX in a box” said AMS-IX CEO Job Witteman.

The ‘IX in a box’ program was set up under the AMS-IX flag of enabling Internet progress for the “Good of the Internet" and to help build and support strong, well set-up exchanges that contribute to the resilience and stability of the Internet as a whole.

Secretary General at Euro-IX - Serge Radovcic explains ‘The success of the Internet Exchange model has shown to diminish outages and bring about various economic, performance and stability benefits to national and regional providers” He continues “AMS-IX, as one of the largest and very successful exchanges has a program in place specifically to help develop and support other exchanges around the world”

Vahan Hovsepyan, Director of ARMIX (Armenian Internet Exchange) states, “Possibilities provided by the equipment donated to ARMIX gives us the opportunity to provide services notonly to Armenian companies, but also to initiate regional cooperation projects, increasing the role of Armenian Internet Exchange and insuring the highest level of security and productivity''. He then added “We very much appreciate AMS-IX donation (of this equipment). It will definitely add value to our exchange, bring forth stability and help our economic objective of keeping 30% of local Internet traffic within Armenia.”

3 new services are launched by AMS-IX at MORE IP event

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:12:00 +0200

In the beautiful and historic setting of the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam and in parallel joint efforts to bring awareness of World IPv6 day, The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) launched 3 new unique services in preparation to the growth and developments of the Internet Industry at an event properly named MORE IP. These new services were:

Larger 100GE ports to adhere to the levels of internet traffic hikes and strains that rich digital media, cloud and a rising growth of global user generated traffic is having and will continue to have on networks.
An optional Service Level Agreement (SLA) to offer quality guarantees and Performance Indicators to networks that can benefit or who require to certify the level of interconnection AMS-IX offers.
A service to Interconnect IPX networks (Inter-IPX) brining the success of IP interconnection and the business needs of the Mobile industry in Sync, and offering a Service Level Interconnection to large IPX networks following the guidelines set forth by the GSMA.

Many interesting presentations took place, including interxion's Jonathan wood take on digital media and the role of a datacentre in supporting that growth; Brocade's Joerg Ammon who went into further details on the technology behind 100GE; and Barry Elliot from AMS-IX datacentre Auditors Capitoline, who gave a detailed account on some of the failures from Datacentres around the world.

The event was attended by a diverse variety of networks from the hosting industry to internet providers and gaming Industry and included representatives from of all of europe, Asia, Middle East and North America. Many of these representing networks already connected to AMS-IX and who currently add to the 1.3 Terabit per second of traffic exchanged daily at peak times.

The Highlight of the More IP event could have been the winning of a prize hidden in one of the balloons that dropped during the launch, it could have been the buzz at the networking social or even the exited Japanese winner of the IPv6 contest; but the highlight that will continue to resonate from this event is that everyone is aware the Internet is growing, everyone is aware of their part in that growth and although no one person, network or IX can predict the future, everyone at the event believed the future will include more and MORE IP.

Amsterdam Joins forces for World IPv6 day

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:01:00 +0200

In addition to MORE IP event which includes a variety of topics relating to the expansion of the Internet including IPv6, AMS-IX has joined forces with Internet society, University van Amsterdam, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Surfnet, NLnet Labs, RIPE NCC and IPv6 taskforce to bring about fun, awareness and celebrate World IPv6 day.
As part of the collaboration, there will be video links, updates and press coverage shared at the events plus a great variety of ideas brought from each participating organization to each of the events targeted audience.
We welcome everyone to take part and learn more about IPv6 world day