The London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the top Internet Exchange Point (IXP) operators in the world, announced on Thursday that its Nairobi network expansion to PAIX is now complete and that services are available for purchase.
LINX’s goal to improve connectivity and interconnection capabilities in the East African country has reached a major milestone with this expansion.
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Expansion of LINX to Kenya
In order to lead the region into the next digital era of keeping traffic local, LINX Nairobi, a neutral, multi-site Internet Exchange Point (IXP), was introduced in November 2023 from three data centre locations in the Kenyan capital.
The LINX team expanded the network fabric to include PAIX Nairobi as a complete access point to the IXP in response to a request from the local networking community.
In its first year of operation, the new interconnection hub has welcomed major local ISPs as well as international firms like Meta and Starlink.
According to the operator, “one connection to LINX Nairobi allows access to the whole community of networks for peering services and more, regardless of where they are co-located in the metro.”
Nurani Nimpuno, Head of Global Engagement at LINX said, “Expanding our LINX Nairobi fabric to PAIX is a key step in supporting the growth of Africa’s digital economy. Our vision is to create a dynamic interconnection community in the region, enabling networks to exchange traffic locally while accessing global opportunities. This collaboration with PAIX will help us achieve that goal and deliver even greater value to our members.”
About PAIX Nairobi
PAIX Nairobi hosts communities of interest for ISPs, content networks, e-commerce, television, and gaming enterprises.
It is situated in the Britam Tower in the central business district of Upper Hill, the economic hub of East and Central Africa.
The PAIX facility in Nairobi is a cutting-edge carrier-neutral data centre that is ideally situated to cater to a wide variety of East African clients.
Through this new collaboration, networks operating under PAIX can now easily connect to LINX’s interconnection fabric, taking advantage of the exchange’s strong technical infrastructure and wide-ranging global ecosystem.
LINX expresses optimism over the partnership
Emmanuel Makina, Sales Manager of PAIX Data Centres, commented, “We are thrilled to partner with LINX to bring their globally recognised interconnection fabric to our Nairobi facility. This extension underscores PAIX’s commitment to providing our customers with access to best-in-class connectivity services, supporting their growth and innovation efforts.”
Wouter van Hulten, CEO of PAIX Data Centres, added, “We support our customers’ network expansions on the African continent, by rolling out and operating world class infrastructures. With the services offered by LINX in Kenya, we’re preparing the market for further datacentre investments. It’s great to see the cooperation between our teams on the African and the European continents delivering results.”
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LINX services offered by PAIX
Co-located networks at PAIX Nairobi can now take advantage of a free cross-connect to join the LINX Nairobi community and join a worldwide membership.
A 10G port and 2Gbps of LINX service are included in the $130 monthly membership cost, with the opportunity to add more services to suit their network requirements.
Peering, closed user groups, private VLANs, and the exclusive Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) are among the LINX services that PAIX offers.