Our friends at New Zealand Internet Exchange Inc (NZIX), a not-for-profit society providing carrier-neutral peering points across New Zealand, and have created a new exchange in Christchurch (CHC-IX). Lightwire is among the initial group of 6 Internet service providers and 2 content providers that are joining the exchange.
Who is at the CHC-IX now or shortly?
Eyeballs
- Computer Concepts
- Inspire
- Lightwire
- Solarix
- Vetta Online
- Vocus
Content
- Cloudflare
- Netflix (cache access via Vocus Christchurch cache)
Public Peering
A public peering exchange creates a point where network operators can share routes in an effective and low-cost fashion to better serve their customers, you can read more about the model here. This model is especially useful in the South Island.
Chris Browning, Lightwire’s Head of Networks, says this will improve latency to key routes and add resiliency to Lightwire’s South Island network.
“Building a healthy exchange in the south island of New Zealand is the best for New Zealand Internet as a whole which is currently hugely dependent on Auckland and the North Island. Bringing content to the south will bring lower latency, which will make the internet feel faster to use. Whilst at the same time increasing resiliency for content to our customers in the south island.”
~ Chris Browning
With the pending closure of CHIX, Vital’s (formerly CityLink) Christchurch exchange, and the launch of Hyperfibre NZIX have timed this move well. CHC-IX will be the only Christchurch exchange at a time when access speeds are dramatically increasing. Efficient routing is vital in order to effectively manage network costs.
With this news released at the recent New Zealand Network Operators’ Group (NZNOG) conference, it will now be interesting to see which other operators will join the exchange. Sadly, we are not holding our breath that Spark will be jumping on board.
Brendan Ritchie
P.S. Have you read our post about the hidden cost of hyperfibre yet?
