Frankfurt (Germany) / Lagos (Nigeria), 19 April 2023: A new interconnection platform, AF-CIX, has been launched in Nigeria to boost Internet speed and improve network performance for Internet Service Providers, Content Delivery Networks, Cloud Providers and Enterprises. The platform hosted in Rack Centre – as part of innovations to support the growth of the Internet in Africa through effective and functional traffic localization, enterprise digitization acceleration, and community support, among other reasons – is specifically designed to complement the existing network infrastructure providers’ by providing a redundant path for local traffic exchange and a robust Interconnect Exchange through its partnership with DE-CIX, the leading operator of Internet Exchanges in the world.
According to the Head of Peering and Exchange Platforms, Obinna Adumike, creating the platform became necessary to improve network performance by keeping traffic local, thereby reducing the number of networks hops that Internet traffic needs to take. He explained that AF-CIX connects networks by eliminating the need to route traffic through international circuits, thereby making the Internet faster and more responsive for users and resulting in lower latency and higher performance.
“The millions of users in Nigeria deserve digital services of state-of-the-art quality. This requires the best local infrastructure possible. DE-CIX is delighted to contribute to this to serve the broader need for interconnection, with modern interconnection services designed for businesses such as cloud connectivity,” explains Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “This will unleash the potential of the Nigerian digital economy by providing better performance and user experience of content and applications, and affordable and high-quality Internet access for enterprises and individuals.”
The integration of AF-CIX into the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem in due course will further help Nigerian businesses have direct access to the portfolio of DE-CIX services and connected networks, thereby offering them access to thousands of networks in over 100 countries. With the platform, participants or businesses would enjoy access to the largest aggregation of Cloud, content, and CDN providers worldwide with direct integration to close to 20 Interconnection platforms across the globe.
Commenting on the benefits of connecting to the platform, Adumike noted that any business linked to it would undoubtedly witness improved network performance, increased connectivity, lower costs, and better security, with exceptional interconnection services, and an updated and advanced approach to traffic engineering and management. “Connection to AF-CIX means a lot to every participant given that benefits such as cross-connection, peering, and port access to the platform are obtained freely at Rack Centre. Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks are mitigated through the platforms integrated Blackholing service. The platform is also developed for localization of the Internet, enhancing services like Root DNS servers and NTP Stratum servers,” he added.
The platform is set to provide for a future of converged interconnection across Internet players, offering seamless opportunities to interconnect locally across verticals for various sectors or industries.
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