NTT – in conjunction with INX-ZA – has gone live with the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) node within its Johannesburg 1 (JOH1) data centre.
With 6 200 square metres of data centre server space and 12MW IT critical load, the JOH1 data centre is NTT’s newest and largest facility on the African continent, offering complete solutions for housing customers’ IT and network systems in a secure, high-availability environment. The facility is situated in Samrand – away from the Isando data centre cluster which is ideal for hosting a client’s primary, secondary, or disaster recovery IT infrastructure, the company says.
JINX is Africa’s oldest Internet exchange point (IXP), operating since 1996, and with an impressive 100% uptime. Like its sister IXPs in Cape Town (CINX), Durban (DINX), and Nelson Mandela Bay (NMBINX), these exchanges enable over 350 peers to exchange traffic directly with each other – optimising the flow of data and reducing costs for network operators by avoiding additional routing and costs through upstream transit networks.
In addition, JINX allows peers to exchange traffic with peers in numerous other facilities that house JINX nodes such as the NTT Parklands facility, further reducing costs and complexity for those networks connected to the exchange. Keeping the Internet as accessible as possible is critical to supporting Africa’s digital boom, the company says, with estimates that some 615-million users in sub-Saharan Africa will subscribe to mobile services by 2025.
“Our recently launched JOH1 data centre is proof of NTT Data’s investment in Africa’s growth prospects – and the integration of JINX within the facility reinforces that even further,” says Robert Marston, director: Infrastructure Solutions (Data Centres) at NTT Data.
“The go-live of JINX within JOH1 is also significant in that it’s the latest entry in a very long and successful history between INX-ZA and NTT Data which led to the establishment of INX points of presence across several data centres and regions to support Internet growth in the country. Today’s goal remains the same as it was: driving digital access and supporting Africa’s growth.”
Edrich de Lange; INXCOM chairperson, adds: “Extending JINX into NTT’s Johannesburg 1 data centre represents a pivotal step in enhancing our multi-site network infrastructure strategy. By partnering with trusted data centre providers like NTT, we’re empowering network operators with the freedom to select colocation partners that best suit their needs.
“By expanding INX network across multiple locations, we’re building a more resilient and adaptable network ecosystem,” he adds. “This not only addresses our users’ immediate needs, but also positions us to effectively meet future challenges in an ever-evolving digital landscape.”