New exchange boosts city’s internet service

HE new Durban Internet Exchange (Dinx) went live last week and will see better interconnection of local internet traffic, resulting in reduced broadband costs and more reliability.

The facility is managed by the Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (Ispa) and will complement the Johannesburg Internet Exchange and the Cape Town Internet Exchange, the largest two internet exchange points in Africa.

Dinx is located at Teraco Data Environment’s new Durban facility, known as DB1, which opened last year in Riverhorse Valley as part of more than a R50 million investment.

According to Graham Beneke, chairman of Ispa’s internet exchanges working group, the three internet exchanges managed by the association together enable SA internet service providers (ISPs) to

Tinterconnect their networks and exchange local internet traffic. This saves costs and provides greater reliability through enhanced redundancy. The working group is the team driving the policy and technical operations of the three internet exchange points.

“While Durban has traditionally been a smaller internet market than Johannesburg or Cape Town, it is also fast becoming a key telecommunications distribution hub, with three major undersea cables now landing a short distance up the North Coast at Mtunzini,” said Beneke.

“This increased telecommunication capacity has catapulted internet traffic in the region. Ispa builds internet exchanges where there is current demand and scope for future growth. We have high hopes for the Durban exchange point,” he said.

“Ispa had polled its members.