Strengthening London's Internet Community

LONDON, ON April 3, 2007 - A group of local technology executives has formed a non-profit corporation to make Internet Service Providers (ISPs), large corporate entities, and educational facilities in London and the wider southwestern Ontario region more cost effective and efficient. Called the London Internet Exchange Community (LonIX), its goal is to strengthen the Internet community while providing a mutually beneficial and free public peering point for all local Internet traffic.

Bernard Becker, President of the London Internet Exchange:
"This type of exchange already exists in other Canadian cities and the benefits reach far beyond its members into the daily lives of residents within the community. In this era of speed and connectivity, it is becoming increasingly important for us to find effective ways to share resources."

LonIX is designed to act as a junction between multiple points of Internet presence. Members of the exchange will be able to directly connect with one another in order to exchange local Internet traffic.

The primary benefit to members is cost and efficiency. Currently, organizations often pay an intermediary provider to handle data creating a longer data path - the longer the path, the greater the cost and the poorer the performance. Local traffic exchanges such as that provided by LonIX help contain these costs and improve performance by avoiding long detours. Users on one network access servers on another network via the shortest and least expensive path and vice versa.

LonIX will also help improve the speed of Internet traffic within London. The shorter the distance and the fewer "hops" (routers and switches) that Internet traffic requires, the faster that traffic travels. In addition, the presence of a local routing exchange will help reduce the amount of traffic sent to the rest of Canada and to other countries. As a result, the links connecting participating providers to inter-regional and international exchange points are more available for truly useful long-haul traffic.

London Internet users will benefit from more fluid, stable and fast connections with the customers of other local ISPs. As well, residents in London will have direct access to local content even if there are problems on the Internet somewhere else in the world. For example, a power outage in Toronto would not prevent London residents from accessing City of London services. The same would apply in the case of occasional outages on other Canadian and American networks. Even if links with the United States or elsewhere in Canada go down, sites within London that use the LonIX would continue to communicate. Currently, nearly all Internet traffic in London is back-hauled through Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or various points in the United States.

LonIX owns and operates the switching platforms used to interconnect exchange members. The switching platforms are a series of switches capable of handling ample amounts of traffic. These switches will be located at key points within the city where ISPs, corporations and government agencies have sufficient network overlap. One example of this would be the Toronto Internet Exchange at 151 Front Street which started out in that building in1998 with only a few members and now has a significant membership including small, large, national and international Internet Service Providers, application providers like Akamai and ISC, as well as content providers such as the CBC and the Globe & Mail, all directly connecting to the Exchange from their own facilities.

The first LonIX location is in One London Place, and with the co-operation of Sifton Properties, the initial switches will be placed at strategic locations within that building. The growth plan mirrors the success of the Toronto effort.

LonIX joins a number of existing Internet exchanges already in existence in other major Canadian metropolitan centres including: OttIX (Ottawa Internet Exchange), QIX (Quebec Internet Exchange), and TorIX (Toronto Internet Exchange). Jim Mercer, co-founder of TorIX says: "TorIX would recognize the benefits of the LonIX initiative, and would seek the advantages of collaborating with LonIX in the future."

For more information on the operation of LonIX and how to become a member, please contact one of the following directors and visit the website at www.lonix.net:

Bernard Becker
Senior Network Architect
Filogix Limited Partnership
519-649-2363 x3341
becker@filogix.com


Joe Abley, (Technical Advisor)
Director, TorIX
Director, Hopcount Limited
(519) 670-9327
jabley@hopcount.ca

Steve Spencer
General Manager
Digital Fortress Corporation
(519) 432-3222
steve@digitalfortress.ca
www.digitalfortress.ca

Jim Pretty
Manager IT, Telecommunications
City of London
519 661-2500 Ext. 4855
jpretty@london.ca


John Lawson
Operations Manager
LARG*net
519 661-2111 Ext. 86981
jlawson@largnet.on.ca

Jim Mercer
Former Board Member
Canadian Internet Registry
TorIX Co-Founder &
Boardmember 2003-2007
416-410-5633
jim@reptiles.org