LINX Launches First Scottish Internet Exchange

London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced the launch of a new internet exchange for Scotland, which should result in reduced latency and faster connectivity for Scottish networks and Internet users.

IXScotland is LINX’s first dedicated IP exchange in the country and will reduce the need for traffic to be routed through one of the three main UK exchanges in London, Leeds and Manchester, as it will function independently and is hosted at Pulsant’s South Gyle data centre in Edinburgh.

Its launch follows months of consultation with the Scottish Government, which welcomes the development.

Scottish internet exchange

“We are delighted to welcome the establishment of a dedicated Internet Exchange Point for Scotland which will speed up Internet access for businesses and individuals,” says Scottish cabinet Secretary, John Swinney. “I want to recognise the key contribution of LINX, who have worked with the industry and Scottish Government to make this happen.”

The exchange is now fully installed and will pass its first Internet traffic over the next few days, with many ISPs and other major networks on board from the start. LINX says any of its members will be able to use the new exchange without any additional membership fee.

“IXScotland is a real step forward for the Internet community in Scotland and the UK as a whole,” claims John Souter, CEO of LINX. “The exchange will allow networks to stop ‘tromboning’ traffic to London and back again, and will help increase resilience by creating a new centre for interconnection in the UK.”

The Scottish government has made a number of moves to improve connectivity in the country in the past year. In July it agreed a £264 million deal to bring fibre broadband to 85 percent of properties in the country by 2015 and 95 percent by the end of 2017 with the help of funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), while last December, it pledged £2 million towards free on-board Wi-Fi on ScotRail train services.

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