NL-ix News

NL-IX EXPANDS TO BELGIUM!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

As a logic follow-up on our recent roll-out to South-East Netherlands (Eindhoven, Maastricht), NL-ix has signed agreements to further expand to Antwerp and Bruxelles.

Belgium providers have more than once expressed interest to benefit from the huge Amsterdam/Netherlands-connected peering-base, since this area is commonly acknowlegded as the largest peering-Harbour on earth. The following new Belgium datacenters will be covered:

Antwerp:
- Antwerp-DC
- KPN (Atlantic House)
- LCL
Bruxelles:

InterXion
KPN
LCL

The above network built-out is targetted to be ready June 1 2012. However, interested customers can contact us (sales@nl-ix.net) for more information, or even quotes.

In a good tradition, the six new NL-ix POPs in Belgium will be celebrated in a similar famous event as NL-ix organises each year in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Save the date already!

NL-ix EARLY SUMMER DRINK 2012, BRUXELLES, April 25 If you want to join please register for the drink

SUPER-CORE-SITE IN NEW EQUINIX AM3 DATA CENTER

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Equinix and NL-ix recently announced that NL-ix is to establish a super-core-site with up to 100 Gbit/s port-capacity in the new 6400 square metre AM3 facility, Equinixs latest International Business Exchange(IBX) data center.

Scheduled for completion in Q3 2012, the AM3 facility is located in Amsterdam Science Park which, with over 250 networks, is one of the highest-density network zones in continental Europe. To accommodate significant traffic levels and peering opportunities, NL-ix plans to establish its third super-core- site in the AM3 data center, interconnecting the current core-nodes and handling the majority of NL-ix traffic.

The new Equinix data center is strategically located in one of the highest-density network zones in continental Europe, so it makes a great deal of sense to establish a high-capacity node in this state-of-the-art facility, said Jan Hoogenboom, NL-ix CEO. All of our members as well as Equinixs extensive customer base stand to benefit substantially from the new node.

Hosting an NL-ix super-core-node gives our new facility an excellent head- start where connectivity providers and their customers are concerned, said Equinix Netherlands Managing Director Michiel Eielts. Combined with the dynamic network, cloud and content ecosystems at work in Platform Equinix, the new facility will be in a position to enable customer growth in one of the most dynamic, fast-growing and network-rich locations in continental Europe.

NL-IX LAUNCHES METRO MPLS

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100

As part of the current massive network upgrade, in which NL-ix migra- ted to state-of-the-art Brocade MLX switches in the majority of its 43 datacenters, NL-ix recently launched Metro MPLS as an interesting new option in its regional and nationwide transmission portfolio.

Compared with our traditional Metro Ethernet services, the new Metro MPLS offers transparent ethernet (e.g.: dot1.q, unlimited macs) with more redundancy, and less restrictions.

Moreover, compared with our popular Metro Wave services, the new Metro MPLS will not only be more redundant, but may also be delivered much faster and much more flexible.

Not each of our 43 datacenters is equipped yet with MPLS capable equipment, customers are invited to contact us to receive more information and quotes at sales@nl-ix.net

NL-ix AND TELECITY SIGN CONTRACT FOR TELECITY-AMS5

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200

New built Telecity-5 datacenter will be added to NL-ix coverage

During the recent NL-ix Late Summer Drink, TelecityGroup, a provider of premium carrier-neutral data centres, and NL-ix, signed a contract to expand NL-ixs capacity in TelecityGroups existing data centres and to its new data centre, Telecity-AMS5.

Obviously the Internet use has grown explosively in recent years and this trend is set to continue. Therefor, in response to growing demand for connections and capacity, TelecityGroup is currently building a new 9MW, 9000 m2 data centre in Amsterdam Zuidoost. The contract allows both companies to meet the continued growth of the digital economy in the Netherlands.

NL-ix will be offering its services through AMS 5 from its opening.

4TH LATE SUMMER DRINK OVERWHELMING SUCCESS!

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200

Hundreds of visitors at sunny Late Summer Drink 2011

During probably one the most sunny days of 2011, the Scheveningen beach in Holland was crowded with hundreds of telecom colleagues, visiting the 4th edition of the NL-ix Late Summer Drink. Building out on earlier traditions, the event was organised in Beachclub Culpepper in Scheveningen, Holland, famous for its cosy environment and brilliant view on the North Sea. Over 300 visitors joined this unique yearly networking event, meeting many people, while enjoying the live music, entertainers, fingerfood, drinks, and the famous Contact-game.

Have a taste of the great atmosphere at this event via the video coverage of ISP TODAY Enjoy many more photos here

And note already: September 26, 2012, for Late Summer Drink number 5!

NL-ix expands to North and South Netherlands

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200

In its continuous effort to become a real nationwide Internet Exchange, NL-ix is currently rolling out three major backbone projects into North and South Netherlands

In the first project a new fiber is implemented from Amsterdam, via Eindhoven, into Maastricht Airport, amongst others connecting to EFX Eindhoven and Cofely Maastricht at multi 10 Gb level.

The second delivery deals with a new fiber built between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, to upgrade multi 1 Gb trunks into multi 10 Gb capacity.

The last mission takes care of a significant upgrade of the transmission equipment on a fiber to Groningen, to upgrade there to multi 10 Gb speeds as well.

KPN has acquired NL-ix

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100

KPN has acquired the Netherlands Internet Exchange.

Since 2001 NL-ix is offering Internet Exchange and peering related services under brand names NL-ix, Open Peering and Joint Transit to around 270 members, making it the 5th largest Internet Exchange in the world.

With the acquisition of NL-ix, KPN widens its portfolio in the Wholesale and Enterprise market. Additionally KPN improves its position in the market for Mission Critical Internet, Internet Exchange services, and services in and between Carrier Neutral datacenters.

As subsidiary of KPN, NL-ix will have easier access to customers in the business market, where very high quality Internet and connectivity solutions become crucial. Moreover, NL-ix can extend its portfolio with some of the network services of KPN.

The NL-ix group will continue to operate as a fully autonomous organization, with its own identity, as an independent part of KPN Wholesale. Financial details of this transaction will not be disclosed.

East-Netherlands getting up-to-speed

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

With the delivery of services to IT-Ernity in Datacenter Equinix-EN1 in Enschede, and to Keenondots in Datacenter Previder-PDC2 in Hengelo, NL-ix gets up-to-speed in the eastern area of The Netherlands.

With 40 data- center-presences in total, of which more than 25 outside Amsterdam region, NL-ix has become a real nationwide Internet Exchange. With this roll-out, NL-ix meets the growing demand for regional connectivity in an increasing number of new regional datacenters.

The first two customers in East Holland clearly confirm the need for datacenter facilities and connectivity outside Amsterdam:

Sebastiaan de Koning, Managing Director IT-Ernity (www.it-ernity.nl)
For a market leader in mission-critical hosting services and managed services as IT-Ernity it is crucial to divide our operations over more than one data- center, and geographically spread over West and East Netherlands. Thats why we have selected Equinix Amsterdam, Zwolle and Enschede, and NL-ix services in two locations in a redundant multi homed architecture.

Laurens van Alphen, Infrastructure Architect at Keenondots (www.keenondots.com):
Keenondots sees a growing demand for multi-datacenter solutions and operates its services in the main two datacenters in the east of the Netherlands with its staff located nearby. The new presence of NL-ix helps us to sustain our quality since through NL-ix we can peer on both AMS-IX and NL-ix locally from Previder-PDC2 in Hengelo.

Jan Hoogenboom, Managing Director NL-ix: With Previder- PDC2, Equinix-EN1 and Equinix-ZW1 being operational now, we are proud to have exceeded the milestone of 40 datacenters at the end of 2010. For 2011 we already signed agreements with several new datacenters, which may result into 50 points-of-presence by end 2011.

Holland becoming worlds key 'peering harbor'?

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Recent stats on Packet Clearing House site look to indicate that The Netherlands has become the key Internet Peering Harbor of the world

In their current ranking (14-Jan-2010) the Top 7 IXPs (member-count) is listed as follows:

Additional analysis concludes that from the total of 662 members at AMS-IX (393) and NL-ix (269) there are 547 unique peers, which would make Holland indeed the key country to join an IXP and organise peerings.

NL-ix true national Internet Exchange

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Datacenter Groningen added to NL-ix network

Last week, with signing yet another local datacenter presence with Datacenter Groningen in Zuidbroek, it is obvious that NL-ix further steps up as a true NATIONAL Internet Exchange. This new presence brings our total in the Groningen-area to three datacenters already (RUG Oude Rekenhal, SIG-Telehouse and Datacenter Groningen).

Nevertheless, many more datacenter presences are scheduled to be rolled-out later this year and in 2011, like in Zuid-Holland, Brabant, Utrecht and other areas.

Clearly, for NL-ix, Holland is bigger then just Amsterdam-area and currently has coverage and members in almost all regions and provinces of the Netherlands.
See for this : www.nl-ix.net/members/regional/

NL-ix Network: The Next Generation

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The buildout of the new NL-ix MLPS-based network takes off

As recently announced, over the next 6 months NL-ix will migrate to a next generation multi-core backbone founded upon Brocade MLX label switch routers and state of the art MPLS switching technology

The network will consist of two super-core flagship nodes on the Nikhef and Telecity AMS2 datacenters based upon the 32-slot MLX switch, and ten regular core nodes in the largest carrier neutral datacenters in and around Amsterdam (Equinix AM1, euNetworks, Evoswitch, GlobalSwitch, Interxion AMS5, Mediagateway, SARA, Telecity AMS1, AMS3 and AMS4) largely based upon the 16-slot MLX switches.

In raw performance the flagship-nodes can support 128 10-Gbit ports or 16 100-Gbit ports, and forward ~2 billion (109) packets per second (3.2 TeraBits per second) with 7+1 switch fabric redundancy and 4+4 power supply redundancy. The nodes can be further expanded to 256 10-Gbit ports or 32 100-Gbit ports.

On all these nodes NL-ix will implement multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) featuring redundancy with <50ms reroute (using multiple label switch paths between all nodes), backbone usage optimization (traffic can flow directly between nodes instead of via a single central core node) and enables new services like virtual fibers (transparent lines).

With this upgrade, customers are assured that the NL-ix backbone is prepared for the projected extreme growth, will experience advanced redundancy and reliability, and will benefit from the new services enabled by the new network.

The first node (Interxion amS5) will be upgraded later this month, followed by the flagship nodes Telecity amS2 and Nikhef later this quarter, rapidly followed by all other sites over the coming months. Later next year, the remaining (by then) 30+ NL-ix sites are expected to be upgraded to mPLS using label edge routers (currently being selected).

More info on this in the NL-ix newsletter: 10th issue, October 2010

First VoIP Companies on VoiceIX

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Speakup and Proxsys are the first to connect to VoiceIX

Early September, NL-ix has launched its new VoiceIX whereby members can use dedicated voice-peering over a shared infrastructure. By using VoiceIX, VoIP Operators can peer their voice-traffic via layer-2 ethernet (VoiceIX Direct) or via layer-3 BGP4-based peering (VoiceIX BGP).

Compared with other peering solutions, VoiceIX also features Priority Queuing, which is a crucial new element to further secure quality at voice-peering. The first members, Speakup (Enschede) and PROXSYS (Gorinchem) are installing to flow their voice-peering-traffic already via VoiceIX.

Stefan de kooter, responsible for Voice Engineering at Proxsys:
“For a fast growing quality Voip Provider as PROXSYS it is very important to exchange voice traffic at the best possible interconnect medium, and at the lowest possible (transit-) costs. ‘VoiceIX’ enables us to peer with Voip Operators while still maintaining a guaranteed call quality and a secured handover with a closed user group. Using a IP-based interconnect medium will enable us to provide future-proof communication services to our customers without restricting us to intra-customer calls.”

Simon de Hartog, Information Technology Consultant at Speakup:
“So far, SpeakUp as one of the leading Voip Operators, is involved in several initiatives to get any kind of Voice Exchange going in Holland. We are very glad now that NL-ix started this ‘VoiceIX’ initiative to get voice peering available much faster, which we support warmly.”

Initially, VoiceIX will focus on facilitating ‘bilateral’ voice peering, but eventually also community- based peering-features will be added to VoiceIX. more information on: www.voiceix.net

More info on this in the NL-ix newsletter: 10th issue, October 2010

Record turnout at Late Summer Drink

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

With over 230 attendees the 2010 Late Summer Drink was a huge sucess

End September, at our yearly Late Summer Drink, an absolute record amount of more than 230 NL-ix members and relations joined us in celebrating already the third edition of this event.

Apart from getting in cozy contact with many other attendants, and enjoying the wide variety of entertainment, drinks and food, of course we also had our famous yearly game.

And... the winners of the iPads of the 2010 game were: Milko Van Den Wollenberg from Xeloq (Hoofddorp) and Arjen Steinfort Schaap from BIT (Ede).

We hope to see you again: end 2011.

NL-ix expands to Datahouse Alkmaar

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Today NL-ix has opened a new datacenter presence at the Datahouse datacenter in Alkmaar.

This new datacenter presence brings the total for NL-ix on 39. All NL-ix services including ethernet VLANs, managed ethernet wavelengths and dark fibers, are available at the datacenter as of now, although special pricing can apply for some products.

All Dutch datacenters, whether or not with NL-ix presence, can be found on the Google NL Datacenter Map.

Huge platform renewal at NL-ix

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

NL-ix upgrades backbone with Brocade MLX switches.

NL-ix is very proud to announce that last week it made a huge investment in a fundamental network renewal, in which we will replace all our core switches by the most modern and advanced Brocade(Foundry) equipment (in total 14 MLX-32, MLX-16, and MLX-8 switches)

LeaseWeb joins NL-ix as 250th member

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

NL-ix connects dutch largest IaaS (Infrastructure As A Service) provider

Last week, in the middle of the WorldCup madness, NL-ix celebrated the fact that Netherlands based LeaseWeb has joined NL-ix as member number 250. The membership of LeaseWeb places NL-ix even more firmly in the top 5 of worlds biggest Internet Exchanges and making The Netherlands not only the second-best soccer country but moreover worlds largest peering country. This new NL-ix port will be supplied in the fast growing EvoSwitch datacenter in Haarlem, Holland, where NL-ix connects many other members as well.

LeaseWeb - currently running 700 Gbit/s of peak traffic - carefully selects the most useful exchange facilities in many countries. In this playing field, NL-ix definitely has gained a significant position. Without hesitation we decided to connect to this major exchange states Bastiaan Spandaw, Chief Network Architect at LeaseWeb.

After the earlier sign-ups this year of Online and Ziggo, NL-ix is proud that yet another Netherlands-based hosting giant has decided to join NL-ix. And with LeaseWeb connected to NL-ix now, NL-ix also decided to upgrade its node in the EvoSwitch Datacenter in Haarlem to a full 320 Gbit/s core switch site adds Marc Gauw, Commercial Director of NL-ix.

Telecity-2 most used peering-center

Fri, 07 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Based on PeeringDB Telecity AMS2 hosts more networks then any other site

Although not everybody has registered their network, their Internet Exchange connections, and their datacenter presences in PeeringDB yet, PeeringDB the famous global peering database already shows which datacenters are most commonly used for peering purposes in the Netherlands.

Beginning may 2010 the table outlines that Telecity AMS2 leads the PeeringDB ranking with 107 registered networks that have some kind of peering with another provider.

Obviously this list does not say anything about the quality of the datacenters: it just shows how many peering companies are present (and registered), often for historical reasons. Other/newer datacenters are expected to climb in this ranking soon.

PeeringDB is anyhow a very useful tool to extract all kinds of peering information. If you have not registered in PeeringDB yet, please register at www.peeringdb.com.

IPv4 space now really running out

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

NL-ix issues a formal warning to its customers

At this point in time NL-ix feels the urgent need to issue a formal alert towards its customers that in the light of the imminent IPv4 address pool exhaustion. RIPE is rapidly tightening the procedures around IPv4 Provider Independent IP space requests and requires more and more detailed request justification (e.g. a router ARP table specifying arp entries for all earlier assigned IPs) before assigning space on such requests.

RIPE already has reduced the time frame for which space can be requested from 2 years to one year (you can only request as much space as you can justify you will need in the next 12 months).
It is expected that, as we come closer to the exhaustion date, this time justification period will be further reduced by RIPE in steps to for example 6 months, 3 months, etc.

It is currently projected that the total global unallocated address pool (as maintained by IANA) will exhaust on October 3, 2011.
The regional unallocated address pool (as for Europe maintained by RIPE) is projected to exhaust on August 18, 2012.

However, as the exhaustion date comes closer, a run on space might occur which could rapidly bring the exhaustion dates forward in time.
Our advice is to:

1) Take the imminent exhaustion of IPv4 space into account in your business plans for the next 1 or 2 years;
2) Try to find ways to reduce your dependency on unique IPv4 IP addresses (e.g. by combining more services/customer on one IP address, by using NAT where possible, etc.);
3) Prepare your organization, network and services for IPv6 in the next 6 to 12 months;
4) Create awareness in your organization that the historic situation that you can always easily get as much IPv4 addresses as you need/can justify, should no longer be taken for granted.

Our advice is NOT to request as much IP addresses as you can get now. Procedures are already much more strict then they where, so if you cannot justify new IP space, the request will be rejected, and future requests will be evaluated with even more suspicion.

Only request (new/more) space if you need it and can justify both your existing use and your need for new space (for a 12 months period).

Equinix Zwolle & Enschede connected

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

First datacenters in East Netherlands with NL-ix connection

Amsterdam, March 15, 2010 - Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), a provider of global data center services, has announced the connection of its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers, located in Zwolle (ZW1) and Enschede (EN1), to the Amsterdam-based Netherlands Internet Exchange (NL-ix).

With this Internet Exchange connection, Equinix customers will enjoy the benefits associated from a local connection to the worlds fifth largest Internet Exchange. Also, NL-ix peering services are available to the local small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) market through Internet Service Provider (ISP) offerings within the Equinix service provider portfolio. Historically, these services are often found too costly for SMEs to purchase individually. Equinixs other regional IBX center, the Amsterdam-based AM1, is already connected to the NL-ix.

By connecting its IBX sites in Zwolle and Enschede to the NL-ix, Equinix offers its customers greater choice of network connectivity solutions. The redundant configuration of the NL-ixs multi-core infrastructure also ensures customers have permanent access to their data hosted at the IBXs in Zwolle and Enschede.

From its Zwolle and Enschede IBXs, Equinix provides its customers, including hosting providers, Application Service Providers (ASPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and enterprise users, with access to a service portfolio especially designed to meet the broad range of managed services needs of the small-and medium-size enterprise beyond collocation. The IBX data centers in Zwolle and Enschede are also connected to Equinixs other data centers via a redundant backbone.

We want to offer our customers maximum freedom of choice in terms of network connectivity, explains Michiel Eielts, Equinix General Manager. Connecting our data centers in East Netherlands with NL-ix is a critical part of this mission. We are the first provider in this region to provide customers with this type of access. Through our ISP customers, we can offer small and mid-sized companies an opportunity to benefit from the speed, optimum availability and connectivity options of NL-ix.

Many data centers throughout the Netherlands have been connected to the NL-ix in recent years, adds Marc Gauw, NL-ix Commercial Director. In view of our substantial growth ambitions, the NL-ix connection of the Equinix data center in Amsterdam, set up a year ago, was a very logical step for us. Following our excellent experience of partnering with Equinix, we didnt have to think twice about connecting its data centers in Zwolle and Enschede to the NL-ix.

Capacity to Groningen expanded

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

First datacenters in East Netherlands with NL-ix connection

Since quite some time our sister companies www.openpeering.net and www.jointtransit.nl have a presence in Groningen at the RUG. Till recently this capacity was limited to only a few hundred Mb max.

Since february our new NL-ix fiber is operational between Amsterdam and Groningen, which provides much more capacity at our RUG node. This allows for more specific services like Managed Wavelengths with which you can have your personal piece of fiber!

In the same flow, a new site was implemented in Groningen : the SIG-Telehouse at Zernikenlaan 16.

Please contact sales@nl-ix.net for more information.

AMS-IX and NL-ix join forces

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Access to AMS-IX now available on all 30+ NL-ix sites

AMS-IX, being one of worlds largest Internet Exchanges, and NL-ix, being worlds 5^th largest Internet Exchange with the largest coverage in the Netherlands, have joined forces to enable potential dutch peering members to connect in more than 30 dutch datacenters.

For this purpose, AMS-IX and NL-ix have started an initiative whereby interested customers will be connected to the AMS-IX peering-VLAN via the NL-ix backbone at 100 Mb or 1 Gb. Customers can peer at AMS-IX as if they are connected directly, and peer at NL-ix as well on the same port.

Cara Mascini, CMO at AMS-IX: Over the years, AMS-IX expanded to 7 sites in Amsterdam-area. However, we see a large demand both internationally as nationally to connect to AMS-IX via other sites, for which we have introduced our Partner Program in the past. This new trial with NL-ix can be regarded as the next step in our Partner Program, whereby we start using aggregated connections by partners at AMS-IX to facilitate even more sites for remote connections in the Netherlands and abroad.

Jan Hoogenboom, CEO at NL-ix: Both AMS-IX and NL-ix have the mission to facilitate peering for interested parties. The fact that the two main exchanges work together in providing peering ports in so many cities throughout the Netherlands is a large step forward for the dutch peering society.

The first pilot customer will be Breedband Nederland (aka Breedband Arnhem), and will connect at a new NL-ix presence at the AKZO datacenter in Arnhem.

Dave Aaldering, CEO at Breedband Nederland: Instead of having to deal with carriers, exchanges and telehouses separately, NL-ix bundles the complete set of services in a one-stop-shop package, and delivers it directly to our network core in Arnhem. This saves us time, money and above all allows us to keep focused on our customers..

If you would be an interested customer as well, please contact : sales@nl-ix.net

Large access networks join NL-ix

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Ziggo and Online Breedband signup

With close to 230 members, NL-ix has become a significant global peering player, which has recently been recognized by two of the largest dutch access networks : Online and Ziggo. Both companies took the initiative to connect via a multiple 10 Gb port at NL-ix.

Jochem van der Meer, Manager Network Operations at Online Breedband: In our operations, we want to achieve the maximum quality for our customers. This we would like to achieve with the maximum redundancy and connectivity. This is the reason that we need to connect to multiple exchanges with multiple ports.

Peering with Online Breedband is currently available via the NL-ix routerserver.

Abraham de Keiser, Operational Interconnect Manager at Ziggo: Ziggo is very satisfied with the service as provided by NL-ix. Beside redundancy and connectivity, we see much more future opportunities in having a connection at NL-ix.

More datacenters on their way

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Below we pre-announce the coming updates in NL-ix;s everlasting network expansion. The following datacenters are soon to be implemented :

NUON/Ziggo, Spaklerweg 20a, Amsterdam
AKZO Nobel, Velperweg 76, Arnhem
SIG Telehouse, Zernikenlaan 16, Groningen
Spaanse Kubus, Vlaardingweg 62, Rotterdam :
expansion to Ground Floor (Bytesnet/R-IX)
ReasonNet DC2, Gyroscoopweg 134, Amsterdam
move from ReasonNet DC1

NL-ix expands its managed WAVE portfolio

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

About a year ago, nL-ix introduced its new Managed Wavelenght Portfolio, as the fully transparent alternative for its traditional cityLan ethernet, and the more simple alternative for its Dark Fiber products. over the last year, the interest of our customers for this product did grow so rapidly that we recently expanded the amount of Wave-capable POPs to already 15 Datacenters, and can now deliver on 100 Mb, 1 gb and 10 gb speeds, all interfacing on shorthaul lasers (1 10 Gb), or even on copper (100 Mb).

Compared with our CityLANs, these Managed Waves may have advantages with respect to Layer2 transparency and used mac-addresses.

Compared with our fibers, the Waves may avoid worries on expensive long-distance lasers and/or repeaters. please contact sales@nl-ix.net for more information.

"IPv6 Awards" in the rebound

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

On Thursday November 26, the Dutch IPv6 Taskforce will organise the IPv6 AWARD in the Fortis circustheater in scheveningen.
The same taskforce organised a similar event a year ago, which unfortunately appeared to come to early for the IPv6 world to have enough ipv6 initiatives anyhow to award, and had to be cancelled.

This year, there are clearly much more IPv6 initiatives to nominate, which is indicative of the sense of urgency that is finally becoming apparent.
I really hope that this years awards will be a huge success and that next year we can cancel the awards again for the reason that IPv6 is mature by then, smiles Erik Huizer, Chairman of the IPv6 Taskforce.

Potential nominees can still give it a try by presenting their ipv6 contribution at www.ipv6-taskforce.nl/awards/.
In the spirit of this event, NL-ix has decided to extend its free IPv6 Transit action till July 2010!

please contact info@nl-ix.net for information on this.

Exeptional turnout at 2nd NL-ix Late Summer Drink

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

On September 23 an exceptionally large turnout of attendants enjoyed the 2nd edition of the NL-ix Summer Drink. More than 200 telecom professionals gathered together at the cozy Beachclub Culpepper in Scheveningen, to exchange business cards, to enjoy the drinks, food and entertainment, and to share the latest telecom gossip and nice-to-knows.

Like in the last year edition, attendants could also win an Award, this time in being the best in finding the winning match at the event. NL-ix congratulates Jeroen Vermeulen from Siennax/SAASPlaza and Rob Nijhof of Dataweb with winning this game and the flatscreen television sets!

Due to the success of this event, NL-ix will organize another Late Summer Drink in 2010. Stay tuned to this channel to receive the latest on this!

EcoServer 'Host bewust' seminar

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

NL-ix was guestspeaker at Ecoservers Host Bewust seminar, October 23, 2008, Van der Valk Hotel Breukelen. At this seminar, Ecoserver, NL-ix and others highlighted most recent trends in the hosting world and how to achieve savings on the various costs.

Free 'IPv6' Internet connectivity till end 2009

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0200

As known, the worldwide pool of IPv4 IP-numbers is rapidly getting exhausted. The current expectation is that on November 27, 2010, no IP-addresses will be available anymore at IANA based upon the old IPv4 protocol.

However, since many years already, there is a new protocol available IPv6 that is supporting an almost unlimited amount of new IP-addresses. Nevertheless, at the recent European Peering Forum in Dublin the various attendants concluded that the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is going much to slow and needs to be stimulated.

As a follow-up on this, the Netherlands Internet Exchange NL-ix (www.nl-ix.net), together with its sister-company Joint Transit (www.jointtransit.nl), decided to take firm steps by launching a free IPv6 promotion campaign. In this action, all NL-ix connected members are being offered to take a free-of-charge 100 Mb IPv6 Transit-port till end 2009. With this promotion NL-ix again hopes to contribute significantly in getting many more Internet companies familiar with the IPv6-protocol.

The first NL-ix Late Summer Drink at the beach

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200

On wednesday September 24, NL-ix helt the first Late Summer Drink at the beach of Scheveningen (beachclub Culpepper) for members and relations. With almost 100 visitors and a very relaxed environment the Drink was a huge success and will surely be repeated next year!

NL-ix introduces the first NL-ix newsletter

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0200

NL-ix introduces its first Newsletter, distributed to all customers and relations. The newsletter keeps you readers up to date with developments within NL-ix and the market and will be distributed 4 times per year. Please have a look at the 1st issue of the newsletter.

NL-ix introduces NL Datacenter Google Map

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

NL-ix has set up a Google Map which contains all Dutch datacenters and made it available for everybody. The map can be used as a tool to select a nearby datacenter, or to specifically select Carrier Neutral datacenters, which are defined to have at least either the AMS-IX or NL-ix Internet Exchange in house, and to have multipe Global Transit Carriers offering local services. The map can be found here.

The 175th member connected to NL-ix!

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The NL-ix membercount has yet again grown rapidly from 152 less then a year ago, to 175 now. NL-ix expects the growth will increase and the mebercount will cross the 200-member barrier before the end of 2008! Please have a look at the current memberlist.

New datacenters Spaanse Kubus and Grafix NOC

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

New NL-ix datacenter presences where opened just now in Rotterdam (Spaanse Kubus) and Capelle aan den IJssel (Grafix NOC). This expands the NL-ix Dutch coverage to a new and economically important region. All NL-ix services are available on this site from now on.

NL-ix organized the Autonomous Routing fair

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

On November 7 NL-ix hosted the Autonomous Routing fair, which is actually a follow-up on the ISP 2003 fair. Again, the fair was held in the Museum voor Communicatie. This time there where 25 exposants, which showed everything one needs for for doing you own (BGP4 based) routing.

New NL-ix datacenter euNetworks connected

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0200

Yet another NL-ix presence has been opened, this time in the euNetworks datacenter. This datacenter is very centrally located within Amsterdam, and can therefor connect to other Amsterdam datacenters with very short fiber lengths. Please have a look at the current list of NL-ix datacenters. All NL-ix services are available on this site from now on.

NL-ix is the 5th largest Internet Exchange in the world

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0200

On the Wikipedia lemma on the list of Internet Exchange point by size, sorted on the IX membercount, NL-ix shows up as the fith largest exchange point in the world, right after AMS-IX (also Holland), DE-CIX (Germany), LINX (London) and MSK-IX (Moskou) but before for example JPIX and JPNAP (Tokyo, Japan), NYIIX (New York, USA), HKIX (Hong Kong, China), SFINX (PAris, France) or Netnod (Stockholm, Sweden).

Migration from single core to 8-site multi-core mesh in progress

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0100

NL-ix is migrating from a single-core (Nikhef) star shaped network architecture to a multi-core mesh network architecure with 8 core sites: euNetworks, GlobalSwitch, Mediagateway, Nikhef, SARA, Telcity AMS1, AMS2, and AMS3f (formerly Redbus2f). The migration is planned to be completed during the summer of 2007.

Each core node has multiple (target is at least 4) dark fibers to other core sites, preferably of different fiber carriers and over different physical fiber path and building entries, and lightes at n*10 Gbit/s speeds each.

All core sites implement Foundry BigIron RX or MG8 switches and use CWDM or DWDM switches to enable multiple wavelengths over eacht phycical fiber for both backbone and customer usage.

All other NL-ix sites are preferably connected to two different core sites over diverse physical fiber paths and 10 Gbit/s capacity, where available.

The entire NL-ix backbone is now Foundry switch based: last Cisco's replaced

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0200

The process of migrating all switches in the NL-ix backbone from Cisco to Foundry was today completed. The last remaining (fixed-configuration) Cisco switches at the InterxionAMS1 and Schuberg Philis datacenters where today replaced by Foundry BigIron 4000 switches.

Now all switches on all datacenters are of the same brand, are chassis-based, enabling easy port-expansion, can share the same pool of spare parts, have the same management interface and have a consistent feature set over the entire platform. This makes maintenance more efficient and reduces the chance on configuration errors (only one interface, less exceptions).

Backbone links upgraded: Redbus to 20 Gbit, Easynet to 10 Gbit

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0200

The NL-ix backbone capacity has been expanded. The primary connection of the Redbus datacenter has been upgraded to a 2 * 10 Gigabit load balancing trunk over diversely routed fibers to provide more capacity and redundancy. Furthermore, the primary link of the Easynet datacenter has been upgraded to 10 gigabit ethernet. Apart from these core links, both datacenters also have multiple links to other NL-ix datacenters used for backup and special purposes.

NL-ix core switch upgraded to Foundry RX-16

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0200

The NL-ix core switch, at the Nikhef location, has been upgraded to a Foundry RX-16 switch. This switch has substantial redundancy features (redundant switch fabrics, power supplies, management blades), a adaptive selfrouting Clos switch fabric architecture, wirespeed non-blocking performance on all ports, capacity for upto 64 ten gigabit or 768 gigabit ethernet ports, and is ready to support 40 and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet.

New datacenter Enertel, Aalsmeer connected

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0200

Again, NL-ix has expanded its infrastructure with a new datacenter, the 14th where NL-ix has presence: the Enertel datacenter in Aalsmeer. All NL-ix services are available on this site from now on.

Renumbering and expansion of NL-ix peering VLAN finished

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0200

The rebumbering of the IP subnet voor the NL-ix IPv4 peering VLAN has finished. The subnet needed to be renumbered from a block of 128 to a block of 1.024 IPs because the amount of members was coming very close to the maximum. Now NL-ix can grow 8 times as big before any new renumbering might be required. NL-ix expects this space to last for at least 5 years, and probably longer.

NL-ix crosses 10 Gigabit/s traffic

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0200

Within less then 1 year the total traffic on the NL-ix infrastructure has grown from 5 to 10 Gigabit per second, based on a 95% average.

Multiple backbone links upgraded to 10 Gigabit/s

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0200

NL-ix has upgraded multiple of its backbone links between diverse datcenters and its core switch to 10 Gigabit/s, including Nikhef, SARA, Telecity1, Telecity2 and Redbus. Such high capacity bacbone links make room for further growth of NL-ix and its customers.

Storm control protects NL-ix backbone and customers

Fri, 20 May 2005 00:00:00 +0200

The implementation of storm control on all NL-ix backbone and customers ports is now completed. Storm control guards the infrastructure from excessive amounts of broadcast, multicast and unknown unicast traffic. In large amounts such traffic, then called a storm, can negatively impact the performance of connected customer routers, and eat up substantial backbone bandwidth. Multicast traffic on the NL-ix Live! VLAN is not subject to storm control limitations, as all traffic on that VLAN, e.g. audio and video streams, is intended to be multicast.

NL-ix now also at the KPN CyberCenter

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0100

NL-ix has expanded its infrastructure to the CyberCenter of KPN in Schiphol Rijk. This is the 13th datacenter where NL-ix provides peering and VLAN services. This expansion will enable ISPs hosted in the CyberCenter to save substantially on their Dutch national traffic (via peering) and get access to a wealth of carriers already providing transit and other services on the NL-ix infrastructure.

NL-ix hosts Massive Internet 2004

Sat, 27 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0100

In the Haagse Hogeschool in The Hague, NL-ix hosted the Massive Internet 2004 lecture event with lectures by RTL, Logica CMG, BGPexpert.com, NOB, Jetstream and Open Peering. Access to the lectures was limited to invited parties and +/- 60 people participated.

NL-ix crosses 5 Gigabit/s traffic

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0100

On the NL-ix Internet Exchange now more then 5 gigabit/s of traffic is exchanged beteen its connectees on average (95% model). This traffic volume indicates the importance of NL-ix for its members: compared with transit participants monthly save over 125.000 Euro on traffic costs and at the same time dramatically improve their Internet performance. This traffic volume also puts NL-ix Internationally on the map, and further strenghtens the major position of The Netherlands as central traffic hub in the global Internet. Total NL-ix traffic volume has doubled every 6 months for 3 years now, and NL-ix expect this explosive growth to continue for at least two more years.

MediaGateway operational

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:00:00 +0100

We are happy to announce that NL-ix is now operational and ready to accept connections at the Mediagateway datacenter in Hilversum. We expect that this datacenter and potential customers here will further aid to the growth of NL-ix. NL-ix peering ports and VLANs are now available on the following carrier neutral sites:

SARA
NIKHEF
Telecity 1
Telecity 2
Redbus 2e and 2f
GlobalSwitch
InterxionAMS1
InterxionAMS3
Novaxess
Schuberg Philis
Mediagateway

Special pricing applies to ports and VLANs in Hilversum. For more info please contact info@nl-ix.net.

ISP2003 fair - Everything for the ISP

Tue, 19 Aug 2003 00:00:00 +0200

On friday September 19, NL-ix hosts the ISP 2003 fair in the Museum voor Communicatie. On 300 square meters you will find everything an ISP needs. There are over 16 exposants including datacenters, carriers, hardware suppliers, software suppliers and branche organisations.

NL-ix distributes: new site in Ede

Sun, 25 Aug 2002 00:00:00 +0200

The NL-ix distributes into the country and will offer NL-ix connections in Ede from October 1, 2002. The NL-ix switch is colocated in the Business Internet Trends (BIT) datacenter in Ede. Connection prices are the same as those in Amsterdam. Currently only 100 Mbit/s ports are offered.

The Bitdatacenter site is the 8th NL-ix site after SARA, Nikhef, Telecity-1, Interxion-AMS1, Interxion-AMS3, Redbus Interhouse and the TrueServerdatacenter.

NL-ix will be at Megabit 2002

Tue, 16 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0200

We are happy to announce that NL-ix, in cooperation with Open Peering, will make a presentation on the subject of Peering and Internet Exchanges on the Megabit 2002 event in Ede on august 9.

The Megabit is a open air network event helt in Ede, Gelderland for the first time this year from august 5 through 11 and aims at the more serious computerfreaks. For more information, have a look at the website.

Telecity-1 site announced

Sun, 16 Jun 2002 00:00:00 +0200

Today NL-ix and Telecity announced that the Amsterdam Telecity-1 datacenter is now operational as official fourth NL-ix site.

The Telecity-1 datacenter is located ath the center of the Dutch Internet, at the Kruislaan in Amsterdam. There Telecity provides high-end colocation services to ISPs, content providers and the business market. Availability of NL-ix connections will enable those parties so save substantially on their Internet costs.

Orders for NL-ix connections at Telecity-1 are accepted as from now, and will be installed within 2 weeks.

Interxion site announced

Tue, 07 May 2002 00:00:00 +0200

Interxion and NL-ix today announced they agreed Interxion will be the third site of NL-ix, in addition to the existing SARA and Nikhef sites

Interxion offers professional colocation services with higher security and better infrastructure (e.g. emergency power). This will enable smaller hosting providers and media companies to join NL-ix as part of al total solution in a cost effective way.

SARA and Nikhef sites operational

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 00:00:00 +0200

Today NL-ix announces its switch equipment on the SARA and Nikhef datacenters is operational and ready to receive customer connections.

SARA en Nikhef historically are the sites where most Dutch and international ISPs have equipment colocated and exchange traffic with each other. With these sites operational NL-ix can offer its services to the approximately 100 ISPs that are currently located at these sites.

New Internet Exchange NL-ix announced

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 00:00:00 +0100

Former chairman of the executive board of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) Jan Hoogenboom today announced he would launch a new national Internet Exchange called NL-ix.

Beside providing current AMS-IX participants an alternative or backup connection, the new exchange aims to serve the large market of hosting providers in the Netherlands (+/- 1250 parties).

Due to the pricing level of AMS-IX and the lack of expertise with small hosting providers, an Internet exchange connection is currently out of reach for most of them.

By providing low-cost connections and packaged solutions NL-ix is convinced it can provide a simple and affordable Internet Exchange solution for them which saves them money and boosts their network performance.

For more information please contact info@nl-ix.net or contact us at +31 (0)70 365 36 88.