AMS-IX, MDXi Open New Internet Exchange Point In Nigeria

One of the largest Internet Exchange operators in the world, AMS-IX has joined forces with MDXi to launch a new Internet Exchange in Lagos, Nigeria, named AMS-IX Lagos.

AMS-IX Lagos will launch with over 25 connected networks as the two investors migrate and onboard the existing connected networks of West Africa Internet Exchange (WAF-IX) in the coming month. Connected networks at WAF-IX include large content delivery networks (CDNs) and application providers such as Cloudflare, Microsoft and Google.

The new Internet Exchange is situated in the carrier-neutral data centre of MDXi, an Equinix company. Under terms of the partnership, MDXi will serve as the commercial partner of AMS-IX and regional sales and marketing arm for AMS-IX Lagos. AMS-IX will run the technical and operational management of the exchange.

AMS-IX Lagos aims to become an important content hub for West Africa, enabling regional and local ISPs, carriers, and Internet Exchanges to aggregate content from large global Content Delivery Networks, hosting companies and application providers. In the coming months, MDXi, an Equinix Company and AMS-IX will focus on seeking alliances with local telecom operators and IX’s and supporting local ecosystems.

The chief executive officer of AMS-IX, Peter van Burgel, said: “We intend to add value to the local carriers and IX’s by attracting even more content players to the region and support the local connectivity community. This is a very exciting project for us as we see it as an important steppingstone for bringing low-latency affordable Internet available for the West-African region.”

Also, speaking director of MDXi, Funke Opeke said, “This partnership enables MDXi deliver value to the rich ecosystem of network operators, carriers, content providers, cloud services providers, and enterprises that we have present in the data center. The AMS-IX partnership will help MDXi consolidate its role as content hub not just for Nigeria, but for Francophone and English-speaking West and Central Africa.”