Internet Reliability: IT Experts Task Businesses To Leverage IXPs, Peering

Local and regional businesses have been urged to leverage peering and interconnection through IXPs to drive traffic-efficient business continuity and growth in Nigeria and West Africa.

This call was part of the submission at the first webinar, from the webinar series for the year, organized by Rack Centre, titled ‘Interconnection and Peering: The role of IXPs and Peering to drive traffic efficient business and ecosystem growth in Nigeria,” held on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

Leading the conversation during the webinar series, the keynote speaker, Muhammad Rudman, Chief Executive Officer, IXPN and a key veteran in the Nigerian internet industry, explained that the significance of IXPs in improving internet penetration cannot be overemphasized because it helps to interconnect all the network operators towards the exchange of traffic, which is the foundation of any digital economy.

Rudman noted that IXPs remains a critical piece of infrastructure needed to help improve internet access by ensuring that internet traffic is localized, making it faster and affordable. He disclosed that 90% of internet traffic in Nigeria is mainly on mobile devices stating that there is a need for traffic to shift to other devices. He identified infrastructure, interconnectivity, content application, and cloud as the critical technical infrastructure required to support internet ecosystem growth in the region.

In his opening remarks, the Head, Interconnection and Exchange Platforms, AF-CIX, Obinna Adumike, noted that it has become necessary for multiple IXPs to be present in regional markets as this would improve the quality and reliability of the internet.

“You will notice that a significant amount of Automated Systems Numbers (ASN) are currently not accounted for within the interconnection and peering space, if you look at the sectors such as finance and education. If we get these sectors into the peering and interconnection space, they will deliver better service to their clients and students”, he said.

Also speaking, the Edge Strategy Manager at Meta, Ben Ryall, explained that the intended goal of keeping internet traffic local places businesses at a better advantage as it would help to reduce cost and improve reliability. 

On her part, Peering and Interconnect Specialist, NAP Africa, Yolandi Cloete, noted that the challenge regarding the commercial viability of IXPs lies with the understanding of peering and how companies or networks can benefit.

Other speakers at the event include the Chief Technical Officer, Swift Talk, Austin Uwudia, and Partner Manager, DE-CIX, Darwin Da Costa.