IXPN Sets Sights On 1 Terabyte Of Local Traffic by Year-End, Unveils Expansion Plans

The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), a leading internet exchange point in Africa, is aiming high for 2024. It unveiled ambitious plans to double its local internet traffic to a staggering 1 terabyte by the end of the year, significantly boosting internet speeds and efficiency for users across the region.

IXPN’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, announced during a Membership Engagement Forum in Lagos, that the exchange plans to establish additional exchange points across the six geo-political zones of the country.

This expansion aims to facilitate more connections from IXPs in other African countries to IXPN, contributing to the goal of achieving 1 terabyte.

Rudman explained, “Our plans are straightforward. We aim to connect service providers and higher educational institutions to the exchange points to support the National Research and Educational Network (NGREN). We also seek to attract more content providers to the country.”

Furthermore, IXPN intends to set up CDNs/Caches in regional IXPN POPs, offer VLAN service within Lagos, enable remote peering, and upgrade its links and switches. These efforts are designed to enhance capacity and scalability, improve performance, reduce latency, and meet the evolving needs of its members.

The announcement of the 2024 plans follows a series of achievements in 2023, including the successful implementation of the Netflix Open Connect Appliance (OCA) in Lagos and Abuja to improve Netflix content delivery and user experience. This initiative also aimed to make IXPN a more efficient and appealing option for members.

“In 2023, we upgraded the Abuja switch to support increased backplane capacity and accommodate more connection requests. We also upgraded the Lagos Google Global Cache (GGC) servers to meet current capacity demands and invest in the future resilience and efficiency of the IXPN network,” Rudman stated.