Linx has expanded beyond its home in Docklands and worked with Geo to make the challenge a reality

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is one of the world’s largest Internet exchange points. Founded in 1994 by a consortium of network operators to allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content networks to exchange traffic between their networks, it has played a pivotal role in the growth of Internet use in the UK.

By allowing network operators to interconnect directly via its exchange, rather than through one or more third party networks, LINX helps to reduce the cost to operators of routing Internet traffic within the UK and to the rest of the world. Direct interconnection provided by LINX avoids the need for data to travel to other cities (or even continents) to get from one network to another, thus significantly reducing latency and offering greater control and resilience for customer traffic.


The Challenge
The exponential rise in Internet traffic since LINX’s foundation means that the organisation’s capabilities are constantly expanding. At peak, the exchange carries over 460 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of Internet traffic over its Local Area Networks (LANs), with a further 210 Gbps directed over private networks.

From its beginnings in a single Docklands-based data centre in 1994, at the beginning of 2008 LINX had grown into an organisation spanning over seven buildings, and become one of the most bandwidth intensive locations in the world. Yet with demand for bandwidth among both consumers and enterprises placing increased pressure on ISPs, it realised that it needed further space and network capacity to accommodate its members’ current needs comfortably, while still planning for the future.

Furthermore, given the growing importance of Internet traffic as a route for delivering private, government and commercial communications, LINX recognised that adding this extra bandwidth at more geographically diverse locations would make the exchange more resilient.

The resiliency factor, along with a shortage of suitable sites and electrical power within the Docklands, led to LINX investigating co-location at sites in other areas of London. Through its co-location partners, Equinix, Interxion and TelecityGroup, LINX found three such suitable sites: one in London City and a further two to the west of the city and built out to them. What it needed next, however, was a way to connect these to its existing sites in the Docklands. This required a resilient fibre optic ring spanning all these locations.

This fibre optic link needed to be capable of reliably delivering the gigabits of bandwidth required by LINX on a minute-by-minute basis with the minimum of latency. LINX also needed ‘ownership’ of this fibre optic network, as managing its own infrastructure allows the exchange to more easily scale bandwidth to users’ requirements. High levels of availability and reliability were also critical. To meet the business needs of a not-for-profit company, it also needed to be cost-effective.

Finally, security dictated that this fibre optic ring had to take a diverse route from LINX’s existing network to its chosen new locations.


The Solution
To deliver this fibre optic ring, LINX turned to bespoke fibre network provider, Geo Networks. Geo specialises in providing organisations with dedicated fibre infrastructure over which they can run their own services. This made their fibre ideal for LINX, which applies Dense Wave Dimension Multiplexing technology to its network to amplify the bandwidth that it can deliver over individual fibre pairs.

John Souter, CEO at LINX, commented: “We went through a lengthy process of speaking to all the carriers we could in the London Metropolitan area. We had some clear criteria defining which providers we could work with, based on the composition of their network and whether they reached all three sites. Ideally we wanted only one supplier, whose route neither crossed nor shared the same path used by other carriers.”

Out of three carriers shortlisted for the project, Geo was selected for two reasons. Firstly, it could offer access to the newest optical fibre, giving it a technical edge over the competition. Secondly, it showed from the very earliest stages that it was willing to work collaboratively with LINX to get the project right.

Souter continued: “Geo had the greatest willingness to work with us. No provider was present at all three sites we were taking on board, though Geo was present in two. We almost ruled Geo out on that point, but it managed to show, at very short notice, that this didn’t matter. Geo then showed it was willing to work with other vendors to get to that third site.

“Above all, Geo offered us everything we needed. A proposal that met our technical requirements; comprehensive information over and above what was required in the tender; the willingness to work collaboratively; and, from a commercial point of view, the most competitive quote.”


Project delivery
Having been awarded the contract, Geo proceeded to project manage the delivery of the fibre optic ring between LINX’s existing Docklands presence and three new sites in Brick Lane, Park Royal and Slough.
The main challenge here lay in Geo co-ordinating the efforts of various suppliers to meet strict project deadlines. As Geo’s own network connectivity covered only two of LINX’s three sites, it had to lease fibre from another service provider.

Irene Adepoju, Geo’s project manager on the LINX project, explained: “In order for the project to run smoothly we had to get everybody involved on the same page at the same time. Leasing fibre from another provider was only part of a much larger, demanding project.

“For example, to connect to one of the new sites we needed to dig to deliver fibre to the premises. This involved submitting opening notices to the local council, one of which was rejected. This meant we needed to find an alternative route at short notice and ensure this would be approved by the local authority.
“Once clearance was secured we then had a ten working day window in which to deliver three kilometres of fibre optic cable. This was no mean feat, but we still accomplished it on time.”

The Results
Geo’s early delivery of LINX’s fibre optic ring allowed the exchange to meet its own internal deadlines of bringing its new sites online by the end of November 2008.

LINX is now seeing the benefits of the expansion. Souter added: “The extra capacity that the fibre optic ring brought online not only increases our capabilities on a day-to-day basis, but it gives us geographical resilience.”