This overreliance signalled the exposure of the continent’s digital infrastructure to vulnerabilities, thereby necessitating the need to create reliable alternatives that will salvage the situation in times of uncertainty.

Interestingly, it’s not all gloom and doom. There is a beacon of hope in traffic localization and peering at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).

What the region experienced in March can be described as “the peril of transit-only traffic.” This situation represents the traditional long-distance travel of African internet traffic via submarine cables to reach global networks, which is referred to as transit.

This dependence creates failure points, as witnessed in the recent cable cut. The disruption cascades, impacting businesses, education, communication, and emergency services.

Looking to the brighter side, there is the alternative of keeping internet traffic local, at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).

This fosters sound connectivity and operational efficiency at lightning speed. Below is an analysis of the advantages of peering and localizing at IXPs.

The Power of Localization: Keeping Data Close to Home

Traffic localization offers a powerful countermeasure to this dependence on transit. By keeping internet traffic within Africa through peering at your local IXPs, data travels significantly shorter distances.

This shift translates to a multitude of benefits:

• Enhanced Resilience: IXPs provide an alternative route for data, effectively minimizing the impact of submarine cable failures. Disruptions become inconveniences, not roadblocks. In the event of a submarine cable cut, internet traffic can be rerouted through IXP, ensuring continued connectivity and mitigating the severity of disruptions.

• Unleashing Speed: Shorter distances mean faster data transfer speeds. Imagine web browsing, streaming services, and online applications working seamlessly and without delays. Localization eliminates the need for data to travel vast distances, significantly reducing latency and improving the overall user experience.

• Cost-cutting Edge: Bypassing expensive international connections lowers overall internet costs for businesses and consumers alike. Localization reduces reliance on international transit fees, making internet access more affordable for everyone. This can have a particularly significant impact on developing economies, fostering greater internet penetration and promoting digital inclusion.

The Heart of Local Peering

An interconnection hub that can help with localization and peering; AF-CIX, hosted at Rack Centre, is a game-changer in West Africa’s digital landscape.

A neutral interconnection Internet traffic exchange platform that interconnects global networks and, above all, network operators and content providers on the west coast of Africa.

Acting as a central meeting point for multiple networks, AF-CIX serves as a central marketplace where different internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs) can come together.

Through established peering agreements, these networks can directly exchange traffic, ensuring that local data stays local.

Thus, fostering a robust and efficient internet ecosystem within the continent, which simultaneously reduces reliance on external infrastructure and promotes greater control over internet traffic flow.

Benefits Beyond Resilience: A Catalyst for Growth       

As stated earlier, the recent cable cut is a double-edged sword that serves as a stark reminder of Africa’s vulnerability while also presenting itself as a powerful growth opportunity for the continent.

The growth opportunity is in the embrace of traffic localization and peering at AF-CIX, which will enable West Africa to build a more resilient, robust, and self-sufficient digital future. AF-CIX, with its state-of-the-art facilities, stands ready as the digital shield of the region, safeguarding connectivity and driving progress.

AF-CIX goes beyond simply enabling peering. It operates with a core set of values that underpins its mission to empower West Africa’s digital ecosystem:

• Neutrality: AF-CIX provides a neutral platform where all participants have equal access and opportunity. This fosters a fair and competitive internet environment.
• Openness: AF-CIX is committed to open peering policies, encouraging interconnection and collaboration among all networks.
• Security: AF-CIX prioritizes the security of its infrastructure and its participants’ data. Rigorous security protocols are implemented to ensure a safe and reliable peering environment.
• Innovation: AF-CIX actively promotes innovation within the internet ecosystem. It fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing to drive the development of new technologies and solutions.

Supporting Participants, Shaping the Future

AF-CIX is actively committed to supporting its participants by offering industry-leading insights through the following activities:

• Technical Expertise: provision of technical expertise and guidance to participants throughout the peering process. This ensures a smooth and efficient onboarding experience.
• Educational Programmes: conducts workshops and educational programmes regularly to raise awareness about peering and its benefits. This empowers stakeholders to make informed decisions about their internet infrastructure.
• Community Building: fosters a strong community among its participants by organizing industry events and conferences that provide a platform for knowledge sharing, best practice exchange, and collaboration.

A Surge in Reliance: A Testament to Value

The cable cut experience in Africa, underscored the critical role AF-CIX plays. In the wake of the disruption, the exchange witnessed a remarkable 50% surge in traffic.

This surge serves as a powerful testament to the reliance existing participants place on AF-CIX as a valuable resource during critical times.

It highlights the effectiveness of traffic localization and peering in mitigating the impact of disruptions and ensuring continued connectivity.

The Road Ahead

By working together, governments, telecom operators, ISPs, and all stakeholders can leverage IXPs to create a more connected West Africa.

This will not only ensure uninterrupted connectivity but also unlock a future brimming with economic growth, social development, and boundless innovation.

The recent cable cut highlighted Africa’s digital vulnerability. However, it also presents an opportunity.

By embracing traffic localization and IXPs, Africa can build a more resilient, robust, and self-sufficient internet ecosystem, paving the way for a brighter digital future.

Together, with AF-CIX as the digital shield and a strong foundation built on core values, West Africa can step into a future rich with opportunity and empowered by a resilient, interconnected digital landscape.

The Nigerian Peering and Interconnection Forum is a yearly networking event where decision-makers from infrastructure providers, content providers, service providers, and policy-makers engage, share experiences and learn from experts in their field.

The discussions at this year’s edition will centre on enhancing peering and interconnection for the development of the internet in Nigeria, improving peering and interconnection and the growth of digital services.

Speaking on the support of AF-CIX for the Forum, the Project Coordinator, AF-CIX, Obinna Adumike, said;

“We are excited to support the 2023 ngPIF. We believe that peering and interconnection are essential for the development of the African internet landscape, and are committed to supporting initiatives that promote the growth of peering and interconnection that will enhance the reliability, performance and affordability of internet in the country.”

According to Adumike, “With AF-CIX, Nigerian networks would have access to a technologically advanced interconnect platform that guarantees reliability, content localization and measurable reduced cost to business. The platform cloud interconnect capabilities would allow all businesses especially enterprise business to achieve local access to various cloud service thereby eliminating the issues of accessing the cloud through the open internet. AF-CIX offers free 1G and 10G ports and cross connection for the peering and local exchange services. This is to fulfill its promise of delivering cost effective value to Participants on the exchange.

AF-CIX will be hosting a special training on Routing Security (MANRS) for network engineers and peering coordinators on the 23rd of October at the 2023 ngNOG just before the Nigerian Peering and Interconnection Forum (ngPIF) kicks off.

AF-CIX, hosted in Rack Centre- as part of innovations to support the growth of the internet in Africa through effective and functional traffic localization, enterprise digitization acceleration, and community support, among other reasons- is specifically designed to complement the role of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria by providing a redundant path for local traffic exchange and a robust Interconnect Exchange.

The event is scheduled for 22 – 24 August 2023 at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, Ghana. Stakeholders from the global data and connectivity industry will grace the Forum.

AfPIF is an a unique annual conference that aims to promotes the development of national and cross-border interconnection in Africa and offers offering the African technical community a unique opportunity to showcase interconnection challenges and opportunities.

It focuses on Internet interconnection dynamics, content distribution, and transit obstacles at local and regional levels.

The annual event aims to encourage peering and networking opportunities by offering a Forum where key stakeholders – infrastructure and service providers, IXPs, regulators, and policymakers – can interact in a casual yet professional setting, exchanging their experiences and gaining insights from industry experts.

The Forum aims to foster peering and networking opportunities where key players- infrastructure and service providers, IXPs, regulators, and policymakers can engage in a relaxed but business-like environment, sharing their experiences and learning from experts in the field.

Speaking on the support of AF-CIX for the Forum, the Head of Peering and Exchange Platforms, Obinna Adumike, said, “We are glad proud to be a silver sponsor for the 2023 African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) billed to hold in Ghana.

The choice to sponsor this event is in line with our business objective of endorsing the enhancement of interconnection in Africa. We are dedicated to promoting traffic localization, cost efficiency, resiliency, and security for ISPs, CCPs and Enterprises. As we are all aware, today’s world heavily relies on interconnectivity.

The decision to sponsor the event aligns with our business objective of supporting the growth of interconnection in Africa. We are committed to driving traffic localization, cost efficiency resiliency and security andfor our networks and enterprise businesses, resiliency and security. As we all know, today’s world largely depends on interconnectivity”.

According to him, “AF-CIX provides a platform for peering interconnection services between service providers, cloud and content providers, Content Delivery Networks and Enterprises business. Beyond traffic growth and localization, we provide the enablement for next level digital adoption, low latency cloud adoption and functional traffic engineering for Participants.

He stated that with the interconnect platform, participants or including businesses enterprises would enjoy the largest aggregation of cloud, content, and network service providers. “The platform was launched in March 2023 and already has over 20 Participants”.

AF-CIX, hosted in Rack Centre as part of innovations to support the growth of the Internet in Africa through effective and functional traffic localization, cost-effectiveness, resiliency, enterprise digitization acceleration, and community support, among other reasons- is specifically designed to complement the role of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria by providing a redundant path for local traffic exchange and a robust Interconnect Exchange.

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The platform hosted in Rack Centre – as part of innovations to support the growth of the Internet in Africa through effective and functional traffic localization, enterprise digitization acceleration, and community support, among other reasons – is specifically designed to complement the existing network infrastructure providers’ by providing a redundant path for local traffic exchange and a robust Interconnect Exchange through its partnership with DE-CIX, the leading operator of Internet Exchanges in the world.

According to Obinna Adumike, the Head of Peering and Exchange Platforms for AF-CIX, creating the platform became necessary to improve network performance by keeping traffic local, thereby reducing the number of networks hops that Internet traffic needs to take. He explained that AF-CIX connects networks by eliminating the need to route traffic through international circuits, thereby making the Internet faster and more responsive for users and resulting in lower latency and higher performance.

The millions of users in Nigeria deserve digital services of state-of-the-art quality. This requires the best local infrastructure possible. DE-CIX is delighted to contribute to this to serve the broader need for interconnection, with modern interconnection services designed for businesses such as cloud connectivity,” explains Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX. “This will unleash the potential of the Nigerian digital economy by providing better performance and user experience of content and applications, and affordable and high-quality Internet access for enterprises and individuals.”

The integration of AF-CIX into the DE-CIX interconnection ecosystem will further help Nigerian businesses have direct access to the portfolio of DE-CIX services and connected networks, thereby offering them access to thousands of networks in over 100 countries. With the platform, participants or businesses would enjoy access to the largest aggregation of Cloud, content, and CDN providers worldwide with direct integration to close to 20 Interconnection platforms across the globe.

Commenting on the benefits of connecting to the platform, Adumike noted that;

Any business linked to it would undoubtedly witness improved network performance, increased connectivity, lower costs, and better security, with exceptional interconnection services, and an updated and advanced approach to traffic engineering and management.

“Connection to AF-CIX means a lot to every participant given that benefits such as cross-connection, peering, and port access to the platform are obtained freely at Rack Centre. Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks are mitigated through the platforms integrated, advanced Blackholing service. The platform is also developed for localization of the Internet, enhancing services like Root DNS servers and NTP Stratum servers,” he added.

A new interconnect exchange platform, AF-CIX, has been launched in Nigeria to boost internet speed and improve network performance for Internet Service Providers, Content Delivery Networks, Cloud Providers and Enterprises.

The platform hosted in Rack Centre- as part of innovations to support the growth of the internet in Africa through effective and functional traffic localization, enterprise digitization acceleration, and community support, among other reasons- is specifically designed to complement the role of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria by providing a redundant path for local traffic exchange and a robust Interconnect Exchange through its partnership with DE-CIX.

According to the Head of Peering and Exchange Platforms, Obinna Adumike, creating the platform became necessary to improve network performance by keeping traffic local, thereby reducing the number of networks hops that Internet traffic needs to take.

He explained that AF-CIX connects networks by eliminating routing traffic through international circuits, thereby making the Internet faster and more responsive for users resulting in lower latency and higher output.

Speaking on the innovation, Adumike explained that integrating AF-CIX to DE-CIX will no doubt help Nigerian businesses have direct access to the entire portfolio of DE-CIX, thereby offering them access to networks in more than 150 cities and over 80+ countries. He stated that with the platform, participants or businesses would enjoy the largest aggregation of Cloud, content, and CDN providers worldwide with direct integration to more than 20 IXPs across the globe.

Commenting on the benefits of connecting to the platform, he noted that any business linked to it, would undoubtedly witness improved network performance, increased connectivity, lower costs, and better security while also serving as a huge asset. He explained further that with the platform, every participant is guaranteed to enjoy exceptional interconnect services and values, and an updated and advanced approach to traffic engineering and management.

“Connection to AF-CIX means a lot to every participant given that benefits such as cross-connection, peering, and port access to the platform are obtained freely at Rack Centre. With the platform, advanced Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks are mitigated through its integrated, advanced Blackholing service. The platform is also developed for localization of internet enhancing services like Root DNS servers and NTP Stratum servers’’, he added.

The platform, according to him, is meant to provide for a future of converged interconnection across internet players giving seamless opportunities to interconnect locally across verticals for various sectors or industries.