London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the world’s largest internet exchange points (IXPs) and Saudi Arabian operator STC have announced the expansion of interconnection services to new internet exchange points in Riyadh and Dammam.
This expansion aims to complement the initial collaborative project, JEDIX, which was launched in 2018 in Jeddah. All internet exchanges will continue to be supplied and managed by LINX.
JEDIX, the first exchange point in Saudi Arabia, is a carrier-neutral exchange which interconnects carriers, cloud, content providers, local ISPs and enterprise networks connected in MENA Gateway (MG1), a Tier IV data centre located in Jeddah, owned and operated by STC. Jeddah is one of the main landing stations for subsea cables in the Middle East, providing convenient onward connectivity to Asia, Europe and Africa.
Dammam, to the east of the country, is a key location for the country’s energy sector and associated businesses. It is also strategically close to other neighbouring countries which may benefit from interconnected services.
Riyadh, the capital, is the location of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), which is a key area designed to serve the local and regional financial sector.
Internet exchange points provide a platform or central hub for networks to interconnect with other networks via a single connection. Networks often benefit from lower latency, increased control and resilience. LINX says that expanding to new cities improves all three of these benefits for both hosted clients and end users.
The new sites in Riyadh and Dammam are due to launch later this year, making the STC and LINX interconnection footprint the largest in the Middle East.
