Press release: ISPA brings local exchange to Cape Town

Return to press release index

The Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA) has announced that its Cape Town Internet Exchange (CINX) is live, allowing Internet service providers in the Western Cape to interconnect with each other. A dozen service providers have already signed up to use the exchange.

ISPA’s Johannesburg and Cape Town exchanges encourage the local routing of Internet traffic not destined for international locations and provide redundancy for ISPs’ own links. ISPA decided earlier this year to reintroduce the CINX to allow members to route Cape Town traffic locally rather than needing to route it through Johannesburg. The CINX allows all service providers (not just ISPA members) to interconnect networks and exchange traffic in order to save costs.

“We decided to reintroduce the CINX to meet overwhelming demand from members with operations in Cape Town for a local exchange in the city. Cape Town business and consumers are now producing more than enough Internet traffic to justify an exchange for the city,” said Rob Hunter, Chair of ISPA’s Anti-spam and JINX Working Groups. “The amount of Internet traffic in Cape Town has grown exponentially over the past few years, as online media, call centres and other heavy Internet business users have flourished.”

Internet Solutions (IS) – which also hosts the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) – has been appointed to host CINX for the 2009 to 2012 period. “Johannesburg ISPs have long enjoyed benefits such as improved performance for traffic within the city, cost-savings and an extra layer of redundancy from the JINX,” said Hunter. “Cape Town service providers will now also be able to take advantage of a local peering point and experience the same benefits.”

Further Information

For further information, please contact the ISPA secretariat on the Contact ISPA page.