Sensational start for UAE-IX Internet Exchange in Dubai

UAE-IX, the Internet exchange point in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has made a phenomenal start: A mere eight weeks after the system went operational, more than ten Internet service providers (ISPs) are connected to the UAE-IX.

The UAE-IX (www.uae-ix.net) is a carrier-neutral platform for the exchange of Internet traffic, and is managed by DE-CIX Management GmbH, one of the world’s largest operators of Internet exchange points, based in Frankfurt, Germany. The UAE-IX went into operation on October 1, 2012 and already has more than ten customers, including content delivery networks (CDN), carriers and ISPs who bring the Internet into people’s homes. The list of the UAE-IX customers includes already a great variety of global and regional operating networks from the UAE, Kuwait, India, Turkey, Europe, Canada and the United States.

Akamai, a leading provider of cloud platform and CDN services, is one of the first networks which has been connected to UAE-IX. “The connection to the UAE-IX is a critical part of Akamai’s peering strategy in the Middle East” says Christian Kaufmann, Director Network Architecture at Akamai. “It provides us with a more direct access to local providers in the region while lowering the latency and therefore ensuring higher-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere in the Middle East.”

 “The UAE-IX is so attractive for many Internet service providers since it acts as a regional bridgehead between Europe and Asia,” says Harald A. Summa, CEO of DE-CIX. “It allows ISPs from the Middle East and global Internet companies to deliver their content over short distances to users throughout the Arabic-speaking region. This opens up completely new perspectives for the Internet economy in the Gulf States, and also for ISPs in India, Pakistan and China, and also in Africa and Europe. The UAE-IX is well on the way to becoming an important exchange point in the global Internet.”