Association formed in June 1996, primarily to combat the ... Looking Glass. MRTG graphs. Access to Akamai Server (via a member at JINX) Critical Vendor Issues ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation
Association formed in June 1996, primarily to combat the incumbents attempt to monopolise IP
129 Members
Large 14
Medium 6
Small 99
Affiliate 6
Honorary 4
Growing rapidly 7 new members so far this year
Members include 3½ out of 7 licensed network operators - Telcos
3 JINX
Johannesburg Internet Exchange
Formed in December 1996
Currently some 18 peers through the JINX switch fabric, and 5 private peering arrangements around JINX
An artefact of JINXs Equivalent Line Charge philosophy which in turn is an artefact of high Telkom charges
4 Traffic Exchanged
About 95 Mbps through the exchange
Over 1 Gbps through private peering links, at JINX and directly
See http//stats.jinx.net.za/
5 Site Neutrality versus Hardened facility
A hardened facility is very important!
Initially, JINX was hosted by an ISP (IS). This was perceived as giving IS an unfair advantage. Equivalent Line Charges were deemed insufficient compensation
Moved to an independent location, managed by ISPA, in the same building.
Failures of equipment and of those contracted to maintain it - caused a change of strategy. Put hosting out to tender. IS won tender for JINX, UUNET won tender for CINX
JINX now hosted by IS, again. IS pays all management costs, and Equivalent Line Charges!
CINX defunct lack of interest in moving to the new location
6 Regulatory Issues
No direct regulatory issues w.r.t. JINX. No problem in running an IXP in RSA (c.f. Kenya)
However, Telkoms continuing de facto monopoly on carrier services is a major issue
Costs of exchanging local traffic via JINX is not much better than the (very high) costs of international transit
As soon as an alternative carrier service is available (August?), we expect to see significant changes -
Lower costs
More peers
More direct traffic
Finally get rid of Equivalent Line Charges
Huge issues regarding fair competition and bundling
7 Connectivity to JINX
Only two choices at present -
Diginet (lt 2 Mbps) or ATM (lt 140 Mbps) from Telkom
Fibre or UTP from a nearby hosting facility
Fibre is currently being strung from lampposts outside 155 Jan Smuts Avenue. No one has yet admitted to owning it!
RSA is currently in the process of changing from the old Telecommunications Act (heavily favouring Telkom) to the new Electronic Communications Act, which will open up the market significantly.
Dependent on the regulator, ICASA, to develop and publish regulations, convert existing licenses, and issue new licenses.
A slow process
8 Cost of connecting to JINX
No additional monthly fee, over ISPA membership fees (including VAT) -
Large 1,000 per month
Medium 245 per month
Small 60 per month (or 550 pa)
JINX joining fee (to pay for past / future capital expenditure on equipment) depending on size.
Large 4,000
Medium 1,600
Small 400
Payable over 10 months
9 Available facilities
Three 19 Racks
Telkom Martis Node (for Diginet connections)
Filtered UPS power
Generator backup (3 x 30 MVA?)
Air Conditioning
Security access control, physical cage and remotely operated cameras
24 hour on-site staff
I F Root Servers
Looking Glass
MRTG graphs
Access to Akamai Server (via a member at JINX)
10 Critical Vendor Issues
None?
Members use whatever routers they choose (not a PC)
Switch fabric provided by a pair of dual redundant Cisco switches
Problems in the past with insufficient backplane capacity
Expect to need to upgrade soon, especially if VoIP interchange takes off. Only 2 GbE ports available
11 Who can Peer at JINX?
Any Large, Medium, Small or Honorary ISPA member
To qualify, the member must be -
An Access Provider (including VoIP),
Server Hosting provider, or
A Critical Infrastructure Provider
Sizes can peer at different speeds -
Large Unlimited
Medium lt 512 kbps
Small lt 128 kbps
12 Active IXP Association?
No separate association for the IXP
A VERY active ISPA
Management Committee
Joint Chairs
Seven members
Twelve Working Groups to manage various issues. Most are open to all members. WGs include -
Fair Competition (Legal issues, including 3 cases currently before the Competition Commission / Tribunal)
Submissions (Regulatory issues)
PR
Membership
Events (Annual free iWeek conference in September)
Operator Liaison (Telkom, MCTSs, Metro networks)
JINX
Code of Conduct
Research Reports bought at a discounted rate and supplied free to all members