Technology giant Nokia says it has been selected by INX-ZA, the internet exchange point division of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), a South African internet industry representative body, to modernise its exchange infrastructure. INX-ZA says it operates the only completely neutral and community-run internet exchange points in South Africa.


INX-ZA will deploy Nokia’s high-performance IP routing portfolio to offer new 400GE and expanded 100GE services to its customers across the country. 

As the partners point out, internet exchanges are a critical component of the digital ecosystem, enabling data to be exchanged locally and reducing dependency on expensive international bandwidth. Yet many IXPs across Africa still operate on aging platforms that lack scalability and efficiency.

INX-ZA says its shift to Nokia’s solution addresses these limitations head-on, opening the door to more energy-efficient, scalable and high-density infrastructure that can evolve alongside the region’s digital ambitions.

Nokia will upgrade INX-ZA’s internet exchange points in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, beginning with Johannesburg – home to JINX, Africa’s oldest internet exchange point, which has achieved 100% uptime since its launch in 1996. Together, Nokia and INX-ZA will expand JINX from seven to ten data centres by year-end, deploying thirty high-performance platforms in phase one to preserve its industry-leading availability while extending its reach.

The deployment, powered by Nokia’s high-capacity 7250 Interconnect Routers and Service Router Operating System (SR OS), enables INX-ZA to offer new 400GE and expanded 100GE services for peering partners and internet service providers (ISPs) – a capability not previously available in the region. In addition, it will augment the scale and performance of INX-ZA’s backbone to connect to different points of presence (POPs) with 400GE links.

Nokia notes that this initiative lays the foundation for similar transformations across the continent’s legacy exchange points.

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