THE FUTURE OF PEERING - Interxion · THE FUTURE OF PEERING ... IXs have been instrumental in...

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THE FUTURE OF PEERING With Internet Exchanges facing unprecedented upheaval due to falling transit costs and rising competition, this whitepaper asks how the public peering market may evolve in the coming years. As some look to reduce overheads and cut costs, others believe expanding into new markets, members and services is the key to long-term success. Either way, the industry faces tough choices ahead: decisions that will ultimately drive it towards greater cooperation or competition. We’ve spoken to organisations from different facets of this debate to ask what’s ahead, so read on as we peer into the future. WHITE PAPER Contributors:

Transcript of THE FUTURE OF PEERING - Interxion · THE FUTURE OF PEERING ... IXs have been instrumental in...

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THE FUTUREOF PEERING

With Internet Exchanges facing unprecedented upheaval due to falling transit costs and rising

competition, this whitepaper asks how the public peering market may evolve in the coming years. As

some look to reduce overheads and cut costs, others believe expanding into new markets, members and

services is the key to long-term success. Either way, the industry faces tough choices ahead:

decisions that will ultimately drive it towards greater cooperation or competition. We’ve spoken to

organisations from different facets of this debate to ask what’s ahead, so read on as we peer into the future.

WHITE PAPER

Contributors:

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THE FUTUREOF PEERING

WHITE PAPER

www.interxion.com

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

AN INDUSTRY IN FLUXFinding themselves in a maelstrom of plummeting IP transit costs, growing competition, skyrocketing traffic and rapidly evolving technologies, Internet Exchanges are innovating at a relentless pace. It’s an exciting time, with huge experimentation.

ACCELERATING GLOBAL EXPANSIONTraditionally, Internet Exchanges only operate in their country, or city, of origin. However, increasing national and international expansion means local incumbents must now wrestle with competition from new entrants to their markets. While some see this growth as essential to stay relevant, others believe it causes a needless increase in costs and complexity.

SERVING NEW MEMBERSUnder pressure to harness additional revenue streams, many Internet Exchanges are experimenting with complimentary services in areas like security and cloud connectivity, while also seeking to expand their member numbers by targeting the enterprise market.

CUSTOMERS VS. COMPETITIONWill Internet Exchanges roll out new services that put them in competition with their own members? Opinions vary: some say that additional competition will mean little to peering communities, whilst others believe that networks and service providers will no longer fund platforms that compete with them.

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INVESTING IN AUTOMATIONNo Internet Exchange can afford to ignore the potential of automation to reduce overheads, drive down prices and empower members with new capabilities. From faster troubleshooting to self-serve portals, new innovations like Software Defined Networking can increase flexibility and ease-of-use for peering communities. Ironically, exchanges that face severe price pressures from their members may be less able to exploit new these new developments.

SPECIALISATION AHEADAs peering and transit prices converge towards zero, Internet Exchanges will need to differentiate themselves in other ways. In the future, we expect to see exchanges specialise in different markets, members, or services to remain distinct.

A FUTURE OF COLLABORATIONLooking ahead, Internet Exchanges may forge new partnerships to ensure they remain competitive. From reselling white-labelled services from commercial competitors, to entering into a federated business model with other exchanges, collaboration offers solutions to many of the challenges facing the public peering market today.

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In little more than two decades since they first appeared, Internet Exchanges (IXs) have changed beyond all recognition. From their origins inside academia in the early 1990s to today’s community-led status quo, IXs have transformed not only themselves but the entire Internet, playing a vital role in the birth of our modern digital world.

Early academic milestones, like the IBR-LANi at the Dutch Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), are a far cry from the ubiquitous global connectivity members can now expect from the 778 internet exchange points (IXPs)ii worldwide. Yet, because they emerged from an environment of research and education, European IXs have a long heritage of focusing on cooperation, rather than competition. This continues today, with public IXs still offering low cost, not-for-profit connectivity that’s fundamentally supported by members, for members.

By allowing members to sidestep the effort and expense of agreeing a myriad of private network connections amongst themselves, IXs have been instrumental in driving down peering costs, increasing network resilience and improving the end-user experience. Without IXs, IP traffic would be forced to travel via slower, more expensive and congested routes to its ultimate destination via upstream transit networks – undermining the seamless access to online content and services companies and consumers now demand.

TURBULENT TIMESWhile public peering is a young industry, it’s moving fast and reinvention is already on the horizon. Today, several factors are converging that leave traditional, member-led IXs in the midst of a perfect storm.

Pricing is perhaps the most obvious wave on the horizon. The cost of IP transit continues to plummet, falling by around 80% since 2010 alone.iii That makes transit an increasingly appealing option for many organisations, promising greater control over the end-user experience and clear SLAs, with a relatively small uplift in cost compared to public peering.

Meanwhile, skyrocketing IP traffic also means choppy waters ahead for IXs. Global networks will need to support more than 1000 exabytes this year, but even that’s set to triple by 2020.iv Peering platforms must be upgraded and overhauled to keep pace with today’s data deluge, a process that demands significant infrastructure investment from all market participants, whether IXs or transit networks.

Amidst all this, IXs also need to keep pace with commercial competitors and constantly evolving technologies. New innovations may redefine what members expect from peering services and cause a tidal wave of market disruption.

In the face of this tough competition and accelerating change, many IXs are experimenting with new strategies and seeking ways to adapt. It’s an exciting time, but there’s no clear agreement on the right path to take and how (or even if) IXs should evolve.

We’ve spoken to organisations from different facets of this debate – networks, content providers, commercial peering companies and IXs themselves - to examine the forces driving change and how the peering market is reacting.

Read on as we peer into what the future holds.

INTRODUCTION: AN (EX)CHANGING WORLD

Many IXs are experimenting with new strategies and seeking ways to adapt. It’s an exciting time, but there’s no clear agreement on the right path to take and how(or even if) IXs should evolve

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PART ONE:ACCELERATING COMPETITION

Competition in the public peering market is heating up and price is the primarily driver. “Keeping pace with falling IP transit costs has put a lot of downward pressure on exchanges”, agrees Megaport’s Mark Cooper. However, there’s little cross-industry agreement on the best way to respond.

Eyeing the falling cost of IP transit, some IX members are becoming increasingly vocal in their demands for reduced prices and the ability to have more say “in the reinvestment (or return) of their money”.v Should IXs focus on becoming more streamlined through tactics like migrating to white box hardware, reducing headcount or slashing marketing budgets? BT’s Neil McRae believes so: “exchanges have to become more efficient, or customers will just go and buy all the transit they need”.

However, other voices in the public peering debate see cost reduction as a strategy that can only take IXs so far. Kurtis Lindqvist of LINX argues that “price will be less of a competitive differentiator as peering and IP transit costs converge towards zero”. In concert with price reduction, Lindqvist believes IXs must focus on “innovating and growing memberships” over the long-term. Whilst seeking out new revenue streams by expanding member numbers, geographic reach and service offerings requires increased investment in the short-term, many IXs believe these strategies will lead to long-term rewards.

“Price will be less of a competitive differentiator as peering and IP transit costs converge towards zero”.

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IS TAPPING INTO FRESH REVENUE STREAMS A PRIMARY CONCERN FOR THE PUBLIC PEERING MARKET TODAY?

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Kurtis LindqvistChief Marketing Officer, LINX

50% SAY YES

*From 5 people interviewed

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One factor driving IXs towards expanding their traditional remit is the emergence of a new breed of commercial peering companies, such as Console and Megaport. By investing in automation, these firms are now able to offer flexible connectivity and new capabilities at a low price point. With elastic bandwidth and self-serve portals, these players can compete not just on cost, but ease-of-use and value generation as well. As Cooper comments: “we try to make our services as simple as possible: it’s all automated and straightforward to use”. In the face of these competitors, IXs that focus solely on cost reduction “could start to look increasingly irrelevant” according to Interxion’s Mike Hollands.

As commercial competitors push public peering to generate more value for members, competition is also increasing amongst IXs themselves. Traditionally, IXs only operate in their country, or city, of origin. However, on-going national and international expansion means local incumbents must now wrestle with new entrants to their markets. For instance, DE-CIX recently established an IXP in Marseille,vi bringing it into direct competition with France-IX.

Opinion is divided on whether such expansion is a positive force in public peering. LONAP’s Richard Irving argues that IXs were founded to “help their domestic markets, not set up in foreign countries”. However, transnational competition can make regional incumbents improve their offerings – for instance, by strengthening resilience, reducing prices, or launching additional services beyond connectivity. “If an exchange is outcompeted then it must have been doing something wrong,” argues Cooper.

Competition certainly seems to have helped in the North American peering market. By offering an alternative to the commercial incumbents, European not-for-profit IXs, like AMS-IX, LINX and DE-CIX, have been able to force the US market leaders into reducing prices.

However, some members regard this programme of expansion as a controversial move - a needless increase to costs and complexity that detracts from an IX’s core mission to support its existing user base. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya of Limelight Networks, agrees with this note of caution: “when exchanges grow too big, they can lose clarity on spending and scope creep can mean costs become higher than they should be”. There’s also a certain amount of trepidation amongst IXs themselves, with many boards regarding a global community of national IXs as crucial to ensuring a free and open Internet over the long-term.

“We try to make our services as simple as possible: it’s all automated and straightforward

to use”.

“When exchanges grow too big, they can lose clarity on spending and scope creep can mean costs become higher

than they should be”.

WHITE PAPER

Mark Cooper, EVP Europe, Megaport

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Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Director of Network Strategy and

Interconnection, Limelight Networks

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83% SAY YES

With increasing competition from both commercial competitors and other IXs, it’s not surprising that seeking out new members has become a priority for some in the public peering market.

Traditionally, IXs have focused on attracting members from two camps: eyeball networks or content distributors. However, the pressure to expand membership bases in search of new income streams means that major enterprises are now being targeted.

Not all members are happy about this move: “What are the real benefits of this?”, questions Neil McRae, “by bringing in more members they’ll make networks more complex, increasing costs and reducing reliability”. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya is less concerned, seeing the move as generally positive: “as long as IXs stay true to their ethos, there should be no barriers to bringing in enterprise members”.

It’s true that there are some obvious synergies between public peering and the demands of big business. From video conferencing to cloud computing, digital capabilities are essential for any organisation that wants to build a more efficient workforce. However, these trends also leave enterprises facing rising volumes of IP traffic that need to be distributed efficiently and cost-effectively to employees around the world. By connecting to IXPs, enterprises can increase their content performance and access speeds, enhancing productivity while reducing costs.

If IXs become successful at attracting enterprises, their membership demographics may change considerably over the long-term, causing content management and distribution to become a greater priority. However, while every IX “has always had some enterprise customers” according to Kurtis Lindqvist, most don’t see them as a core focus for in the future.

“As long as IXs stay true to their ethos, there should be no barriers to bringing in enterprise members”.

PART TWO:THE RACE FOR NEW MEMBERS2

WILL IXS GENERATE MOST OF THEIR REVENUES FROM CONTENT PROVIDERS AND ENTERPRISES BY 2020?

WHITE PAPER

Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Director of Network Strategy and

Interconnection, Limelight Networks

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*From 5 people interviewed

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This hesitancy to embrace the enterprise market may be justified, as it presents some significant challenges. Unlike networks and content providers, enterprises usually lack any internal peering expertise, making it more difficult for them to understand the benefits of public peering and overcome the technical hurdles on the road to membership. McRae cautions firms not to underestimate the difficulties: “Connecting to an exchange is tricky: the right skills are essential, relationships need to be built, and the security challenges are considerable”.

Additionally, many CIOs and IT directors “would rather have set SLAs that ensure accountability”, according to Richard Irving, and this is something public IXs aren’t in a position to provide. Indeed, the very nature of the public peering community is a far cry from the typical commercial arrangements most firms expect. For instance, many C-level leaders will be reluctant to invest the time needed to engage with regular peering events and conferences.

Of course, bringing enterprises into the peering community also presents challenges for exchanges themselves. Most IXs rely on relatively small sales teams that aren’t optimised to target enterprise customers, given their long sales cycles. In fact, it’s easy for the two sides to speak different languages. As Mike Hollands comments: “enterprises want to hear about the specific business benefits of public peering, but exchanges tend to focus discussions around its technical aspects, such as latency and throughput improvements”.

Ultimately, while public peering may appeal to the largest global businesses - or those rare few with in-house expertise - most enterprises will only see marginal benefits from joining an IX. However, things may change: competition is already driving IXs to develop new services and automated processes that could help enterprises make the leap into public peering.

“Enterprises want to hear about the specific business benefits of public peering, but exchanges tend to focus discussions around its technical aspects, such as latency and throughput improvements”.

“Connecting to an exchange is tricky: the right skills are essential, relationships need to be built, and the security challenges are considerable”.

WHITE PAPER

Mike HollandsDirector, Connectivity Segment

Interxion

Neil McRae,Chief Network Architect, BT

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67% SAY YES

Facing both increased competition and tighter margins, many IXs are embracing new ideas and fresh innovations. One area seeing enormous experimentation is the rollout of complimentary services that go beyond simple connectivity, such as DDoS protection, black holing or cloud interconnect.

Other IXs are following a similar strategy by harnessing their existing member base as a competitive differentiator. For instance, France-IX has now launched a marketplace that allows members to buy and sell services amongst each other.vii

By rolling out new services, IXs can generate additional revenues and improve the value members see from public peering. Better still, according to Mark Cooper, “enterprises will be more interested in joining exchanges with services that go beyond peering”. Such new services can create a firmer foothold in the enterprise market, providing a way to start conversations with potential new members. While many enterprises might see limited benefits from public peering alone, additional services allow IXs to present a much more compelling business case. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya agrees, but thinks IXs aren’t necessarily the right players to create these offerings: “Additional services will be useful for smaller organisations, but it would be better for exchanges to form partnerships to deliver them”.

In the long-term, this trend towards services could revolutionise the public peering market: IXs may slowly become full-blown service providers and rebrand to reflect their new, wider range of offerings.

“Additional services will be useful for smaller organisations, but it would be better for exchanges to form partnerships to deliver them”.

PART THREE:A SERVICE-LED REVOLUTION3

WILL THE MAJORITY OF THE PUBLIC PEERING MARKET OFFER SERVICES (OTHER THAN CONNECTIVITY) BY 2020?

WHITE PAPER

Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Director of Network Strategy and

Interconnection, Limelight Networks

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*From 5 people interviewed

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While the drive to offer additional services seems to be gathering momentum, embracing innovation isn’t without peril. By becoming service providers, IXs risk “blurring the line between customers and competition”, according to Kurtis Lindqvist.

Exchanges shouldn’t be involved in services…it’s not our role and it will tread on the toes of our members,” argues Richard Irving. It’s certainly possible that some networks and content providers would refuse to continue supporting a platform that enters into direct competition with them. Yet, Cooper believes IXs will have little choice but to head in this direction eventually, claiming “exchanges will have to embrace competition if they want to stay relevant”.

However, many believe the risks from member competition are overstated. After all, these firms already exist in a competitive commercial environment and the threat posed by an IX offering basic ancillary services is likely to be mild in comparison. For the moment at least, this trend seems unlikely to fracture any IX’s member base, although a few organisations might be prepared to leave on principle.

A move to wholesale services offers a potential solution. As Neil McRae suggests, “exchanges could look to build stronger and more efficient partnerships”. By partnering with third-party firms and reselling their services, IXs can generate new revenues while defusing any potential ill-feeling amongst their own members.

However, the fact that such a conflict of interest can even arise may be cause for concern. While European IXs and their members believe strongly in the community funding model, the friction being felt over service expansion does suggest it isn’t a panacea. The very membership model that Irving argues has given IXs “independence and the ability to drive in new directions” could end up putting the brakes on future innovation.

IXs that fear the repercussions of competing with members may be dissuaded from developing new services. Equally, those that face severe cost pressures from their members will find themselves less able to exploit new technologies that would enable them to become more flexible, responsive and resilient.

A reduced ability to innovate freely could make it harder for some IXs to find new revenue streams, add value for members and build greater economies of scale – or, in other words, keep pace with the competition.

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“Exchanges will have to embrace competition if they want to stay relevant”.

Mark Cooper, EVP Europe, Megaport

“Exchanges could look to build stronger and more efficient partnerships”.

Neil McRae,Chief Network Architect, BT

“Exchanges shouldn’t be involved in services…it’s not our role and it will tread on the toes of our members”.

Richard Irving, Managing Director, LONAP

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67% SAY YES

Looking ahead, the future of the public peering market seems inexorably linked to the evolution of its community-driven business model.

For some, this system is essential: it ensures IXs remain independent and accountable to the needs of their members, while also eliminating the risk of a commercial player forming a monopoly. As Richard Irving comments: “these communities provide a level playing field for the settlement free exchange of traffic…our job is simply to provide a valuable service and stop a commercial company from taking over”. In contrast, Megaport’s Mike Cooper, regards membership funding as “stifling innovation, while allowing exchanges to insulate themselves from underlying business realities”.

These two opinions point to wildly different futures for the public peering market. If the membership model continues to expand, a federated market may emerge where a tight fabric of IXs work in close cooperation. For instance, large IXs may invest in marketing and product development, while allowing smaller players to remain independent, but pay a premium to access their services. Mike Hollands certainly sees this on the horizon, suggesting that: “smaller exchanges will either need to cooperate or consolidate with larger players to keep pace”.

While we’re currently seeing rapid international expansion from many of the major IXs, a federated future could lead to one or two dominant players emerging in every market as it matures, supported by “a finer mesh of niche exchanges” according to Kurtis Lindqvist. Neil McRae sees even more extreme consolidation ahead and remains “unconvinced that any market can support lots of exchanges”. Irving shares his view, adding that “multiple exchanges in the same country aren’t necessary; most sites become loss making and members won’t be happy about supporting them long-term”.

WILL WE SEE GLOBAL CONSOLIDATION AMONGST IXS BY 2020?

“These communities provide a level playing field for the settlement free exchange of traffic…our job is simply to provide a valuable service and stop a commercial company from taking over”.

PART FOUR:PEERING INTO THE FUTURE4

WHITE PAPER

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Richard Irving, Managing Director, LONAP

*From 5 people interviewed

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83% SAY YES

An alternative future could see “exchanges become far more commercial and market driven”, according to Cooper, who doesn’t anticipate “a bright future for the non-profit approach”. Indeed, Megaport’s recent acquisition of both ECIX and OM-NIX, as well as the success of NL-ix’s commercial model, could mark the beginning of a new trend.viii If the need to develop fresh services and revenue streams leads public IXs into ever closer ties with commercial firms (such as the recent partnerships between AMS-IX and Megaport,ix or DE-CIX and Consolex ) acquisitions may become more common.

However, the fact that acquiring an IX entails member approval could hamper any move towards commercialisation, as might the reluctance of governments to see the sovereignty of their IX endangered. Additionally, the success of European players like LINX in the more commercialised North American peering market suggests that the community-based funding model can hold its own against for-profit competition, at least in the short-term.

*From 5 people interviewed

Whether IXs evolve to be more federated or commercialised, they will increasingly need to differentiate themselves. As a result, we’re likely to see exchanges become more specialised: supporting specific types of members, developing bespoke service portfolios or focusing on certain geographies. Lindqvist agrees, commenting that “exchanges can create value in any number of ways, but it will be essential to differentiate yourself”.

Meanwhile, ‘under the hood’, Lindqvist believes “automation and self-provisioning will be another crucial area of differentiation”. New innovations like software defined networking and API-driven processes can significantly reduce peering overheads. From faster troubleshooting to self-serve portals, these new tools also increase the value, flexibility and ease of use for IX members. McRae concurs, adding that “the days of individuals configuring routers are ending; soon we’ll just be coding application software”.

However, the need to adopt new hardware and software to make automation a reality suggests that investment, rather than cost-cutting, is likely to be the best path to success in the near term. Whether every IX will be able to make such investments remains to be seen. A renewed focus on resilience will also be needed as the Internet becomes ever more critical to essential services. Regular contingency testing, redundant back-ups and more generalised membership bases will be needed to ensure IXs are ready to support the rise of the Internet of Things and the escalating demands of end-users. As McRae comments: “We can’t rely on guesswork any longer; exchanges need to prove redundancy, resiliency, and efficiency moving forwards”.

“The days of individuals configuring routers are ending; soon we’ll just be coding application software”.

SHOULD IXS FORM PARTNERSHIPS WITH COMMERCIAL PEERING COMPETITORS?

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Neil McRae,Chief Network Architect, BT

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CONCLUSION: COMPETITION OR COOPERATION

It’s clear business as usual can’t continue in the public peering market. Although healthy enough today, revenues are on a race to zero that’s simply unsustainable over the long-term, especially as commercial competitors and new technologies offer members greater value and flexibility.

While the recent success of new exchanges across Africa, America and Asia shows that public peering communities will continue to emerge, the same bottom-line challenges will appear in every market as it matures. Expansion isn’t a permanent solution to this conundrum.

Meanwhile, the drive to reduce overheads and lower costs can take public peering so far, but price will eventually fail to be a significant competitive differentiator, despite the hype surrounding it today. Worse, underinvestment could make IXs increasingly irrelevant and exposed in a fast-moving market.

To avoid this fate, IXs will need to differentiate themselves by specialising in different markets, members, or services. The question is, will this innovation be achieved through competition or cooperation?

The academic heritage of public peering may hold a clue as to its future here. Facing ever greater competition, IXs may strategically focus on renewed cooperation with each other, their members and even commercial competitors.

Building stronger and more efficient partnerships offers IXs the chance to drive down costs and harness new revenue streams, while simultaneously adding value for existing members without ‘nibbling on their lunch’.

Through cooperation, IXs can overcome today’s tough competition and remain a relevant force driving innovation in the digital domain. As dynamic services, machine intelligence and billions of smart devices hit the mainstream, IXs have an opportunity to go beyond supporting content and connectivity; they can become an integral force shaping the next evolution of the Internet.

“It would be foolhardy to abandon the benefits of public peering…the loss of trust could be catastrophic”.

“I think exchanges will realise that they can work together between countries for mutual benefits for customers”.

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Neil McRae,Chief Network Architect, BT

Mark Cooper, EVP Europe, Megaport

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Whitepaper participants.

Mark Cooper, EVP Europe, MegaportMark Cooper leads Megaport’s European branch as EVP, Europe. Cooper joined Megaport from Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) where he served as Chief Commercial Officer with responsibility for management and development of AMS-IX’s marketing, sales, business development and customer service teams. During his time at AMS-IX, Mark also led the development of the new corporate strategy and product portfolio, as well as initiating and managing all strategic partnerships.

Mark has a proven history of running successful Internet Exchange businesses across the world. His deep experience with the peering ecosystem and networks in Europe puts him in a great position to execute Megaport’s European business plan. The deep relationships that Mark has built within the industry and his intrinsic knowledge of the data services marketplace equips him to provide excellent guidance as Megaport looks to unlock future growth opportunities.

Mike Hollands, Director, Connectivity Segment, InterxionWith over 23 years’ experience in the communications sector, Mike has held a variety of marketing and business development roles at Colt Technology Services, Cable & Wireless and Mercury Communications.

Prior to joining Interxion, Mike was Director of Solution Marketing, Europe for Colt. He has a BSc in Business Studies with a specialisation in Marketing from the CASS Business School in London. Today, Mike directs Interxion’s strategy, marketing and business for the connectivity segment.

Richard Irving, Managing Director, LONAPRichard has over 30 years’ industry experience in the Telecommunications and Internet Service Provider environment. He started his career with British Rail’s Telecommunications division as an Engineer, specialising in circuit switched Voice and Radio systems.

During the very early 1990’s he ran a Bulletin Board Service before “Dial-up” ISPs started to emerge in the UK in 1991. More recently he has worked for GTS/Ebone, KPNQwest, Sprint, Cogent, TATA and AboveNet - holding both Operational and Commercial roles. He has been a Director of LONAP since 2008.

Kurtis Lindqvist, Chief Marketing Officer, LINXKurt Erik “Kurtis” Lindqvist has a broad background in engineering and business development of ISP and worldwide carrier networks. He has spent the past 20 years working actively in the Internet community in several varied roles.

From 2002 to 2015, Kurtis was the CEO of Netnod and has been the chairman of Euro-IX since 2003. He is also a dedicated WG Chair for RIPE where he has served as NCC-Services WG Chair since 2004. Kurtis remains a regular and appreciated speaker at several International Internet conferences such as RIPE, APRICOT and Nanog.

Over the years Kurtis has participated actively in the development, standardisation and deployment of IPv6 in the IETF and various other operational forums. In addition, he served as an adviser to the Swedish Minister of Information Technology and Energy, cooperating with Anna-Karin Hatt and the Swedish Minister of foreign affairs, Carl Bildt. Between 2006 and 2008, Kurtis also served on the Expert Panel of Data retention directive for the Swedish Ministry of Justice.

Neil McRae, Chief Network Architect, BTSince the early nineties Neil has been a leading innovator in the Internet and Telecommunications industry: from using open software to create one of the first service providers in the UK, to building several Global Telecommunications and Internet Networks.

Neil has significant knowledge and experience in IP technologies, as well as Optical, Mobile, Voice, xDSL, MPLS and Ethernet. He ran Network Engineering at Colt for ten years, (where he also contributed to Colt’s datacentre build) and oversaw Network Engineering at Cable and Wireless for four years.

For the last four years Neil has led BT’s global network strategy, culminating in extending BT’s leading position in the Gartner magic quadrant, and supporting significant global network expansion. In addition, Neil has worked to expand BT’s footprint and capability in the UK, from BT’s fibre network through to Ethernet, Broadband and TV services. Today, Neil is one of two ‘Distinguished Engineers’ in BT.

Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Director of Network Strategy and Interconnection, Limelight NetworksGaurab has been active in the Internet community for more than a decade. Currently employed by Limelight Networks as Director of Network Strategy and Interconnection, Gaurab manages network capacity, expansion and interconnection.

Gaurab previously worked for Packet Clearing House (PCH) as Senior Internet Analyst (2002-2010) and ran PCH’s global anycast DNS platform, providing resilient domain name services for more than 100 top level domains from more than sixty Internet Exchange Points around the world.

Gaurab has a long record of volunteerism and commitment to the Asia Pacific Internet Community. During his career, Gaurab has also spoken and presented at INET, APRICOT, SANOG, APNIC, NZNOG, MENOG, AUSNOG, PHNOG, JANOG, SGNOG, MYNOG, BDNOG, AfNOG, NANOG, ICANN conferences as well as RIPE and LINX Meetings.

About InterxionInterxion (NYSE: INXN) is a leading provider of carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data centre services in Europe, serving a wide range of customers across more than 40 data centres in 11 European countries. Interxion’s uniformly designed, energy efficient data centres offer customers extensive security and uptime for their mission-critical applications.

With over 600 connectivity providers, 21 European Internet exchanges, and most leading cloud and digital media platforms across its footprint, Interxion has created connectivity, cloud, content and finance hubs that foster growing customer communities of interest. For more information, please visit www.interxion.com.

WHITE PAPER

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i Netnod, IXPs in Europe and the business case for peering, 2015: http://www.sanog.org/resources/sanog15/sanog15-kurtis-peering-ixp.pdf

ii Packet Clearing House, Internet Exchange Directory, 2016: https://www.pch.net/ixp/dir

iii TeleGeography, IP Transit Pricing Service, 2016: https://www.telegeography.com/research-services/ip-transit-pricing-service/

iv Cisco, VNI Forecast and Methodology 2015-2020, 2016: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/ complete-white-paper-c11-481360.html

v David Temkin, The Real Cost of Public IXPs, 2016: https://www.peeringforum.com/11.0%20presentations/Wed_1_The%20Real%20Cost%20of%20Public%20IXPs-ReallyFinal.pdf

vi DE-CIX, DE-CIX Establishes New Internet Exchange at Interxion in Marseille, 2015: https://www.de-cix.net/news-events/latest-news/news/article/de-cix-establishes-new-internet-exchange-at-interxion-in-marseille/

vii France-IX, https://www.franceix.net/en/solutions/marketplace/

viii ZDnet, Megaport picks up ECIX and OM-NIX in first string of European acquisitions, 2016: http://www.zdnet.com/article/megaport-picks-up-ecix-and-om-nix-in-first-string-of-european-acquisitions/

vx AMS-IX, Megaport and AMS-IX Partner to Provide Global SDN-Enabled Elastic Interconnection and Internet Exchange Service, 2016: https://ams-ix.net/newsitems/233

x DE-CIX, Console and DE-CIX: Strategic Partnership, 2016: https://www.de-cix.net/news-events/latest-news/news/article/console-and-de-cix-strategic-partnership/

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16 / WWW.INTERXION.COM

TRADE EUROPE NOW!

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERSTEL: + 44 207 375 7070 Fax: + 44 207 375 7059 E-mail: [email protected]

EUROPEAN CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE (ECSC)Toll free from Europe: + 800 00 999 222Toll free from the US: 185 55 999 222E-mail: [email protected]

www.interxion.com

Interxion is compliant with the internationally recognised ISO/IEC 27001 certification for Information Security Managementand ISO 22301 for Business Continuity Management across all our European operations. © Copyright 2015 Interxion. WP-FS-UK-TRADE-UK-eng-10/15

INTERXION UKTEL: +44 20 7375 7000 Fax: +44 20 7375 7001 E-mail: [email protected]

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

Cofounder: Uptime Institute EMEA chapter

Founding member: European Data Centre Association

Patron: European Internet Exchange Association

Member: The Green Grid, with role on Advisory Council and Technical Committee

Contributor: EC Joint Research Centre on Sustainability

Member: EuroCloud

ACCREDITATIONS

ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management

ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security Management

ITILv3-certified Service Centre Members and Facilities Managers

CONTRIBUTORS

a. Andrew Delaney – President & Chief Content Officer – A-Team Group

b. William Fenick – Strategy and Marketing Director, Financial Services – Interxion

c. Stéphane Tyc – Co-Founder – McKay Brothers

d. Virginie Saade – Head of European Regulatory Affairs & Strategy – KCG

e. Ian Marsh – Professor – Cass School of Business

CONTRIBUTORS

a. Kurtis Lindqvist - Chief Marketing Officer, LINXb. Mark Cooper - EVP Europe, Megaportc. Richard Irving - Director, LONAPd. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya - Director of Network Strategy and Interconnection, Limelight Networkse. Mike Hollands - Director, Connectivity Segment Interxionf. Neil McRae - Chief Network Architect, BT

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