Equinix, one of the largest digital infrastructure companies in the world, is on an expansion spree. After announcing the launch of its third data center in Dubai and a new one in Côte d’Ivoire, it has now announced that JINX, the Johannesburg Internet Exchange Point, will be available in its new JN1 International Business Exchange (IBX) data center at launch in mid-2024.
According to a statement released by the company, “Established in June 1996, Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) is Africa’s longest running exchange point, boasting a remarkable 100% uptime over its 27-year history. JINX, a community-run IXP operated by INX-ZA, is a nationally important aggregation platform where ISPs, local and global content, social media providers and e-commerce companies exchange South Africa’s Internet content.”
Equinix further explains, “JINX will be the first and foremost IXP (Internet Exchange Point) partner in Equinix’s brand-new carrier-neutral facility. It will provide public peering services to the many Internet connectivity and content providers hosted at Equinix in Johannesburg.”
“The carrier-neutral colocation model is globally recognized as the optimal environment for Internet services to flourish. Equinix has an outstanding reputation for championing growth of digital economies, hosting thousands of service providers and serving billions of internet users worldwide,” said Prenesh Padayachee, the INX-ZA Chair adding, “We are thrilled to be launching our new node in Equinix JN1 Data center and we look forward to delivering on our shared vision, growing and evolving internet services in Johannesburg and South Africa together.”
Sandile Dube, Managing Director for South Africa at Equinix, said, “We are delighted to welcome JINX on-board as a well-established and trusted partner that is firmly embedded in the connectivity fabric of South Africa. We will be launching with a remarkably strong partner base that includes some of the biggest cloud and connectivity companies in Africa, and JINX forms an integral part of that strategy.”