In this space, you will find various pieces of documentation relating to LINX services.
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LINX Services
Overview The LINX Colocation service is provided in close collaboration with our data centre partners. Our custom colocation solutions offer an innovative approach to data centre services, specifically designed for companies seeking streamlined and efficient colocation space management. At the heart of our service is the unique proposition of providing a single point of contact and a single invoice for all your data centre needs, regardless of the number of locations involved. This service is not just about space; it's about offering a seamless and integrated experience, combining multiple data centre resources under one manageable umbrella. Our commitment is to simplify the complexities traditionally associated with colocation agreements, allowing you to focus more on your core business operations. By negotiating on behalf of our members, we can provide colocation space tailored to the member's needs, from quarter racks to dedicated suites. Key Features Available in the following locations with direct access to the LINX Network fabrics: - Equinix Slough Campus (LD4, LD5, LD6, LD7, LD10) - Equinix Harbour Exchange Square (LD8) - Telehouse Campus Dockland (West, East, North, North 2, South) - Digital Realty (Interxion LON1, LON2, Sovereign House LHR20, CloudHouse LHR19) - Pulsant Edinburgh South Gyle - DataVita Fortis, Airdrie Glasgow Single point of contact: - 24/7 support provided by our in-house NOC - Remote-Hands requests - Delivery and access requests - Ordering of cross-connects through the LINX Portal Single invoice and billing contact for all your services Service Specifications Flexibility and Scalability: Our colocation service is uniquely tailored to accommodate a wide range of needs, starting from as little as a quarter rack to dedicated suites. This flexibility ensures that businesses of all sizes can find a solution that fits their requirements. Whether you are a small enterprise needing just a fraction of a rack or a large corporation requiring extensive dedicated space, our service adapts to your evolving needs. Power Specifications: Catering to diverse power requirements, our colocation solutions offer options starting at 500W for a quarter rack, scaling up to several kilowatts for full cabinets. This range ensures that whether you have lightweight or high-density power needs, we can help you find the right solution. Data Centre Locations and Infrastructure: Our colocation solutions are spread across several strategically located data centres, each designed to meet high standards of reliability and performance and providing direct access to our Network fabrics and our full range of connectivity services, from Peering to direct connectivity Cloud services. Compliance and Security: We understand the critical importance of security and compliance in the data centre environment. Our partners and ourselves adhere to rigorous security protocols and are compliant with leading industry standards, ensuring that your services are protected, and your operations align with regulatory requirements. Service Features 24/7 Support: Our in-house Network Operations Centre (NOC) provides round-the-clock support, ensuring that assistance is always just a call or message away. This dedicated support team is trained to handle a wide range of issues, guaranteeing swift and effective resolution to any challenges you might encounter. Portal-Based Service Management: We offer a sophisticated, user-friendly online portal, giving clients a comprehensive view of their services. This portal is not just a monitoring tool; it's a powerful platform for managing your colocation environment. Features include: Cross Connect Orders: Seamlessly order cross connects directly through the portal, simplifying the process of network expansion and connectivity. Service overview: Visibility of all your active services, handling of any service changes, direct access to traffic stats for connectivity services Remote Hands Services: Our remote hands services provide an extension of your IT team, offering expert assistance for on-site tasks. This service is invaluable for urgent situations or when physical presence is required, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal operational continuity. Access Management: We will efficiently manage access requests to your colocation space, ensuring security and compliance with your organizational protocols. Benefits Strong Relationships with Partner Data Centres: Our service is underpinned by many years of close relationships with our partner data centres. This long-standing collaboration ensures that we can offer not only competitive pricing but also priority access to resources and services. Our deep understanding of each data centre's capabilities allows us to tailor solutions that fit your needs perfectly. Skilled Support Team: Our support team is more than just a helpdesk; they are seasoned professionals with extensive knowledge in managing data centre environments. From the initial quoting and ordering process to ongoing contract management, they provide expert assistance and advice, ensuring that your experience is seamless and efficient. Assistance Throughout Contract Lifetime: We believe in nurturing long-term client relationships. Our team is committed to providing continuous support throughout the lifetime of your contract, ensuring that your evolving needs are always met. Whether it’s scaling your services, addressing new challenges, or simply offering expert advice, our team is there for you every step of the way. Single Invoice Convenience: One of the most significant benefits of our service is the convenience of a single invoice for all your colocation needs. This streamlined billing process not only saves time but also simplifies your financial planning and budgeting. With our service, managing multiple data centre locations becomes as straightforward as managing just one. 00Overview IXConnect is a transport service that enables LINX members to remotely connect to JPIX (Japan Internet Exchange), NAMEX (Roma Internet Exchange), and NYIIX (New York Internet Exchange). It provides a simple, reliable way to extend your network, reduce latency, and connect with new peers who are not available locally. With IXConnect, you gain full membership at the remote IXP, giving you direct access to our partners peering LAN and the networks within that community. This removes the need for multiple PoPs, making it easier than ever to expand your reach while maintaining efficient, low latency traffic exchange. Why choose IXConnect Expand your reach: Access new peering ecosystems without physical presence Trusted partnerships: Built in collaboration with leading IXPs Traffic optimisation: Connect with new peers who are not available locally and reduce latency for better performance Summary LINX IXConnect is essentially a bridge that extends your peering capabilities worldwide without the cost, complexity, or physical presence normally required. 00Overview Through strategic partnerships with Digital Realty and Megaport, LINX provides secure, low-latency, and direct connectivity to leading cloud service providers, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, ensuring reliable access to the business-critical applications organisations rely on. Additional to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Service (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, through the LINX network, you can achieve a seamless end-to-end solution to connect directly to other major cloud providers, such as IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Salesforce Express Connect, SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud and Wasabi. With LINX Cloud Connect, organisations benefit from direct integration with key cloud platforms via our robust and trusted network infrastructure. This solution delivers low-latency performance, high availability, and enhanced control over data traffic, advantages that are often unattainable through standard internet connections. Empower your business with the performance, reliability, and operational control it demands, delivered via one of the world’s most resilient and trusted interconnection platform, LINX. LINX Cloud Connect Service are semi-automated and easy to configure through the LINX member portal. Benefits of LINX Cloud Connect Connection direct to Microsoft, AWS, Google and other Cloud Service Benefit from low latency Gain reliable uptime Achieve greater traffic control Access your business-critical applications through one of the world’s leading peering infrastructure providers Key Features Scalability – Automatically scale resources up or down based on demand. Reliability – Built for high availability and fault tolerance. Security – End-to-end encryption, compliance certifications, and customer data ownership. Cost-Efficiency – Pay-as-you-go pricing, reserved instances, and savings plans. Innovation – Constantly evolving with new services and features added regularly. Currently available across the following LINX Fabric: London LON1 Coming soon to the following LINX Fabrics: London - LON2 Manchester - MAN1 NoVa - NVA1 Available Bandwidth: 50Mbps, 100Mbps, 200Mbps, 500Mbps, 1Gbps, 2Gbps, 5Gbps and 10Gbps MTU Size: 1500 bytes 00Overview Our Third-Party Fabric introduces a new way to connect to LINX. By leveraging fabrics from trusted third-party providers, networks without a Point of Presence (PoP) in data centres where LINX infrastructure is hosted, members can now establish connectivity to LINX’s interconnection hubs, connecting to LINX LON1 (with access to our Peering and MAPS services) You can easily connect to LINX through Equinix Fabric, removing the need for a physical presence in London and enabling fast, cost-effective access to our interconnection services and member ecosystem. This makes connecting to LINX more accessible, cost-effective, and flexible than ever before, removing the need for physical deployments while improving access to the networks that matter most. And the service is semi-automated and easy to configure through your LINX member portal. Peering Peering has served as the primary method of exchanging internet traffic between networks for decades. Connecting to a LINX interconnection hub allows you to establish peering session with multiple other networks across a single port. Members can setup or remove bilateral peering sessions with networks without the need to reprovision circuits or order additional cross connects. https://www.linx.net/services-2/peering/ Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) Our Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) provides LINX members with a direct connection to any public Microsoft cloud service, including Microsoft Azure services, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, or any other Microsoft service accessible via the public internet. https://www.linx.net/services-2/microsoft-azure-peering/ Key Features Available across the following LINX LAN, leveraging fabrics from trusted third-party providers, currently Equinix other to follow. London LON1 Peering Services Available Bandwidths: 1Gbps - 9Gbps Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) Available Bandwidths: 50Mbps - 5Gbps MTU Size: 1500 bytes 00Overview The Microsoft Azure Peering Service, which LINX provides in Partnership with Microsoft is a networking service that enhances the connectivity to Microsoft cloud services such as Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, software as a service (SaaS) services, Azure, or any Microsoft services accessible via the public internet. The service provides direct Peering through LINX-managed and fully resilient Route Servers with Microsoft’s AS8075. It allows you to optimise your connectivity between Microsoft cloud services and provides high availability and minimal latency. Key Features Available across the following LINX Fabrics: London LON1 LINX Manchester LINX NOVA Available Bandwidth: 50Mbps 100Mbps 200Mbps 500Mbps 1Gbps 2Gbps 3Gbps 4Gbps 5Gbps 10Gbps MTU Size: 1500 bytes Service Features Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and any other Microsoft SaaS services are hosted in multiple Microsoft datacenters and can be accessed from any geographic location. The Microsoft global network has Microsoft Edge point-of-presence (PoP) locations around the world where it can connect to an end user via their service providers. Microsoft and LINX ensure that the traffic for the prefixes registered with a Peering Service connection enters and exits the nearest Microsoft Edge PoP locations on the Microsoft global network. Microsoft ensures that the networking traffic egressing from the prefixes registered with Peering Service connections takes the nearest Microsoft Edge PoP locations on the Microsoft global network. Benefits Enterprises looking for internet-first access to the cloud or considering SD-WAN architecture or with high usage of Microsoft SaaS services need robust and high-performing internet connectivity. Customers can make that transition happen by using Peering Service. Microsoft and service providers have partnered to deliver reliable and performance-centric public connectivity to the Microsoft cloud. Some of the key customer features are listed here: Best public routing over the internet to Microsoft Azure Cloud Services for optimal performance and reliability. Traffic insights such as latency reporting and prefix monitoring. Optimum network hops (AS hops) from the Microsoft cloud. Route analytics and statistics: Events for BGP route anomalies and suboptimal routing. 00Overview LINX Protect is our free dedicated DDoS mitigation service, designed to help keep member networks secure and running smoothly. Available to all members peering via LINX route servers, by using Remotely Triggered Black Hole filtering, the member diverts harmful traffic away from their infrastructure, minimising disruption, maintaining service availability, and safeguarding their network. Remote Triggered Black Hole (RTBH), often called RTBH filtering, is a network defence technique used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and large networks to mitigate DDoS attacks by intentionally dropping traffic destined for a targeted IP address. Instead of letting an attack overwhelm routers, firewalls, or servers, the network “blackholes” the traffic, so that it is discarded before it reaches the victim. RTBH is widely used by ISPs, large enterprises, and backbone networks because it is fast, scalable, and router-based, requiring no specialized hardware. RTBH is usually considered a “last resort” emergency control when an attack is overwhelming the network. How LINX Protect - Remote Trigger Black Hole (RTBH) works? If a member who peers with the route-servers is suffering from a DDOS attack on his network The member would need to announce the affected prefix to the route-server. This affected prefix will be picked up by the route-servers, and the next-hop is rewritten to that of a Blackhole next-hop. The prefix with the new rewritten next-hop is then announced to all other members so the DDOS is then forwarded to the Blackhole next-hop instead of the victim member. The member is then able to announce the less specifics of their network without been affected. Why Choose LINX Protect - Remote Trigger Black Hole (RTBH)? Free for all LINX members using route servers Helps maintain uptime and service reliability Reduces the impact of malicious traffic on your network No additional hardware required Enhances overall network resilience and security Key Features Available across the following LINX Fabrics: London LON1 London LON2 LINX Manchester LINX NoVA LINX Nairobi LINX Mombasa LINX Scotland LINX Wales LINX Accra Summary Remote Triggered Black Hole is a BGP-based method to quickly drop traffic to a targeted IP during a DDoS attack, protecting the network by discarding attack traffic. For more information on the technical details, please click here. 00Overview A single membership to the London Internet Exchange (LINX) provides you the fastest and simplest way to take control of your network traffic and establish low-latency connections with more than 950 global members. Peering refers to the interconnection of two or more networks to exchange traffic directly, without relying on intermediary transit providers. This direct exchange improves performance, reduces latency, lowers costs, and enhances network resilience. Connecting to an Internet Exchange allows you to establish peering with hundreds of other networks across a single physical port. Members can set up or remove bilateral peering sessions with networks without the need to reprovision circuits or order additional cross connects. Key Features Available across the following LINX Fabrics: London LON1 London LON2 LINX Manchester LINX NoVA LINX Nairobi LINX Mombasa LINX Accra LINX Scotland LINX Wales Available Bandwidth: 1Gbps, 2Gbps, 3Gbps, 4Gbps, 5Gbps, 6Gbps, 7Gbps, 8Gbps, 9Gbps, 10Gbps, 30Gbps, 50Gbps, 100Gbps, 130Gbps, 150Gbps and 400Gbps MTU Size: 1500 bytes Peering at LINX Includes: Single mode fibre and optics for all ports Support for 10GE, 100GE and 400GE ports with fractional peering bandwidths available The first 10GE port and the first service on a Peering LAN with a speed of up to 4Gbps is included in the membership fee. This service can either be a Peering Service, MAPS Service, Private VLAN or a CUG. Any additional service, or any service with a bandwidth above 4Gbps will be charged according to the published fees in addition to the Membership Fee. LINX Protect provides RTBH based DDoS mitigation Benefits of Peering with LINX Gain greater network resilience and lower latency Increase control and enhance security of your network traffic Connect directly via a single cross connect or remotely through one of our layer 2 reseller partners 00Overview The LINX Closed User Group Service lets you establish your own dedicated Layer2 domain on one of our Network Fabrics. Once created, you can invite any other member with a port on the same Fabric to connect to your Closed User Group. This then allows you and anybody else connected to your Closed User group to exchange traffic in a private and reliable way. As the owner, you are always in control of who is allowed to connect to your Closed User Group. And the service is semi-automated and easy to configure through your LINX member portal. Key Features Available across the following LINX Fabrics: London LON1 London LON2 LINX Manchester LINX NoVA LINX Nairobi LINX Mombasa LINX Accra Available Bandwidth: 50Mbps 100Mbps 200Mbps 500Mbps 1Gbps 2Gbps 3Gbps 4Gbps 5Gbps 10Gbps MTU Size: 1500 bytes 00Overview LINX offer SLA (Enhanced Support) as an add on service to members ordering Peering Service with two key components. 99.99% availability of LINX Exchange fabric based on the calculations published by LINX on the Members portal at the end of each month (excluding planned maintenance). Fault Resolution of four hours if the member's access port is down due to a fault in LINX’s Supported Network Equipment. If LINX fail to achieve any of the above mentioned components, members will be able to claim service credits by submitting their request to [email protected]. Members who use multiple Access Ports as part of a Port Channel or Link Aggregation Group (LAG), these will be treated as a single group, the service credit will be calculated as a percentage of the total Monthly Service Fees payable for all the Access Ports. Key Features Available across the following LINX Fabrics: · London LON1 · London LON2 · LINX Manchester Available Bandwidth: · 3 Gb or more 00