LINX/Dammam IX maintains route servers at each peering LAN, allowing members to establish multilateral peerings with other participants on Dammam IX. By establishing a single peering with a route server, routes can be shared with a large number of LINX members without configuring separate peerings with each LINX member.

Current route server statistics can be found here: Route Server Graphs

Dammam IX route server list

All LINX route servers are using the BIRD distribution and are configured with ASN 213797

All route servers filter bogon address ranges.

Dammam IX route server list

Policy control is done by use of BGP Standard Communities and BGP Large Communities. Members may tag their routes with the following to control policy via the route server. The model is as follows:

* N/A ~ Cannot be used as RS ASN is 32bit

If none of the above communities is present, then the default behaviour is to advertise the prefix to all peers.

AS-Path prepending

Members can tag their prefixes with the following communities, causing the Dammam IX route server to prepend ASNs to the prefix when advertising it to either all or selected members.

The following communities will cause the Dammam IX route server to prepend ASNs to the prefix for all members peering on the route server.

* N/A ~ Cannot be used as RS ASN is 32bit

The following communities will cause the Dammam IX route server to prepend ASNs to the prefix for the member with ASN $peer on the route server.

If you want to prepend more than three ASNs, please contact support@linx.net

Prefix validation

LINX is validating prefixes at ingress on all route servers. The validation is based on RPKI and IRR Object presence.

For RPKI validation we build a ROA table from IRR trust anchors and for IRR Object presence we build a list of valid origin ASN and prefixes based on route objects. Refines/more specifics of valid route objects are rejected.

We are looking for a valid AS-SET in the members PeeringDB record. If no valid AS-SET is found, we use the members ASN only, unless the member has provided us other information.

The results of the validation is reflected in communities which are being added at ingress:

• 213797:1001:1 = Prefix is present in an AS's announced AS/AS-SET

• 213797:1001:6 = Prefix is not present in an AS's announced AS/AS-SET

• 213797:1001:2 = Prefix has valid Origin AS in AS-SET

• 213797:1001:5 = Prefix has no valid Origin AS in AS-SET

• 213797:1000:1 = Prefix is RPKI VALID

• 213797:1000:4 = Prefix is RPKI INVALID

• 213797:1000:2 = Prefix is RPKI UNKNOWN

The prefix validation will always occur, and members can check the communities being set to their prefixes, and as such see the result of the validation checks through the route server looking glass interface.

Prefixes will only be accepted on the following criteria where,

1. Prefixes tagged with communities 213797:1001:2 (valid Origin AS in AS-SET) & 213797:1000:1 (RPKI VALID) or

2. Prefixes tagged with communities 213797:1001:2 (valid Origin AS in AS-SET) & 213797:1001:1 (Prefix is present in an AS's announced AS/AS-SET) & 213797:1000:2 (RPKI UNKNOWN).

All other prefixes will be filtered at egress.

Any member who prefers to receive an unfiltered set of prefixes can request to opt-out of the filtering by contact our NOC at support@linx.net.

Vendor issues

Corrupt AS path & malformed AS-Path issues

Some members who use Cisco, Brocade and Huawei devices to peer with may encounter issues in establishing peering sessions and may see notifications of invalid or corrupt AS path and Malformed AS-path in their device logs. Something similar to:

Sep 1 08:40:40.498 UTC: %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 195.66.225.230 Up Sep 1 08:40:41.506 UTC: %BGP-5-ADJCHANGE: neighbor 195.66.225.230 Down BGP Notification sentSep 1 08:40:41.506 UTC: %BGP-3-NOTIFICATION: sent to neighbor 195.66.225.230 3/11 (invalid corrupt AS path) 11 bytes 40020802 033C3424 580097

This issue is caused where the peering device does not like to receive updates from the route-server where the first AS in the path is not the route-server AS.

To work around this please use one of the vendor specific commands in your router configuration.

Cisco/Quagga/Brocade/Arista

router bgp <ASN>
no bgp enforce-first-as

Huawei

bgp <ASN>
undo check-first-as

If members are having trouble peering with the route servers please contact support.

Improved bandwidth selection and ordering experience

Following feedback that the previous experience was difficult to use, we've completely redesigned the bandwidth selection and ordering flow:

• Delivery constraints are now presented upfront, reducing confusion and invalid selections

• Port selection now includes third party fabrics

• The experience is consistent whether you're ordering as a member or managing services as a reseller

Order summaries

Order summaries are now live. For any completed order that results in a billing change, including new orders, bandwidth changes, and location moves, you can download a standardised PDF directly from portal to support internal finance reconciliation.

BGP session visibility

You can now view the health of your BGP sessions directly in portal, without needing to contact the NOC or use Looking Glass. This includes:

• Session status and uptime

• Prefix counts

• Rejection reasons and session health indicators

Service health and maintenance visibility

You can now see which of your services are affected by scheduled or active maintenances and outages directly within My Services, without navigating away. This includes:

• Visual indicators at service level showing maintenance or outage status

• A summary banner showing how many of your services are affected, with the ability to filter to affected services only

• A detail view with event information for each affected service

Coming soon

• Portal notifications: proactive notifications for order lifecycle events, scheduled maintenances and outages, and access and role changes, delivered in-portal and via email

• Portal stats improvements: restoring missing metrics, surfacing optics data, and usability improvements across the stats views

This session is ideal for network engineers, operations teams, and anyone responsible for managing peering and other services at LINX.

_______________________

Join us for:

• Industry expert insights, hands-on workshops, and LINX updates

• Meaningful connections with peers in focused networking sessions

• Direct access to LINX specialists and leadership teams

18 – 19 November 2026
  Convene, 133 Houndsditch, London

LINX127 & EGM with updates, external speakers, networking, and evening social.

The webcast will be available for those unable to attend in-person, this time hosted on LINX Community.

_______________________

Check out our previous member meetings

See More

_______________________

Sponsor a LINX meeting

There are many exciting benefits to sponsoring a LINX member meeting. Gain direct access to our engaged community by showcasing your organisation’s products and services in our breakout space, submitting a presentation topic, and featuring in our widely-read newsletter. Sponsorship offers a unique opportunity to boost brand visibility, connect with industry leaders, and position your organisation at the heart of the networking community.

Over the years, our LINX meetings have seen;

• 3,500+ In-Person Attendees

• 1,000+ Attendees via our WebCast

• 350+ Member Organisations Attend

The announcement was made at Digital Infrastructure North 2026 (DIN26), a senior-level summit convened by the three organisations together with Manchester Digital, bringing together public sector leaders, infrastructure operators, technology companies and research organisations at Circle Square, Manchester.

Why this matters

The UK’s digital infrastructure — its internet exchanges, data centres and high-capacity networks — remains heavily concentrated in London and the South East. This creates real risks: to resilience, as over-concentration in one geography creates systemic vulnerability; to sustainability, as renewable energy generated in the North cannot easily be used where digital demand is concentrated; and to sovereignty, as public sector organisations become increasingly dependent on a small number of external platforms for critical services.

The North has the assets, the energy and the innovation ecosystems to help address this. The Digital Infrastructure North Alliance is a commitment by three organisations to work together — and to help catalyse a wider conversation — about how that potential can be realised.

Stephen Young, CEO of Salford City Council said

“The Digital Infrastructure North Alliance marks a step forward in a shared commitment to strengthening the digital future of Greater Manchester and the North. Digital infrastructure underpins how we create places that are more connected, competitive, inclusive and resilient. By working together, we can accelerate the investment, innovation and collaboration needed to support growth and deliver better outcomes for communities across Greater Manchester and beyond.”

 

What the Alliance brings together

The Alliance combines complementary capabilities across three organisations, each with a stake in the North’s digital future:

• GMCA is the established mayoral strategic authority for Greater Manchester. It plays a central role in supporting the digital infrastructure, inclusion and innovation needed for residents and businesses to access opportunities, services and growth across the city region
• LINX is one of the world’s largest Internet exchanges, operating a regional peering facility in Manchester that keeps internet traffic local, reducing latency and improving resilience for organisations across the North

Jennifer Holmes, CEO for the London Internet Exchange (LINX) said;

“LINX Manchester has become a vital hub for digital growth in the North. We are proud to be extending its reach and collaborative opportunities to key stakeholders in the North for the good of the Internet and connectivity experiences within the public sector. This alliance allows us to extend the benefits of peering to more organisations, keeping traffic local and enabling faster, more efficient services.”

• CNI is a cooperative providing shared passive infrastructure — dark fibre and colocation — across Greater Manchester, Blackpool and beyond, with existing connectivity into LINX Manchester

What the Alliance will do

The Alliance’s first act is to convene DIN26 — intended as the first of an annual series of summits sustaining a long-term, inclusive conversation about digital infrastructure strategy in the North.

Beyond the summit, the Alliance will work together on infrastructure initiatives where the capabilities of its members are complementary. One project under active consideration would bring LINX peering capacity directly into CNI’s Ashton Old Baths Digital Exchange, where it could connect to networks including GM One — the high-speed core network connecting over 1,200 public sector sites across Greater Manchester. If realised, this would allow public sector organisations to exchange internet traffic locally and access major cloud platforms without routing through London or crossing the public internet — with potential benefits for performance, resilience and cost.

The Alliance will also advocate jointly for greater infrastructure investment in the North, and contribute a credible northern perspective to digital infrastructure strategy at a national level.

Tim Rainey, CNI, said:

“CNI exists to make shared infrastructure work for its members and for the communities where we operate. This alliance is about taking that principle to a larger scale — bringing together organisations that each bring something different, to make a collective case for the North that none of us could make as effectively alone.”

About the Organisations

Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI) is a cooperative society providing shared passive digital infrastructure — including dark fibre and colocation — across Greater Manchester, Blackpool, Sussex and beyond. CNI’s cooperative model enables public and private sector organisations to share infrastructure assets, reducing costs and avoiding duplication. www.cni.coop

LINX (London Internet Exchange) is one of the world’s largest Internet exchanges, providing neutral interconnection services to networks across the UK and internationally. LINX Manchester is a regional peering facility serving organisations across the North of England. www.linx.net

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is the established mayoral strategic authority for Greater Manchester, working with its ten constituent local authorities and a wide range of partners to drive economic growth, improve public services and deliver the Greater Manchester Strategy. [www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

With over three decades of experience delivering production-grade interconnection services, LINX continues to align its approach with the evolving requirements of ISPs, content networks, cloud platforms, and enterprise companies operating in one of the world’s most critical connectivity markets.

Supporting a Changing Operating Environment

As networks navigate increasing cost pressures and continued traffic growth, LINX has introduced a 15-month no-charge period covering port access and peering services at LINX NoVA.

This initiative is open to existing LINX members undertaking service upgrades, as well as organizations joining LINX for the first time. The promotion will be available for a limited period from 1 June 2026 and applies to an 18-month service term, of which the first 15 months will be provided at no charge.

Rather than a short-term incentive, the move reflects LINX’s broader philosophy as a member-owned organization—to listen, respond, and reinvest in ways that directly benefit the community it serves.

Jennifer Holmes, CEO of LINX, said:

“We recognize that network operators are managing a complex environment right now, from capacity planning to cost control. As a member-owned organization, our role is to listen carefully to the feedback from our membership and monitor trends in the industry, acting where we can. This initiative is about supporting our community in a practical way—creating space for networks to plan, grow, and adapt without immediate pressure.”

A Neutral Interconnection Platform in One of the World’s Busiest Hub

Since launching in 2014, LINX NoVA has established itself as a key interconnection point within Ashburn’s “Data Center Alley”, widely recognized as one of the largest and most strategically important internet hubs globally.

Operating as a fully resilient, carrier-neutral Internet Exchange, LINX NoVA provides a platform where networks can interconnect efficiently, keep regional traffic local, and simplify their routing architectures across multiple facilities.

The exchange spans five major data center campuses — Equinix, Digital Realty, Iron Mountain, CoreSite, and QTS — and supports a growing ecosystem of over 50 connected networks, including global content delivery platforms like Akamai and Amazon, service providers, and regional ISPs.

Through LINX’s multi-site fabric, participants can establish broad peering relationships via a single connection, reducing complexity while improving connectivity reach.

Enabling Growth Without Friction

The initiative allows existing LINX members to expand their presence within the Ashburn platform, while also giving networks new to LINX the opportunity to integrate, test, and evaluate interconnection strategies over a longer timeframe.

By removing immediate cost barriers, LINX aims to encourage more open peering, greater traffic localization, and stronger interconnection density within the region—outcomes that benefit the wider ecosystem.

Jennifer Holmes continues;

“We want to remind our members why LINX has remained a global leader in interconnection for over 30 years. The difference is in the engineering discipline, the resilience of the platform, and the depth of operational support we provide. Not all IXPs are built the same—and when networks rely on interconnection for critical traffic paths, there’s very little margin for error. Packet loss, instability, or downtime can have a direct and immediate impact on revenue and customer experience. At LINX, we’ve built our reputation on removing that risk, delivering a level of reliability and support that our members can depend on without question.”

Built Around Operational Confidence

LINX’s approach continues to focus on delivering a stable and reliable interconnection environment, backed by:

• A fully redundant exchange architecture designed for high availability
• Continuous monitoring and support via a 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC)
• A distributed and interconnected platform spanning multiple data center sites for resilience, redundancy and flexibility
• Scalable infrastructure supporting evolving capacity requirements

A Long-Term Community Focus

As a mutually governed organization, LINX reinvests into its platform and services for the benefit of its members, rather than external shareholders. This structure underpins its long-term approach to growth, resilience, and community collaboration.

This latest initiative reflects that model in action—providing tangible support where it is needed, while continuing to build a stronger, more interconnected internet ecosystem.

Find out more

The expansion reflects Mplify’s strategy to extend standardized automation and orchestration across a broader set of digital infrastructure and interconnection services. As cloud adoption, AI workloads, and data-intensive applications continue to accelerate, the industry is facing growing demand for scalable, standards-based frameworks that enable providers to automate connectivity, improve interoperability, and support more programable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) environments.

Internet Exchanges play a central role in global digital infrastructure, connecting thousands of internet service providers, cloud providers, enterprises, and content platforms worldwide. Collectively, these exchanges facilitate a massive volume of interconnection activity across the global digital ecosystem, making their participation an important step toward broader automation and interoperability. Their participation expands the reach of Mplify’s LSO APIs into a broader interconnection ecosystem, helping establish a more consistent automation framework across providers and domains.

“We are excited to see the leading Internet Exchanges engaging with Mplify LSO APIs as part of their broader automation strategies,” said Kevin Vachon, COO of Mplify. “Their participation represents another important step in extending the reach of milestone in the movement towards the adoption of Mplify’s API framework across the interconnection ecosystem and creating new opportunities for automation across providers, exchanges, cloud platforms, and emerging AI infrastructure.”

The collaboration reflects growing industry alignment around standardized APIs for interconnection automation. By leveraging Mplify’s LSO API framework, Internet Exchanges, service providers, data centers, and enterprises can support more automated, scalable, and interoperable service delivery and consumption across peering, cloud, and emerging AI-driven connectivity environments.

Internet Exchanges have played an important role in advancing automation through initiatives such as the Apache-licensed IX-API project. Mplify provides an opportunity to build on that work and explore broader interoperability across providers, exchanges, cloud platforms, and emerging AI infrastructure.

“By collaborating with Mplify, we want to explore extending the IX-API project into a complementary subsection of the LSO API portfolio, so the work the community has already done gains broader reach without losing its open, vendor-neutral character. Our IX-API project, released under Apache and shaped by the IX community, will continue, and we believe this is an opportunity to widen the surface across which all IX services can be managed and consumed,” said Riccardo Verzeni, Director of Software Engineering, LINX

Through its LSO API portfolio, Mplify enables automated service ordering, provisioning, orchestration, and lifecycle management across multiple provider and technology domains. The framework supports broader ecosystem interoperability and more programable service delivery across AI-ready NaaS environments.

News originally features here https://www.mplify.net/news/

LINX Metro Resilience launches on 1^st July 2026 and has been developed to enable members and prospective networks to take mirrored services for less on LINX’s unique , LON1 and LON2.

What is an Internet Exchange Point (IXP)?

An Internet Exchange Point or IXP is a physical location where different networks connect and exchange internet traffic directly, rather than routing through third-party networks.

Internet Exchange Points play a key role in helping the Internet operate efficiently and with low latency. They provide a way for a wide range of networks, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), plus other networks that rely on the Internet, to exchange traffic locally, reducing the need for longer routing paths and helping to improve overall performance.

When LINX first launched in 1994, there was only a single IXP in London, LON1, but as LINX became a core component of the UK’s internet infrastructure and scaled, so did the importance of reducing single points of failure and improving resilience for members.

LON2 was therefore launched in 2002, and is accessible from the same data centres as the LON1 LAN but run using alternative technology for network diversity and resilience.

Network resilience has become increasingly critical in recent years, with networks now facing growing challenges around cybersecurity and the need to prepare for potential disruptions caused by third-party outages.

Last month, the King’s speech outlined a series of priorities on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which is designed to strengthen the protection for critical infrastructure in the UK following a wave of major cyber-attacks.

As for the UK, LINX are always listening to member feedback regarding resilience and cost constraints, whilst also taking a bird’s eye view of the state of the ecosystem and where a difference can be made.

Megan Atkins, CCO for LINX commented;

“As a not-for-profit, membership organisation, our focus is on enhancing the resilience of our members’ networks in an increasingly fast-moving ecosystem. By developing solutions that improve stability and redundancy, we are also able to deliver meaningful cost efficiencies for our community.”

LINX Metro Resilience in London will see networks benefit from a 60% reduction on LON2 if they have mirrored services on LON1.

Megan continues;

“This is a great opportunity for our members and global networks to take a resilient set up in the London metro. We are pleased to be able to offer a substantial discount and what’s more, our LON2 infrastructure has had a full network refresh this year making it 400GE capable and scalable for growth.”

This initiative from LINX highlights their commitment to the networking community in the UK and internationally and will hopefully encourage further discussion around network resilience.

For more details see https://www.linx.net/network/linx-in-london/

Time Server Hardware Refresh

NTP (Network Time Protocol) is how devices across a network keep their clocks in sync, distributing time from a small number of accurate sources. Those sources are time servers, and we run our own rather than relying on someone else’s – with a lot of key mechanisms all depending on it such as: log correlation during incidents, certificate validity, scheduled jobs and much more.

We have operated an NTP service since 1999, and the current hardware that has been operational since 2007 is now reaching end of support, which prompted this refresh. As a result we sought an ideal replacement and worked with the same engineer that supplied the original solution, Meinberg.

When first launched our servers were atomic clocks, however our system now utilises a highly accurate Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) that is extremely power efficient and uses about a tenth of power an atomic clock would. We operate three NTP servers, located in two different data centres. Two of these track the German time signal from Mainflingen (DCF77) and the other tracks the UK time signal from Anthorn in Cumbria (MSF) – GPS satellite time also runs on all three servers, as this approach helps protect against outages and spoofed signals.

Our NTP servers are also available to members if they want an additional time source.

Upgrading our Management and Operational Support System (OSS)

Our management and OSS runs on Juniper kit and that enables us to reach our entire estate, covering all LINX infrastructure, our exchanges and our managed exchanges.

As with any software and hardware, it naturally reaches end of life, and as this was approaching for us we’ve spent the past year upgrading that kit. This involved software upgrades across our internal, management and out-of-bound devices, alongside hardware upgrades at remote sites such as Wales and Manchester, as well as London.

This now means we have an additional two years before any mass upgrades are needed again, but equally important, it gave us a chance to test our internal networks pre and post maintenance validation checks which came about and were strengthened because of this work.

We pride ourselves on automation and get it in wherever we can, those validation checks run on a series of Python scripts driven by NAPALM, though the upgrades themselves we handle manually. When we come to do this again, we’d look to introduce more pre-maintenance testing alongside additional hardware in our lab.

In total, across a year we upgraded the following kit:

• London – 22 external and 4 internal (the four internal devices sit on the OSS network for our core infrastructure)
• Manchester – 14 external facing
• Scotland – 4 external and 2 internal
• Wales – 2 external
• North Virginia – 7
• Nairobi – 4
• Mombasa – 2
• Accra – 3
• KSA – 4