From left: Tom Sanders, managing director of Unifi-Ix, with Devinder Singh Sapra, Ajay Bhatia and Sumit Kumra. Image: John T Ohle Photography
In a move that will speed up broadband for consumers and reduce costs for Irish telcos, ISPs and cloud providers, UK player Unifi-Ix has created a new internet exchange in Dublin.
Unifi-Ix launched in the UK last year with the ambition of interconnecting the world’s leading digital cities.
Dublin will be the fourth city to connect to its 100Gbps network as part of a €600,000 investment.
This is expected to rise, as Unifi-Ix grows its global footprint.
‘This will provide a huge benefit to consumers, who will see an improvement in the performance of their online applications’
– TOM SANDERS
It is initially connecting two high-density locations for data centre investment and telecommunications services: one in the north-west of Dublin and one in the south-west of the city.
In addition to the two Dublin locations, Unifi-Ix’s network currently connects to four data centres in London, one in Birmingham and one in Manchester.
It is currently building its network in Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, New York, Dallas, North Virginia and Dubai.
Higher quality cloud services
“Our new infrastructure will significantly reduce the number of steps needed to interconnect major cloud, internet and content services,” explained Tom Sanders, managing director of Unifi-Ix.
“This will provide a huge benefit to consumers, who will see an improvement in the performance of their online applications.”
Sanders said the investment will help indigenous internet-oriented start-ups and increase Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for investment by multinational and internet-oriented companies.
“These digital businesses are looking to safely peer and exchange data at faster speeds with the world’s leading internet applications and services, so they can better meet their consumer’s demands for high-quality voice over internet, gaming, content and social media services.
“Some of the companies we are talking to already have networks of private circuits interconnecting with multiple international destinations.
“We offer more extensive connectivity on a single integrated network, guaranteed speeds, and our market and technical analysis shows that companies choosing to interconnect with us will make cost savings of between 20 and 70pc, depending on the profile of their network.
“We view Ireland as a key access point to most of the largest players on the internet. Its location is a logical mid-point between Europe and the Middle East on one side, and the US on the other, and this was a very important factor in our decision to invest here,” Sanders said.
