The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, CIRA, the organization that manages the .CA Internet domain, is embarking on a new initiative to help create a more robust and economical domestic Internet for all Canadians by facilitating the development of more Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) across the country.

Many Canadians probably don’t realize that much of Canada’s domestic Internet traffic flows outside of the country before eventually reaching its destination. This is in part because Canada needs more IXPs, large data switches that allow Internet users in the same area, usually a large city, to connect directly with each other. An IXP allows local network traffic to take shorter, faster paths between member networks, improving traffic flow on major Internet backbones, improving performance and helping to reduce network costs.

There are about 350 IXPs around the world and they have proven to be integral to the Internet infrastructure of many nations. The U.S. has about 85. In Canada, there are only two, notably OTTIX in Ottawa and TORIX in Toronto.

“Canada is not keeping pace with other OECD countries,” said Byron Holland, president and CEO of CIRA. “For a country such as Canada that was once a leader in the global digital economy, this is not acceptable.”

From CIRA’s perspective, stakeholders in Canada’s digital economy, including network operators, Internet service providers (ISPs) and others from the public and private sectors, should work together to create a national IXP fabric and make the necessary infrastructure investments.

As a not-for-profit and neutral player in Canada’s Internet ecosystem, CIRA is committed to helping make this vision a reality. CIRA’s objective is to be a catalyst that facilitates the development of a national IXP fabric. In order to engage with interested community members, CIRA has initiated dialogue in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax to help them establish or support the expansion of six key nodes for an IXP infrastructure. These discussions will continue in the months to come.

“We have much to gain from an improved Internet in Canada and a stronger digital economy,” Holland added. “This is about improving security, speed and network resilience, while maximizing the amount of traffic that stays within Canada for the benefit of all Canadians.”

To view an illustration of the benefits which a greater number of IXPs would provide to Canada, please visit here.

What is an Internet Exchange Point?

An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is a switch within the Internet that allows multiple networks, such as three or more Internet service providers (ISPs) in the same city, to connect directly to each other. Any traffic, such as emails, sent between customers of two ISPs is transmitted entirely over that local connection. In addition to local ISPs, this kind of peer-sharing arrangement can include major content providers, universities, large corporations and government. Like the Internet itself, an IXP is the result of several stakeholders agreeing to connect via a network bridge for mutual benefit.

The Internet is not a single entity. It is a network of independent networks that have agreed to transmit their customers’ data between each other using standard communication protocols. How data travels, and the route it takes to its destination, has been determined by how the global Internet backbone was constructed over the past 30 years by large network operators and ISPs. Because of the way the Internet grew, it was often more economical for ISPs to move domestic traffic over established international links. This meant that an email sent between two individuals in the same city might take a circuitous route through several other cities or even another country before arriving at its destination.

However, this carries security risks as confidential traffic crosses borders and resides on servers in other jurisdictions. And the longer the route, the greater the data latency or lag; websites take longer to load and emails take longer to be sent and received.

IXPs have become an increasingly important component of the Internet as it has grown in size and complexity. An IXP allows local network traffic to take shorter, faster paths between member networks, alleviating congestion on major Internet backbones and reducing network costs. This results in a substantial improvement in local Internet performance and bandwidth availability. However, creating an IXP requires cooperation between network operators, ISPs and other stakeholders, such as government and private industry.

There are about 350 IXPs around the world and they have proven to be integral to the Internet infrastructure of many nations. The U.S. has about 85. In Canada, there are only two, notably OTTIX in Ottawa and TORIX in Toronto.

As a result, much of Canada’s domestic Internet traffic flows outside of the country before eventually reaching its destination. More exchange points in Canada would ensure that Canadian traffic stays in Canada more of the time, creating a more robust, higher performing and more economical domestic network.

At the 2011 Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto, CIRA called upon Canada’s Internet business leaders to work together and with CIRA to help improve Canada’s position as a  tech nation, in part by helping to establish a robust community of IXPs across Canada. For the past seven months, CIRA has been talking to community-based stakeholders about IXPs, and it recently launched an IXP wiki for stakeholders to talk about their efforts.

CIRA has already begun a dialogue with interested community members in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax to help them establish or support the expansion of six key nodes for an IXP infrastructure, as well as being a committed member of the already established Toronto and Ottawa IXs. These discussions will continue in the months to come.

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the Member-driven organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

Source from:http://www.cira.ca/news/news-releases/ixp/

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