The Internet Society chooses Alcatel-Lucent routers for Bangkok Internet exchange

The Internet Society, the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), has chosen Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) to supply its 7750 Service Router (SR) to support creation of the Bangkok Internet Exchange Point (BKNIX). The society is helping to build the BKNIX through its Interconnection and Traffic Exchange (ITE) Program. Plans call for the Internet exchange to be operational in December 2014.

The BKNIX, as a neutral community Internet exchange point (IXP), is expected to significantly increase Internet capacity, encourage greater efficiency in local Internet traffic routing, create a more robust Internet infrastructure, and improve quality of service for the Southeast Asia region. Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers will be able to diversify local and regional peering and data exchange by offering services through BKNIX, the Internet Society expects.

"The Asia-Pacific is the world's largest Internet market, and Southeast Asia in particular is a rapidly emerging sub-region that includes some of the largest users of social media in the world," said Rajnesh Singh, head of the Internet Society's Asia-Pacific Bureau. "The establishment of a neutral IXP in Bangkok will do much to improve interconnectivity within Thailand as well as in the region, as the Internet is critical to all sectors of the economy. This is all the more timely as we approach 2015 and the start of ASEAN integration, as Thailand is a key economy in the region, and a key player in ASEAN."

"Internet exchanges are a growing market for core routing, and with Internet capacity continuing to expand, their role becomes even more crucial. Thailand has a tremendous potential market for ultra-broadband Internet connections, but its growth would be improved by stronger network infrastructure," noted Basil Alwan, president of Alcatel-Lucent's IP Routing & Transport business line. "We are very pleased to join forces with the Internet Society, which works diligently to foster a sustainable worldwide Internet infrastructure, on this very worthwhile initiative."

Added Kanchana Kanchanasut, vice-president of the Thai Network Information Center Foundation, "In recent years we have witnessed dramatic growth of the Thai Internet community with increasing domestic content and local traffic. Instead of today's existing peering arrangements among ISPs, our BKNIX's neutral IX service will provide economical direct interconnections among them. This relationship will be more sustainable in handling the vast traffic growth in the foreseeable future as content becomes the key driver of the technology.

"The contribution by Alcatel-Lucent and the Internet Society will enable the Thai Internet pioneering group to embark upon the next phase of the Internet development in Thailand," Kanchanasut concluded. "This IXP endeavor will not only benefit Bangkok but our experience and lessons will be shared throughout Thailand and neighboring countries in the Mekong sub-region."

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