The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has completed a major refresh of its secondary London network, with Nokia selected as the technical partner for the project.
The upgrade covers LINX’s 17-site interconnected LON2 fabric in London. The network operates in parallel with the exchange’s primary LON1 LAN and is designed to give members added resilience, redundancy, and architectural diversity.
LON2 was originally launched in 2002 after growing demand on LON1, with the aim of removing any critical single point of failure from UK internet connectivity. It has itself grown in popularity, however, as businesses place more and more emphasis on resilience, especially in the ever-connected world we live in.
Despite its growth in popularity, LON2 still lagged behind the primary LON1 network in terms of the adoption of networking technologies. That’s because LON1 received a major upgrade back in 2021, with LINX moving it to a network based on Nokia technology in response to demand for 400GE access.
While LON1 received the upgrade with Nokia technology, LON2 remained vendor-diverse for resilience, but lacked 400GE access. That spurred the recent decision by LINX to evaluate upgrades to LON2, with it considering a whole shortlist of possible vendors.
Why LINX chose Nokia
The selection criteria for the new LON2 partner included support for LINX’s interconnection services, compatibility with EVPN, and the ability to scale from 10GE through to 100GE, 400GE, and eventually 800GE. It was eventually decided that Nokia had won out amongst the vendors shortlisted.
Given that both LON1 and LON2 are built on Nokia’s architecture, some may be wondering whether LINX has maintained the resilience promise of what is essentially its backup network. The company responded to those fears by noting that LON2 remains fully diverse from LON1, using different hardware and software despite both networks now being built on Nokia technology. That should help the network retain its resiliency promise, while still benefiting from the major networking upgrades available on LON1.
Richard Petrie, LINX CTO, noted, “The LON2 refresh is a cornerstone of our strategy to deliver resilient, scalable, and cost-effective interconnection. Nokia’s platform not only meets our technical requirements but also supports our long-term vision for a diverse and robust network ecosystem.
“When looking for a new technical partner for LON2 we had criteria we needed to meet including being able to support all our interconnection solutions, be able to support EVPN and also capable to scale from 10GE to 100GE, 400GE and even 800GE port options for the future.
“Diversity to LON1 was still a crucial element for us in the decision-making process. Many of our members take complete mirrored infrastructure and LINX services on LON1 and LON2 for resilience and redundancy so diversity was non-negotiable.”
Paul Alexander, Vice President and Country General Manager UK&I at Nokia, added: “LINX’s networks are critical to the UK’s digital infrastructure. Its continued trust in Nokia to provide high-performance, flexible and advanced connectivity across both of its UK networks demonstrates a shared commitment to resilience, innovation and long-term scale.”
LINX said it is now working with Nokia across most of its operating regions, including LINX NoVA in the US and sites in Kenya and Ghana.
