IX Growth, AI and 5G: Sitting Down With The CTO of LINX
The networking world is evolving as emerging technologies become more in-demand than ever before.
In response, organisations like the London Internet Exchange (LINX) are instrumental in providing peering services and public policy representation to network operators, particularly as they go through digital transformation.
For 30 years, LINX has been a mutually governed Internet Exchange (IX) that provides direct routes between a company’s infrastructure and their customers. Richard Petrie, Chief Technology Officer at The London Internet Exchange (LINX), is responsible for all of the technology teams. As the organisation has become more digital and software-focused, he covers the building of the Internet infrastructure so that LINX can provide the services it does.
“I'm also an Executive Director, so I sit on the board of directors and I have a say in the planning and the strategy,” he explains. “I wear two hats between operational and strategy and work for the long-term as much as the immediate delivery.”
Managing the cloud and its challenges
As technologies like AI are increasing across the data centre and networking sectors, LINX provides a neutral meeting point where networks can exchange data traffic to improve speed, reduce latency and enhance the overall internet experience.
When it comes to cloud services, LINX also balances what it consumes as a corporate enterprise business.
“We have our own needs and we balance what we can do on-prem versus in the cloud depending on where the data should be and held because of the secure services that we want to provide,” Richard explains. “But also, as a business, we provide internet fabrics that span multiple data centres. In that, we now start to integrate cloud providers into that fabric, as we allow anybody to connect in who's a member.
“For years there's been cloud players and content players using our exchange platform, but we also now have a product that we've developed over the last few years for onboarding cloud services, specifically for new types of LINX members - customers that want to join just to consume cloud type services over the fabric.”
As more businesses start to adopt a cloud approach, LINX has adapted its product portfolio to meet rising demand. It now manages what Richard refers to as a “massive highway of pipes” to pass network traffic through very quickly.
“We've tracked and observed what's happening in the market now,” Richard explains. “We have Internet Exchanges (IX) up and down the UK, including in Manchester, Scotland, Wales and two sites in London, as well as other parts of the world.
“Our model for cloud services is really varied around the globe depending on what market we are in and where we’ve just expanded into Africa.”
LINX Nairobi in particular is one of the IX’s more recent developments. As an interconnection hub for East Africa, the organisation is expanding its presence at PAIX Data Centres in Nairobi to prepare to expand its network.
“We are definitely adapting our infrastructure to try and attract new types of members and new types of customers to LINX both as a push and a pull,” Richard says. “We see the demand coming to us and people asking for it and we're also seeing opportunities in certain markets for us to build out.
“When we build our infrastructure, we've been building layer two internet connectivity services for more than 30 years. Allowing us to adapt our network to provide these additional type services hasn't been difficult - because we're trusted and we've got a secure platform, it's a natural evolution for us.”
Embracing emerging technologies
As AI and edge computing are becoming more popular, data centres are adapting to serve the mounting appetite. For LINX, however, these technologies haven’t materialised as quickly as the market has seen.
“There is still investment for edge compute and 5G services, but I don’t think I’ve quite seen the use cases coming through,” Richard notes. “There aren’t many monetisable products and services that can be offered yet. I think edge compute could evolve and there could be opportunities for us.”
When it comes to the AI revolution, LINX is currently using the technology to learn how to work smarter as a company. Additionally, LINX is currently seeing GPU-as-a-Service companies, whereby businesses are set in one data centre and are harnessing proprietary switching technology that is localised to build its AI models.
“When we look at how the market is evolving, that ecosystem is probably going to open up and expand so that you have integrated GPU-as-a-service type models,” Richard explains. “Exactly how that’s going to work is still evolving, so we at LINX are watching that at the moment.
“We are really good at interconnecting networks that are high speed, low latency and reliable. AI for everybody is super interesting, but if we look at just data mobility and data transfer, LINX has definitely got a role to play in that moving forward.”
The role of the Internet Exchange
IXs like LINX are critical for supporting emerging technologies, with the organisation partnering with data centre companies like Telehouse to cross-sell, promote and build an ecosystem as a working model.
“We are very proud of the relationship with Telehouse,” Richard explains. “We've grown with them for the last 30 years and we’ve expanded to other partners across the London Metro and around the world, working with the likes of Digital Realty and Equinix. The robustness of this ecosystem that we provide is vital for the UK Internet. What we're seeing in Kenya and other places that we go, they see the same benefits.”
He adds: “That relationship between the data centre and the IX has been strong for many years and I don't see that changing. We have great partnerships. We talk about AI where there's investment in data centres which need connectivity. We've always got a role to play in that conversation.”
Now, there is a significant focus on connecting locally to optimise network performance, which ultimately reduces latency.
“Connecting locally is all about latency and optimisation, which is very much in our ethos,” Richard says. “We've got regional exchanges that are set up and down the UK and the idea of that was to promote localised exchange of traffic.”
LINX’s Manchester in particular peaked to more than 700Gbps whilst this interview with Richard was being conducted. The site has seen consistent growth in traffic throughout 2024, particularly fuelled by recent fibre network developments.
“LINX Manchester has been a fantastic reflection on what our regional strategy was all about because we've seen businesses and companies start to use infrastructure up in the north of England and diversify from London, which is great for the UK internet ecosystem,” Richard shares.
“But when we talk to telcos and cloud players, they want to exchange traffic locally to get their content to customers as quickly as possible. This is why we’ve gone into places like Kenya, because we want to keep traffic local. We feel that it benefits the ecosystem on the east coast of Africa.”
He adds: “The conversation with our members is all about how we build the ecosystem to be more robust, more secure and more optimised.”
Connecting the future
Looking ahead, LINX’s relationship with telcos and data centres is set to continue evolving. Richard explains that, rather than rushing to adopt new technologies, the organisation is working to refine its position and focus further into local connectivity.
“We sit in the middle and have a healthy conversation with both the telcos and the cloud providers,” he says. “Our benefit is in keeping traffic local and about how we optimise, minimise latency and optimise local connectivity. We think that IXs provide that secure local exchange of traffic.”
The organisation is eager to focus its attention further, particularly when it comes to future technologies like AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, 5G and edge computing. According to Richard, despite such an industry push towards 5G and how it could revolutionise the networks, he hasn’t seen enough innovation yet.
“A lot of it comes back to the core infrastructure - over the years it has been built, but it is still too focused on 4G,” he notes. “For the 5G to be sliced and optimised, there needs to be a restructuring of some of the core architecture and that's costly. Unless you can see that and monetise network slicing and the technology, it is very difficult for funds to flow into that architecture.
“That doesn’t mean that slicing and the push to the edge won’t happen, it’s just a bit behind where we all thought it was. However, we will continue to monitor AI, compute being pushed to the edge and explore what that could mean for new business models around that adoption of 5G technology.”
Whilst these technologies are not impacting LINX currently, Richard is optimistic for the future, stating that the company is continuing to reflect upon its strategy.
“When we think about future technologies, all of them could benefit from what LINX provides and what we contribute to the ecosystem,” Richard explains.
“Telcos and cloud providers will continue to work with LINX and we'll continue to work with them to make that traffic local and I don’t see that changing.”
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