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The London Internet Exchange (LINX), at the centre of the UK Internet and one the world's largest Internet Exchange Points (IXP), has announced that its members have formally approved enhancements to its membership and governance structure plus budget and pricing plans for 2015.

Membership of the IXP has historically given Internet network operators access to use of the public and private peering facilities provided, along with representation on regulatory matters impacting the industry, but members have had to pay an additional fee for the capacity they take at the exchange in the form of ports.

The new changes, which will be brought into effect on 1st January, will see members able to take up to 6 x 1Gb (6,000Mb) of port capacity across all of the LINX operated peering LANs (IXPs) as part of their membership fee.

LINX has been established for 20 years, and for much of this time the UK's Internet infrastructure has been concentrated on London. In the past two years LINX has opened IXPs in Manchester (IXManchester), Edinburgh (IXScotland), and Cardiff (IXCardiff) in order to provide its member ISPs and content owners a diverse interconnection solution that reduces the UK's dependency on its two London peering LANs.

Ben Hedges, LINX CMO said "By enabling members to take up to 1G of capacity at every LINX peering LAN as part of their membership fee we hope to encourage more network operators to use the IXPs available to them throughout the UK. This will not only help strengthen the underlying infrastructure of the UK Internet, but should mean consumers and businesses will enjoy even faster and more reliable services"

In January 2014, LINX opened its first overseas exchange, LINX NoVA, which is based in the outskirts of Washington DC, in North Virginia. LINX has around 100 US members and the new membership model will allow these and other networks to have a redundant peering solution in the region at no additional cost.

In addition to the new membership benefits a range of price cuts are being be introduced. On 10GE and 100GE port sizes discounts of 13% will apply across all LINX LANs with no charge at all for 10GE ports at IXScotland and IXCardiff until 1st Jan 2016. At LINX NoVA no charge will be made on 10GE connections until 1st July 2015.

LINX CEO, John Souter, said: "LINX has been cutting its prices for a number of years now and that policy has led to increased member numbers and greater economies of scale. The new pricing structure takes this a step further making membership even more attractive. The LINX ethos remains clear: we are a mutual exchange focussed on serving our members, both with our local and international peering platforms, and in our efforts within the public affairs arena. Long may that continue."

The new pricing proposal was put before the LINX membership for approval during the EGM session of the 87th LINX member meeting on the 18th November. The resolution was passed overwhelmingly and the new fees will be introduced on 1st January 2015.