The London Internet Exchange's has become the first IXP in the world to be awarded certification by the Open-IX Association (OIX). The announcement follows news that LINX's first overseas exchange, LINX NoVA, is now live.

To be an Open-IX certified IXP an exchange must fulfil a number of technical and operational requirements. The purpose of the requirements is to provide publicly available information on what the participants of an Open-IX certified IXP can expect.


Open-IX certification signifies that LINX are not only adopting the high standards of operation set by Open-IX, but that it now has the right to utilise its certification marks so that the public can easily identify LINX as an Open-IX IXP.
LINX NoVA went into service on 2 January with the Open-IX certification being confirmed shortly after. The exchange is located across three different physical locations - Ashburn, Reston and Manassas - operated by data centre providers DuPont Fabros, CoreSite and EvoSwitch respectively.

LINX CEO, John Souter, said, "There has been a lot of attention worldwide for what we're building here. Our members endorsed the idea that LINX should build a neutral, member-governed and distributed Internet Exchange and that is precisely what we've done with LINX NoVA in North Virginia. The formation of Open-IX indicates that US operators are ready for a more transparent, mutual approach to peering, similar to what LINX has pioneered in the UK. This method of passing traffic is sometimes described as the 'European model' but it's primarily about putting the member first."

Mr Souter continued, "We are pleased to lend our support to a network operator community led initiative, as we feel this is entirely consistent with our overall mission and ethos. We are therefore delighted to be the very first IXP to have been awarded Open-IX certification."

Commenting on LINX's certification, Open-IX chairman, Dave Temkin, said, “As the first Internet exchange point to fulfil Internet community developed requirements for Open-IX certification, LINX has shown that it has key systems and best practice procedures in place to allow the Internet peering community to connect with confidence. Their new LINX NoVA exchange is certainly a game changer for our members and Internet community in the US market.”