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New Ethernet switches are set to go live at the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) after two Cisco Catalyst 4900M switches were donated to the Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA) by Cisco South Africa and Business Connexion.
JINX enables ISPA members to interconnect networks and exchange traffic in the most cost-effective manner. In 1996, JINX’s four links boasted speeds varying from 64 kilobits per second to 256 kilobits per second. Twelve years later, link speeds vary from 2 megabits to 1 Gigabit per second.
Says Craig Zeeman, regional sales manager: service provider wireline at Cisco South Africa: “These compact, high-performance switches will provide JINX with the performance it needs to support its peering ISPs in a form factor that is easy to maintain.
“The sponsorship, valued at R1 million, forms part of our ongoing strategy to support broadband enablement in South Africa and to help businesses to improve productivity, cost saving and return on investment.”
The Cisco Catalyst 4900M Series is an extension to the widely deployed Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series top-of-rack Ethernet switch specifically designed for data centre networks. The switches are optimised for ease and flexibility of deployment.
The switches will be deployed at JINX with a mix of 10/100/1000 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, allowing South African ISPs to peer at substantially higher speeds. This is an important step in ensuring that South Africa’s Internet industry has the bandwidth it needs to support projected growth in demand for Internet services in the years to come.
“We are thankful to Cisco Systems for this sponsorship because it provides us with a solid platform to provide the level of service that our ISP members and their customers deserve,” says ISPA’s JINX working group chairman of the exchange, Rob Hunter.
ISPA expresses its appreciation to BCX for sponsoring the significant shipping costs associated with safely transporting the donated equipment.
