By Monijesu Ogunojuwo
The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), a critical infrastructure for keeping Nigerian internet traffic within the country, has restated its commitment to building a stronger internet exchange ecosystem and advancing Nigeria’s digital landscape through efficient interconnectivity, robust collaborations, and the seamless exchange of ideas.
IXPN’s CEO, Muhammed Rudman, gave the commitment during the organisation’s annual Members’ Engagement Forum in Lagos, where he updated members on key achievements, milestones and plans for this year, said the forum will continue to provide the platform for collaboration, interaction, and sharing milestones with its members.
He said: “IXPN plays a pivotal role in ensuring fast, reliable, and secure internet exchange services for organizations across the country. Thus, this forum offers an important opportunity to engage with our valued customers, address challenges, celebrate our successes, and envision a brighter digital future for Nigeria.”
Highlighting key milestones achieved last year, Rudman noted IXPN’s recognition as a MANRS-compliant Internet Exchange Point, demonstrating its commitment to secure and reliable internet routing. He also cited multiple link upgrades between key Points of Presence (PoPs), including Digital Realty (Medallion) to Equinix (MDXi), Rack Centre, and ADC, significantly increasing capacity. The deployment of Microsoft Connected Cache to reduce latency and optimize bandwidth utilization for Microsoft static content was another key achievement.
Looking ahead to 2025, IXPN’s planned projects and initiatives include establishing additional exchange points in other states, attracting more content providers to the country, setting up CDNs and caches in regional IXPN PoPs, offering VLAN services within Lagos and supporting remote peering, and upgrading core devices and main links.
IXPN’s core functions include keeping Nigerian internet traffic local, reducing costs associated with accessing local content, enhancing local connectivity, improving the overall internet experience, promoting local content creation, and serving as a centralized launch point for services.
As of today, the organization currently boasts 125 members, seven PoPs in Lagos (ICNL, Medallion, Rack Centre, MDXi, ADC, OADC & Cloud Exchange), and additional PoPs in six other cities: Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Delta, and Gombe. IXPN also manages a peak aggregate traffic of 900 Gbps.
