“When
you send an email now, it goes to your provider, then to Miami, then back to
the provider before it reaches the recipient. That is time and cost. A switch
within the same country means savings in foreign exchange and is a lot quicker”
Director for Quality
Management at the OUR, Leighton Hamilton
Its
official folks!
Jamaica
finally has its own IXP (Internet Exchange Point), something which was long
needed in Jamaica as reported in the article “OUR
Touts Local IXP For Internet Traffic - Switch Installed In September”,
Published Sunday November 16, 2014 by Avia Collinder, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner, and which most Server
Administrators understand makes a whole lot of different when it comes to Website
Hosting.
The
implementation of the IXP is thanks to the work of the IXP Working Group
established
in January 2014 that consists of the following Telecom Interests and Jamaican
Government entities:
1.
eGov
2.
Ministry of Industry, Investment and
Commerce
3.
Ministry of Science Technology Energy
& Mining
4.
OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation)
5.
Telecom Provider Digicel
6.
Telecom Provider LIME
7.
Triple Play Provider FLOW
8.
University of the West Indies
The
OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) is excited about it and so am I, already
going out of their way to promote its usage as per the article “Content,
culture and control - A Local Internet Exchange Point makes access better!”,
Published Sunday November 16, 2014, by Gordon Michael Swaby, Contributor The Jamaica Gleaner. Triple Play
Provider FLOW has already connected to the IXP and the other Telecom Providers
will soon follow suit!
But
what exactly is this IXP and why should you really care?
Jamaica's Local IXP -
Lower Routing and Web Hosting costs encourages Local and International Jamaican
Domain Names
The
New IXP located in Papine, St Andrew, will now mean that persons interested in Local
Streaming Services, Email and Social Networks can now do so more cheaply. This
as the IXP is basically Jamaica finally getting its own physical Server for our
Jamaican Domain “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm”, making it possible to have Local Domain
name Hosting for Online Services.
For
example, currently when you access Gmail, you're really accessing their Cloud
Servers that host you email all the way in the US of A that routed through the
Gateway Switch here in Jamaica, depending on your ISP i.e. Telecom Provider
LIME or Digicel or FLOW and then routed unto the Gateway switch in Miami,
Florida and then passes on over their Telecoms Networks to their Servers in
Mountain View, California or elsewhere.
It
also has implications for businesses and individuals applying for a “.com.jm,
.org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain name.
With
a Local IXP, we now have a Local Server to host our “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm”
Domain name for Local Websites, making it possible for both Local and International
Companies to rent space to set up their Cloud Servers and provision wholly
Jamaican Services without having to pay for the additional cost of routing
their Internet traffic to their Websites all the way to their Servers in the US
of A.
It'll
also mean that the “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain name Services, which are
actually free being offered by Third Party Website Hosting Companies at added
on costs as high as US$65 per year may also fall.
The
current free process, which requires filling out a cumbersome text-only form
which is being handled by a single person at UWI (University of the West
Indies), the guardians of the “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain name may also
be automated as noted in the article “How
To Register .com.jm Jamaican Domain Name”, published May 24, 2011 by Paul
Allen, Paul Allen. That means hours to
register a “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain, not months as is currently the
case.
Thus
Services such as Netflix may be finally motivated to improve their Services
here in Jamaica as per the criticism of Geezam writer Ramano in his Geezam blog article entitled “Is Netflix a Netjoke?”,
knowing that they don't have to pay the additional costs of Routing Traffic
from Jamaica to their Cloud Servers in the US of A by simply hosting their Server
at the IXP Facility!
Not
to mention being a lot easier and professionally done!
Jamaica's Local IXP -
Faster loading times for 3G Internet users as MNP, LNP Approaches
Localizing
their Websites with the unique “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain reduces not
only the cost of Hosting and associated Internet connectivity costs but also
the time take to fetch information from Websites, which will be especially
noticeable by persons and 3G Wireless Broadband connections on smartphones and
Tablets.
To
quote Director for Quality Management at the OUR, Leighton Hamilton, for Telecom Providers the
IXP, which is really a Gateway Switch for Broadband Internet will
“significantly reduces network latency due to improved bandwidth and shorter
distances for the data to travel because domestic-bound traffic does not have
to be routed via International links before being delivered”.
That
last part is the benefit to Local Telecom Providers, who are being invited to
run their own Fiber Optic Cables to the IXP located at the Papine, St Andrew and
connect for free and possibly discontinue paying for the IXP that they and 1000
other Telecom Providers pay to access in Florida.
This
doesn’t mean they'll abandon the IXP in Florida totally; they still have to use
it to terminate International Voice Calls as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How
to set up an International Calling Plan for Digicel or LIME Prepaid and
Postpaid”. Jamaican may be late to the IXP game, with Trinidad &
Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia, and Dominica having gone ahead of us, but we’re
finally got a good reason to have it in place: the coming of MNP (Mobile Number
Portability) and LNP (Landline Number Portability) by May 2015.
Especially
as the OUR has already put out a TPPR
(Technical & Price Proposal Requirements Request) document for a Number
Portability Administrator in Jamaica as detailed in my blog article
entitled “OUR
issues TPPR for a Number Portability Administrator in Jamaica - How Number
Portability will get us NANP's NPA and Third 4G Competitor”, signaling
Jamaica's readiness for MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline
Number Portability) come May 2015.
Exciting
times ahead for Website admins, as the new IXP not only means cheaper Web Hosting as American Web Hosting companies set up
Servers at the Papine Facility provided by the OUR, but also a more
efficient “.com.jm, .org.jm, .edu.jm” Domain
name Services. This means Third Party Website Hosting Companies may also fall
in cost as well as the expansion and possible automation of the process of
getting a Jamaican Domain name, making the process that much easier.
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