Tasmania is to get a presence on the Internet Association of Australia’s (IAA) national network of internet exchanges, with TAS-IX members to get 12 months’ worth of free 10 Gbps ports.
The carrier- and facilities-neutral peering network will have two points of presence: one at Tasmanet’s DC3 data centre in the Hobart suburb of Cranbourne; the other at NBN Co’s Hobart point of interconnect, 7HOB.
Peers on the network can also establish virtual leased line services to provide dedicated point-to-point connections with other peers, or to their own network in Tasmania.
Peering gives members better routing control and reduced latency between networks, the IA said, and will get more efficient connectivity to other TAS-IX-connected networks.
“We have managed to create TAS-IX in partnership with Field Solutions Group, who were able to help us move into DC3 and 7HOB,” IAA chair Matt Enger said.
“We’re really grateful for their support in making our latest internet exchange happen.”
In September 2022, the IAA kicked off a program to expand its national backbone services with a 400Gbps core in the NSW-IX peering point.
Last November, the association also announced it would add new POPs in NextDC’s P2 facility in Perth, and A1 in Adelaide when it opens this year.
The new IX comes as the IIA gets ready to retire its longest-operating site: QV1 in Perth.
In a separate announcement, the IAA said its board has decided “QV1 runs the risk of falling short of the high standards of delivery that IAA must maintain”.
“The constraints of this legacy site mean that we will not be able to make the improvements that may be required going forward,” the announcement added.
The site will be maintained until March 31 2025, after which it will be decommissioned.