LINX (The London Internet Exchange) A Membership Community - presentation Session 1 - TunIXP workshop on IXP - Tunis 29-04-2013 - Tunis

1. LINX
(The London Internet Exchange)
A Membership Community
Malcolm Hutty
<malcolm@linx.net>
Head of Public Affairs
April 2013

2. Agenda
1. Some quick statistics
2. LINX Mission and ethos
3. Good of the Internet
4. History
5. LINX Public Affairs today
6. Major policy topics
7. International work
8. Conclusion

3. IXP statistics
• What are the important statistics (for an IXP)?
• The answer (in this order):
1. Routes
2. Members
3. Connected capacity and traffic
4. Ports

4. Some LINX statistics
• Routes:
–~80% of global routing table
–288 members connected to the LINX route servers
• Members:
–~470 members (see LINX MoU for membership definition)
• Traffic:
–>1.6 Tb/sec peak public peering traffic
–>6Tb/sec connected capacity for public peering
–Total traffic >3 Tb/sec (including LINX private peering)
• Ports
–>1000 member ports, including one member 100G port!

5. LINX membership reach
* Membership as at January 2013

6. LINX Mission
• To facilitate Internet
interconnection, especially
through public peering
• To represent the interests
of our members in
matters of public policy
As a neutral, mutually
owned membership
association

7. A membership association
• Owned and operated for the members
• Mutuality
• Driving prices downwards…
• Open membership
• Only technical rules
–Not a regulatory body
• Neutrality
• Elected Board
–Drawn from the membership
–No government representation
• One member one vote

8. LINX member meetings

9. Good of the Internet
• Technical projects
–e.g. hosting DNS root name servers
• Commercial and social
–e.g. promoting peering through member meets
• Training: LINX Accredited Internet Technician
• Public Affairs
–Government engagement
–Public policy

10. A little history…

11. Some historical events
• 1994: Born in Telehouse as a not-for-profit mutual
• 1995: UK govt proposes mandatory key escrow;
–LINX organises opposition and Bill is withdrawn
• 1996: LINX helps found Internet Watch Foundation
• 1999: LINX employs a full-time ‘Regulation Officer’
• 2005: Public Affairs becomes part of “Core Mission”

12. LINX Public Affairs today

13. Keeping members informed

14. Representing members’ interests

15. Public Affairs: major topics
• Internet intermediary liability
–Networks (“mere conduits”) and hosting
• Law enforcement
–Data retention, access
–Rule of law, due process, fundamental rights
• Critical infrastructure & security
–DDoS protection, physical security etc

16. Public Affairs in EU
• Active through EuroISPA
• The most important domestic regulation is derived from
EU law
• Promoting good policy at EU level directly supports the
interests of both our members based in the UK and
those from throughout the EU

17. Public Affairs globally
• Pre-cursors of policy:
–Global principles of Internet governance
• International bodies
–ITU, WCIT-12
–OECD, Council of Europe etc
• Primarily active through the Internet Society

18. Participation and policy-making
• Member driven policy
• Formal and informal member consultations
• Member participation is vital
–Ensures we are working for our members
–Proves legitimacy and authority

19. Questions and contact details
• Website:
• https://www.linx.net
• News blog
• https://publicaffairs.linx.net/
• Contact:
–sales@linx.net
–joinhelp@linx.net
–publicaffairs@linx.net
–+44 1733 20 77 00