Equinix, a digital infrastructure company, has announced that the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) will be the initial internet exchange point (IXP) housed in its new data centre.
The company has invested US$160 million (approximately R2.9 billion) in its JN1 International Business Exchange (IBX) carrier-neutral facility, scheduled to open in Johannesburg in mid-2024.
Sandile Dube, recently appointed as MD of Equinix South Africa, said the company plans to invest over US$390 million in infrastructure development over the next five years.
Speaking to ITWeb during the 2023 Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town this week, Dube highlighted the company's acquisition of Nigeria’s MainOne in April 2022 as a significant move and the starting point of its growth strategy.
He said company expects a robust response from service providers and enterprises "seeking to establish private, secure, and high-performing digital infrastructure with local, regional, or global scale, leveraging a full range of cloud and XaaS technologies."
“We will be launching with a notably strong partner base that includes some of the largest cloud and connectivity companies in Africa, with JINX being an integral part of that strategy,” Dube added.
Established in June 1996, JINX is Africa’s longest-running exchange point.
Prenesh Padayachee, the chairman of INX-ZA, which operates JINX along with other community-run South African exchanges, commented on Equinix' data centre ambitions, saying that "the carrier-neutral colocation model is globally recognised as the optimal environment for internet services to flourish.”
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