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![Teraco's Lex Van Wyk says migration to a more robust network with Arista was a natural progression and logical approach.](https://www.itweb.co.za/static/pictures/2015/02/resized/Lex-van-Wyk-Teraco.xl.jpg)
Teraco has invested in a new programmable switching platform, from Arista Networks, to increase the speeds and capacity of its Internet eXchange at NAPAfrica.
In a statement, Teraco says the migration comes four years after the initial launch of the Internet eXchange point (IXP) and is based on the growth and demand for content across the African continent.
It will also further boost the standing of NAPAfrica, it adds.
Teraco CEO, Lex van Wyk says: "The growth has been phenomenal since the launch in 2012 with over 140 GBPS of traffic and 200 members, including the top largest content owners such as Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Akamai and Cloudflare. NAPAfrica is now a critical component of Africa's Internet ecosystem and we expect the growth to continue as investment into Africa becomes a more viable business case."
Van Wyk adds that migration to a more robust network with Arista was a natural progression and logical approach. "The Arista platform supports port speeds of up to 100Gbps and we anticipate deploying our first ports in November."
Commenting on the Teraco migration, Mark Foss, senior vice president of global operations and marketing for Arista Networks says, "Arista is growing its presence in Africa and is delighted to work with one of the biggest data centres on the continent. This is a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of Arista Extensible Operating System and Africa is considered a key market for expansion."
Moving forward, Teraco's Van Wyk says that as pioneers within the data centre space, innovation runs deep and remains key to the company: "The NAPAfrica migration with Arista is yet another innovative approach by Teraco and we look forward to growing the available content and establishing new standards within the IT service sector."