The Philippines' PLDT has secured a contract to provide fiber connectivity to the Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX).
The ICT Office of the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has signed an agreement with the operator to establish fiber optic facilities linking PLDT with the exchange.
The new link will allow private networks hosted with PLDT to connect and peer directly to PHOpenIX, enabling faster access to content hosted on the Internet Exchange’s peered networks.
Internet exchanges (IX) allow for Internet data to be transmitted between users within a locality to take shorter route through an IX rather than taking a longer route outside the country.
Most of the country’s providers are not peered through an IX, which is one of the reasons Internet access in the country is relatively slow compared to its neighboring countries where providers are peered through a neutral IX.
PHOpenIX was established by the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) in 2007 as the country’s first and only exchange in the Philippine internet industry operated by a neutral institution.
Undersecretary Louis Casambre of the DOST-ICT Office announced that PHOpenIX will also be designated as the Government IP Exchange (G/IPX).
“This will not only minimize costs for the taxpayers as there is no need to develop another internet exchange but also improve the resources available to PHOpenIX.
Under the agreement, PLDT will provide DOST with a rack space with power at PLDT’s VITRO data center facility so it can set up and operate the third PHOpenIX node. Once activated, these facilities will allow DOST to operate PHOpenIX simultaneously from three different locations.