IXLeeds to put Leeds on the "Internet Map"

LEEDS, England, September 20, 2011 -

The Leeds Interconnect community is pleased to announce the formation of IXLeeds Ltd, a neutral, not-for-profit Internet Exchange Point (IXP) based in Leeds (United Kingdom).

At a meeting on the 12th September held at aql (the site of the IXP) the first thirteen founding members of IXLeeds signed the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association to incorporate the newly formed organisation.

The IXP is the result of many years of collaborative work by many organisations and grew out of a working group set up in 2008 to promote collaboration between network operators in Yorkshire.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said:

“I’m delighted to hear of the success of IXLeeds.  The project is a prime example of the industry cooperating for the benefit of all parties and it will help put Leeds and Yorkshire on the ‘Internet Map’.”

Rob Evans, current Chair of IXLeeds said “IXLeeds not only facilitates the interconnection between network operators and improves internet resilience in the region, it also provides a community for collaboration.”

Dr Adam Beaumont, MD of aql, one of the first founding members and host of the IXP said “We’re excited to support IXLeeds and to play our part in making it happen. It’s a success story of co-operation between all the significant regional operators and will bring benefits to both the ISP’s and the end users.”

An IXP is a physical network infrastructure operated by a single entity with the purpose to facilitate the exchange of Internet traffic between Autonomous Systems. In order to provide access to the ‘global Internet’, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) must have connectivity to the global Internet itself. Any ISP that is connected to the IXP can exchange traffic with any of the other ISPs connected to the IXP. By enabling traffic to take a more direct route between many ISP networks, an IXP can improve the efficiency of the Internet, resulting in a better service for the end user.

IXLeeds is operated for the benefit of the member ISPs and the Internet community at large.

For more information please see:

www.ixleeds.net

If you are interested in joining the exchange or have further questions please contact info@ixleeds.net

Notes to Editor :

About aql®

Any mention of aql should be used in lowercase letters as it is a trademarked name and device. I have bolded all occurrences of this trademark as a guideline.

aql, established in 1998, is a UK based, regulated telecommunications operator. aql specialise in providing secure, reliable wholesale access to the fixed and mobile networks to government, enterprise and to innovators. The numbers speak for themselves - aql is responsible for the voice services and numbering on over 42 million numbers for over 20 UK ISP’s, routes over 1 million SMS text messages per day and has enabled over 40 UK MVNO (virtual mobile) brands. aql also own and operate a significant national data network and secure datacentre sites within the UK.

aql® is a registered trademark, device and trading style of (aq) limited.

aql.com

IXLeeds Press contact:
Emma Frost,
+44(0)7757-69-03-08,
info@ixleeds.net

aql Press Contact:
Dan Ray, 
+44(0)1133-20-30-85
Email: Dan.ray@uk.aql.com

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