JBIX SEEKS MORE GLOBAL PLAYERS

The Johor Bahru Internet Exchange (JBIX), the latest Internet exchange point located in Johor Bahru, will continue to actively recruit global players. Extreme Broadband Sdn Bhd managing director and JBIX chief peering officer Weng Yew Wong said the company had b een receiving support from the global Internet community, but stressed that JBIX needed to continue a stronger outreach programme to spread the word. Last month, Wong was quoted as saying that JBIX was eyeing 50 companies peered to the exchange by year-end from the current 34 companies, driven by its open door policy for Internet service providers (ISPs). “Our mission is to create a more open and robust connectivity ecosystem in Malaysia. Looking forward, we see ourselves championing such cause. “As JBIX is growing in its participant and traffic size, we see a need to improve infrastruc ture re siliency. “We will continue to invest in our infrastructure and support services to ensure that JBIX delivers value to all its participant s,” he told the New Straits T i m e s. He said while Internet exchange (IX) and peering we re something common in d e ve loped economies, these were s till relatively new in Malaysia, especially among corporate information technology (IT) us ers. “We see a need to have more idea-sharing sessions with corporate users, so they can understand more about peering and IX. Many IT users are not aware of such powerful options. JBIX will need to continue to educate t h e m .” To a question on plans to offer a more robust exchange connectivity and services to better meet the needs of customers in Johor, Wong said the plan with JBIX wo u l d not end with the IX peering. “There is a full suite of IX conn e c ti vity p ro du c t s in our pipeline. We have long been recognised in the market for the software defined connectivity.” Wong said the existence of an IX here would offer Johor businesses more options. “The cost of starting an IT business is significantly cheaper, ISPs can offer its customers in Johor Baru better quality Internet at lower cost, businesses in the state can host their online services next to the IX to reap the connectivity benefit, multinational companie s can interconnect to IX same way they do in their home countries,” he said.