Smartoptics Group AS

Regulatory Filings • Apr 21, 2023

LINX and Smartoptics extend partnership for new Nairobi IX hub

LINX and Smartoptics extend partnership for new Nairobi IX hub

Oslo, Norway - April, 21, 2023 - Smartoptics, a leading provider of optical

networking solutions, today announced that The London Internet Exchange (LINX),

one of the world's largest internet exchanges, has extended their partnership

for its new interconnection hub in Africa. The facility in Nairobi will use the

Smartoptics DCP-404 muxponder for cost-effective 400G DWDM.

With over 950 ASNs connecting from over 80 different countries worldwide,

members of The London Internet Exchange (LINX) have access to direct routes from

a large number of diverse international peering partners. Now LINX is expanding,

building its first physical presence in Africa. The new interconnection hub will

be housed in the first hyperscale data center in East Africa, operated by

IXAfrica. Situated in the capital of Kenya, LINX

Nairobi (https://www.linx.net/news/introducing-linx-nairobi/) will provide

future-proof interconnection solutions, giving members access to a large and

growing region of Africa.

Building on years of successful collaboration with own deployments in the UK,

LINX partnered with Smartoptics once again to enable cost-efficient 400G at its

new African interconnection hub. The Smartoptics DCP-404 muxponder and DCF-F

open line system were chosen to secure cost-efficient, full 400G bandwidth.

"In LINX Nairobi, we see great potential serving the fastest growing continent

in the world where digital transformation is accelerating at a rapid pace.

Smartoptics has provided effective and future-proof optical networking solutions

along with excellent support over the years and we are pleased to bring them

with us on this exciting journey to Africa. We particularly appreciate the DCP

-404 muxponder's ability to stretch long fiber distances using 400G, its ease of

use and the useful optical diagnostics it provides - not to mention the high

rate of fiber utilization and overall efficiency," says Mark Lloyd, Principal

Network Engineer, LINX.

LINX has worked with Smartoptics since 2019 when Smartoptics open line systems

were

deployed (https://connect.smartoptics.com/hubfs/Marketing/02.Case_Studies/SO

-CS_LINX_OLS_R4.0.pdf) in their London hubs. LINX then built on this by adding

DCP-404 muxponders to their existing deployments in 2022.

"LINX provides an excellent example of how our DCP-404 muxponder has become a

game changer. In the London deployment, the muxponder alongside our open line

systems allowed an additional 400G redundant capacity to be added. In the

Nairobi deployment, the DCP-404 on its own provides a highly cost-effective

solution for delivering a single 400G wavelength between sites. We are proud to

be a partner of LINX and look forward to the launch of the exciting Nairobi

initiative," says Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO, Smartoptics.

For more information please contact:

Magnus Grenfeldt

CEO

Smartoptics

+46 73-366 88 77

E-mail: magnus.grenfeldt@smartoptics.com

About Smartoptics

Smartoptics provides innovative optical networking solutions and devices for the

new era of open networking. Our customer base includes thousands of enterprises,

governments, cloud providers, Internet exchanges as well as cable and telecom

operators. We have an open networking approach in everything we do which allows

our customers to break unwanted vendor lock-in, remain flexible and minimize

costs. Our solutions are used in metro and regional network applications that

increasingly rely on data center services and specifications. Smartoptics is a

Scandinavian company founded in 2006. We partner with leading technology and

network solution providers such as Brocade, Cisco and Dell and have a global

reach through more than 100 business partners.

For additional information about Smartoptics, please visit

https://www.smartoptics.com/

About LINX

With over 950 ASNs connecting from over 80 different countries worldwide,

members of The London Internet Exchange (LINX) have access to direct routes from

a large number of diverse international peering partners. LINX is much more than

just the UK's leading peering community. LINX can also connect you to cloud

services, help you create closed user groups and private VLANs, and gain access

to colocated infrastructure. With direct routes between your infrastructure and

your most important customers and services, you can manage all your connectivity

instances with confidence. Discover the flexibility and transparency of a member

-owned organisation, and the reliability of trusting your traffic to critical

national infrastructure.

For additional information about LINX, please visit https://www.linx.net/