We are pleased to announce the new Service Fees for the use of the interconnection infrastructure of the TOP-IX Consortium in 2024.

The activation of the ports is free for the consortium members. For peering services, non-consortium members can request the activation of 10G ports (activation at 1000 euros and annual fee at 2,000 euros) or 100G ports (activation at 2,000 euros and annual fee at 4,800 euros).

Some novelties for peering bands: the annual fee reduces for consortium members, while non-consortium members can benefit from the 5, 10, 20, 40 and 100 Gbps bands, paying an annual fee that ranges from 6,400 to 33,000 euros.

We also reduce the costs for the Marketplace. Regarding transport, we confirm a 50% discount on canons for Academic and Research Entities.

A novelty is represented by the Ethernet point-to-point connectivity service between nodes of Turin and Milan.

You can find all the novelties and a detailed description of the services at this link.

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TOP-IX network freeze is scheduled from next Dec 22nd 2023 to Jan 7th 2024.

For any new or upgrade request before the holiday season, please contact us asap at amministrazione@top-ix.org.

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The advantages of the new infrastructure were described at the “TOP-IX Talks” last May by Alessandro Galardini, Network Engineer at the Consortium, and Alessandro Bulletti, Senior Consulting Engineer at Nokia.

Significant leap in the speed of available ports (from 100 G and 400 G); scalability of interconnection services, programmability are just some of the main features of the new infrastructure.

Here, in a video made by Nokia staff, Tech Director Andrea Casalegno and Executive Director Leonardo Camiciotti tell how TOPIX uses Nokia’s 7250 IXR routers to provide a flexible range of throughput, scale, port density and speed to meet growing connectivity needs.

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Increasingly stringent requirements related to transaction tracking in areas ranging from finance to betting and trading, or involving online gaming or even more specific cases for latency measurement in network infrastructures, demand extreme precision and accuracy in timing hardware. For most companies, running a synchronisation system in-house for the digital infrastructure is difficult both because of the possible high costs and the constant and necessary maintenance.

With this in mind Aruba, the main Italian cloud provider and leader in data centre services, web hosting, e-mail, PEC and domain registration, announced the availability of the Time as a Service (TaaS) synchronisation service at the Global Cloud Data Center of Ponte San Pietro (BG). The use of the service is possible thanks to a direct collaboration with TOP-IX (Turin Piedmont Internet eXchange) – the consortium established for the purpose of creating and managing an Internet Exchange (IX) for the exchange of Internet traffic in the North West area – which in turn cooperates with INRIM, the National Institute of Metrological Research and a primary member of the consortium.

Provision of the Time as a Service service

The fibre optic infrastructure of TOP-IX is directly connected to the Time and Frequency laboratories of INRIM and, thanks to the joint technological work with Aruba, has been extended to the Data Centre Campus of Ponte San Pietro. This makes it possible to provide the service in two different modes, related to the protocols used to distribute the time reference and to the users of the service itself: NTP TaaS and PTP TaaS.

NTP TaaS (Network Time Protocol) – The NTP protocol is the most commonly used protocol to synchronise computer and telecommunications systems over time. When the servers providing the NTP reference sources are reached via the Internet, they can be exposed to DDoS type attacks capable of inhibiting the synchronisation processes and rendering them inaccessible. Aruba and TOP-IX, through the network created, are able to avoid attacks since this infrastructure does not convey the signal on a public network but on a private network, carefully monitored and protected.

PTP TaaS (Precision Time Protocol) – In many areas, synchronisation requirements demand greater accuracy than that achieved by the NTP protocol. One example is ESMA’s MiFID II directive, which for online trading requires minimum requirements such as 100 us accuracy relative to UTC and 1 us granularity.

Although these levels of accuracy can also be achieved by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System like GPS or Galileo) type sources, this mode has some limitations: radio signals can be jammed by external sources, in some cases the system is operated by entities outside the EU, and accuracy is subject to the will of the operator. Finally, regulations such as MiFID II require systems to be referenced against UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), derived from national atomic clocks.

The PTP TaaS service overcomes these limitations as it is provided by the public scientific research organisation INRIM via a fibre-optic infrastructure and not radio, made available by Aruba and TOP-IX.

The importance of the service

“From the financial services sector to that of online gaming, there are more and more companies for which Time as a Service represents an essential tool to meet compliance requirements and maintain a very high precision and reliability time synchronisation – commented Fabrizio Garrone, Enterprise Solution Director of Aruba – The TaaS, which we propose, represents a new element in the offer available to customers who choose the Data Center Campus of Ponte San Pietro to take advantage of a wide range of services ranging from colocation to the most advanced cloud, both when they are provided in managed mode, and when customers choose to manage them independently.”

“The TOP-IX Consortium has the TaaS service in its portfolio on its network between Turin and Milan: its uniqueness on the Italian market is given by the UTC reference made available by INRIM, the National Metrological Institute, a member of the Consortium, and by the propagation of the synchronisation signal over fibre optic infrastructure,” explains Andrea Casalegno, Technical Director of the TOP-IX Consortium. – The partnership with Aruba allows them to extend the service to their Data Centres in Ponte San Pietro, and thus to all their customers who need secure and reliable synchronisation services.”

You can find further information here.

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New Service Fees for the use of TOP-IX Consortium interconnection infrastructure come into effect.

With the new platform, 100G ports (in addition to 10G ports) are introduced, with the possibility of fractional access, according to the approved price list. The annual fee for 10G ports is 11,600 euros; the fee for 100G ports is disciussed by design.

There are discounts for multiple ports on the same PoP (same capacity and type): 10% on additional ports of the same type; 50% discount on port fees for Academic and Research Institutions.

A promotion is also active, with 50% discount for new ports and on the fee change in
case of upgrade (valid on the first calendar year).

However, 1G ports are no longer sold. Lower denomination capacities are possible only through resellers. However, all other services (marketplace and transport) remain unchanged.

All the news can be found at this link and here you can find the service description.

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The Genoa Data Internet Exchange (Ge-DIX) consortium was founded in September by the City of Genoa with Fastweb, BBBell, Liguria Digitale, Retelit, Rocket Way and the TOP-IX Consortium. It is an innovative project that aims to achieve the ambitious goal of making the City of Genoa an international node for data exchange interconecting Service Providers through the creation of an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) that can operate a stete of the art Interconnection Platform.

Speakers at the presentation of Ge-DIX included Mayor Marco Bucci, Ge-DIX President Luca Beltramino, BBBell Founder and President Enrico Boccardo, Fastweb CEO Alberto Calcagno, Rocket Way CEO and CTO Paolo Barigelli Calcari, TOP-IX Executive Director Andrea Casalegno, Liguria Digitale PA Business Unit Director Riccardo Battaglini, Retelit CEO Federico Protto, and Genoa Ambassadors Network in the World Coordinator Giuseppe Franceschelli.

Ge-DIX’s Internet Exchange Point will provide better connectivity to citizens and businesses in Genoa and Liguria, with important benefits for business productivity and people’s daily lives.

It will be possible through the direct exchange of Internet traffic between telecom operators, who will be able to interconnect with each other without having to pass through one or more third-party networks, with benefits in terms of improved bandwidth, data security, and rapid international data exchange available to businesses and governments. Direct interconnection also avoids the need for data to travel through other cities (and potentially to other continents) to get from one network to another, thus reducing latency and making Internet services more immediate and efficient.

The Ge-DIX consortium has a 10-year term and is a strategic hub for the digital transformation of the Genoa area, fostering its social, economic and digital culture development. It is also a decisive tool for improving the use and delivery of services for businesses, citizens and public administration.

«It also has a symbolic value for us to have contributed to the birth of Ge-DIX precisely on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of TOP-IX – explains TOP-IX Executive Director Andrea Casalegno –. It will be a pleasure to put our experience at the service of an IXP that will play an important role in accelerating the competitiveness of the Ligurian territory and is destined to become a key hub in the international telecommunications landscape, thanks to the realization of submarine links to connect Europe and Asia».

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The TOP-IX Consortium will take part at Eurovision Song Contest, alongside the City of Turin. In collaboration with Iren and CSI, TOP-IX will design and build the infrastructure to ensure the interconnection to the Internet network, with a 24 hour presence during the event.

In detail, TOP-IX will provide the wi-fi coverage of three areas located between the Pala Alpitour and the Eurovision village, with a guarantee of simultaneous interconnection of 1250 wi-fi users, with a minimum guaranteed bandwidth of 550 Mbps. Through the fiber optic infrastructure of Iren Energia S.p.A., TOP-IX will realize the interconnection to the Internet network at 10 Gbps. In addition, TOP-IX will activate the passive optical fiber that interconnects the various areas and the infrastructure dedicated to access control systems.

TOP-IX will also be responsible for the realization of the authentication system, natting and integration with the existing system at Pala Alpitour and the supply of 4000 scratch cards with personalization, for all those accredited to the event.

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Nokia will supply 400GE IP routing platforms to enable TOP-IX to scale its regional interconnection and peering infrastructure both directly and through collaborations with partners across Europe. Along with expanding the geographical reach and capacity of its services, the solution will provide TOP-IX with enhanced network automation and operational capabilities to improve time to market for its customers.

TOP-IX will deploy the Nokia 7250 Interconnect Router (IXR)-X1 platforms with 400GE network interfaces to expand and upgrade its network to offer high speed IP routing for interconnection, peering and access to cloud services. The routers will be deployed in TOP-IX locations to increase the geographical scale, reach and capacity of its services.

The platforms enable TOP-IX to support services at speeds of up to 400GE with the ability to seamlessly increase capacity in the future.

The solution will also allow TOP-IX to enable secure cloud services over the IP routing solution, allowing its customers to maintain data sovereignty.

An investment to grow in terms of capacity

«We chose to make a significant investment in Nokia technology because it perfectly meets the requirements of our interconnection services on a geographically distributed platform – Davide Calonico, President of TOP-IX said – The new platform will allow us to introduce automation for the deployment of current services and all future services that may be enabled. In addition, it will ensure that we grow in terms of capacity in order to meet the increases in traffic expected in the near future»

«TOP-IX is a major regional Internet Exchange Provider and is expanding its regional interconnection capabilities to meet the needs of its customers as they embrace digital and cloud technologies – Manuel Ortiz Fernandez, Senior Vice President of EMEA Webscale business at Nokia, explained – We are pleased that TOP-IX has chosen Nokia 400GE IP routing technology to enhance its infrastructure to support the needs of businesses and consumers in the region»

Nokia 7250 IXR platforms running the Service Router Operating System (SR OS) are purpose-built to deliver multi-terabit-scale interconnectivity within data centers and across WANs. They offer exceptional networking performance and reliability and will enable TOP-IX to meet increasing traffic and service demands as its networking needs grow and change.

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The Euro-IX 2020 Report aims at give an overview of the current status of IXP deployment in Europe including.

The number of operational IXPs in Europe has increased by 87.5% over the past 10 years, going from 136 in 2010, to 255 in 2020. 2020 saw significant growth for IXPs, partially due to the number of IXPs added to the IXPDB, indicating better reporting of active IXPs (the growth of 52 IXPs in 2020 includes both newly established IXPs but also IXPs that were only identified by Euro-IX in 2020).

Traffic growth in the last 10 years

The average number of IXPs we collected data from was 56. These include Euro-IX members and “sub-members”, i.e. other IXPs or PoPs operated by our members in Europe.

As clearly visible from the second diagram, the growth in traffic peaks has been constant over the past 10 years and has seen a significant surge since 2016.

The report can be read here.

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An agreement between Italtel, TOP-IX and CSI Piemonte made it possible to test the first prototype of the new Italtel Quantum Secure Network product in the TOP-IX network. QSN was developed for QKD (Quantum Key Distribution), one of the most mature quantum technologies, ready to provide concrete answers to the need for security of information transmitted over communication networks. CSI Piemonte will provide the case study on which to start the experimentation.

Enhance the security of data, infrastructures and public services through the use of quantum technology. This is the goal of the collaboration agreement signed between Italtel, CSI Piemonte and TOP-IX for the implementation in Italy of the first feasibility demonstration of the implementation of quantum technology to support IT security. The agreement makes it possible to test a new Italtel product, called Quantum Secure Network, which exploits the Quantum Key Distribution, a form of encryption that allows data to be transmitted with very high levels of security.

The purpose of the collaboration is to identify the requirements and define the methods of insertion on the TOP-IX network of the QSN product, which consists of a QKD transmitter and receiver to be installed at the ends of an optical fiber link.

“Italtel and TOP-IX share the importance of establishing a strategic collaboration in the field of research and innovation on Quantum Technologies, starting with QKD – says Davide Calonico, Presidente del consorzio TOP-IX –. The QKD market is still in its infancy, but it has enormous potential and we are proud to be the first in Italy to experiment with this technology on our networks, thanks to the technology provided by Italtel”.

The development of QSN was carried out by Italtel in the context of a project co-financed by the European Commission through EIT Digital (European Institute of Technology).

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