Abbreviation HKIX Location Hong Kong | Founded 1995 Website www.hkix.net | |
Full name Hong Kong Internet eXchange Members 118 (licensed) + 105 (non-licensed) | ||
Hong Kong Internet eXchange (HKIX; traditional Chinese: 香港互聯網交換中心; simplified Chinese: 香港互联网交换中心; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 wu6 lyun4 mong5 gaau1 wun6 zung1 sam1; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Hùliánwǎng Jiāohuàn Zhōngxīn) is an internet exchange point in Hong Kong. The cooperative project is initiated, coordinated and operated by the Information Technology Services Centre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The aim of the HKIX is to connect the Internet Access Providers (IAPs) in Hong Kong so that intra-Hong Kong traffic can be exchanged locally without routing through the US.
Contents
In fact, the concept of an "Internet Exchange" is very important after the NSFNet Backbone faded away because IAPs had to be interconnected to maintain full connectivity to the entire Internet. In Hong Kong, the situation is a little bit different. Many of the IAPs in Hong Kong have their own links to the US. They have to connect to each other locally only in order to have faster and less expensive access to local sites. In addition, there are some commercial Internet Exchanges in Hong Kong for routing traffic within the city.
Every internet interaction in Hong Kong goes through the centre, which is Hong Kong's network backbone.
History
It was founded in April 1995 by Chinese University of Hong Kong. It reduced Hong Kong's reliance on US web servers and therefore made internet performance in Hong Kong faster.
In 2004, the HKIX2 back-up mirror site was created, which is located at CITIC Telecom Tower. CITIC's major shareholders and directors are appointed by the PRC Government.
As of 2013 the exchange handles 280 gigabits of information per second during its peak times every day. Chinese University stated that the amount of information is equivalent to 17,000 five megapixel photographs. In 2013 Edward Snowden said that the National Security Agency gained access to the backbone and took data from it. Chinese University said that it did not find evidence of hacking.
Facility
The HKIX1 is located on the Sha Tin campus of Chinese University. The door of the building that houses it has no sign. Danny Lee of the South China Morning Post said that the building that houses it is a "grey, bunker-like structure could easily pass for any other building" at the university.
HKIX2 is located inside the CITIC Telecom Tower, and is connected to HKIX1 via two 10Gbit/s links.
HKIX1b is a planned extension to HKIX1, and will be interconnected with HKIX1 by multiple 100 Gbit/s links. The data center is close to University Station, and is less than 2 km from HKIX1 (fiber distance). The main purpose of establishing HKIX1b is to offer dual-core for high availability and for supporting more port connections.