30 March 2022

Unleashing the full potential of local interconnection: Announcing IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX

Frankfurt am Main / Dubai, 30 March 2022: DE-CIX, the world’s leading Interconnection Platform operator, offering Internet Exchange (IX), Cloud Exchange and other interconnection services, and IRAQ-IXP, the first and unique neutral Internet Exchange IX that serves all Iraqi regions, today signed a strategic partnership, in the context of the Capacity Middle East event, for the future operations of “IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX”. As the only IX in the economically strong and populous Middle-Eastern country, IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX will be operated by DE-CIX under the DE-CIX as a Service (DaaS) model built on DE-CIX’s award-winning interconnection infrastructure, including the full set of interconnection services. Technical implementation is planned in the course of 2022. The interconnection platform is set to serve as a hub for regional connectivity, enabling local networks low-latency interconnection and localization of global content, while increasing network stability, scalability and security.

The third-largest country in the Middle East, Iraq boasts a large working-age and highly urbanized population, with 70% of inhabitants residing in cities. Internet penetration stands at around 75%, with close to 100% mobile penetration. The GDP more than tripled in the fifteen years leading up to 2019 and, after economic setbacks in 2020, is projected to grow strongly in the coming years.

“With a population of over 40 million people and a strong and diverse landscape of Internet service and network providers, Iraq is in great need of local interconnection, and its Internet connectivity will be strongly enhanced through this partnership. We want to serve the great demand for increasing the speed, quality, and stability of Internet connectivity to guarantee the best experience possible for end users and businesses in the market,” comments Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX International. “This will also attract more national and international ISPs and CSPs to do business and grow a vibrant local digital ecosystem, to offer the people in Iraq the best access to local and international information, content and services.”

“We have a strong vision to provide improved connection services to our customers, taking care of data flow in terms of speed and comprehensive security,” comments Ahmed AlSheikh, CEO of IRAQ-IXP, on the new partnership with DE-CIX. “IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX is set to serve local, regional, and international ISPs, CDNs, content and cloud, as well as enterprise networks, covering the interconnection demand of our customers. This partnership will improve the resilience of local and regional connectivity, lower the latency of data traffic, and improve the performance of cloud-based resources and applications.”

“The millions of users in Iraq deserve digital services of state-of-the-art quality. This requires the best local infrastructure possible, which DE-CIX is delighted to contribute to. This will unleash the potential of this emerging digital economy by providing better performance and user experience of content and applications, and affordable and high-quality Internet access for enterprises and individuals,” concludes Ivanov on the partnership.

DE-CIX, home to the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in the world, celebrates this year its 10th anniversary of being active in the Middle-Eastern region. IRAQ-IXP powered by DE-CIX becomes the 8th Internet Exchange announced under the DaaS model, joining such success stories as the UAE-IX powered by DE-CIX in Dubai (launched in 2012) and SEECIX powered by DE-CIX in Athens. The DaaS program includes a set of services – such as installation, maintenance, provisioning, marketing and sales support – designed for data center operators or other third parties to create their own Internet Exchange and interconnection platform fully operated by DE-CIX. DE-CIX delivers the technical set-up needed for an Internet Exchange as a fully pre-configured and standardized “DE-CIX in a box” solution – easy to plug and play.