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38-550: Cambridge Cable Ltd. was a limited company engaged in the provision of early video on demand . It provided cable infrastructure in the UK as part of the Cambridge Digital Interactive Television Trial (Cambridge iTV trial/Cambridge Cable Project). It was founded in 1988 by three Cambridge businessmen as a cable television and communications company. In June 1989, the company was awarded

76-476: A 64-kilobit serial link to save the cost and time delay involved in routing data across the Atlantic to US Internet exchanges. When Demon Internet , UKERNA – the UK academic network – and other ISPs showed interest in establishing similar serial links, Keith Mitchell, then chief technical officer of PIPEX, initiated a meeting with BT to discuss the creation of a London-based Internet exchange. PIPEX provided

114-483: A government department or minister having ultimate control. The Financial Conduct Authority and Network Rail (the railway infrastructure provider) are examples. One of the largest companies limited by guarantee is Bupa , the healthcare company, which has 32 million customers in more than 190 countries and which employs more than 84,000 people around the world. A number of professional services providers are structured as private companies limited by guarantee in which

152-638: A major cable television network operator in the United States, and Singapore Telecom , the public telecommunications operator in Singapore. By 1996, it was fully owned by Comcast . With its backing from Comcast, purchased Stort Valley Cable Limited and was awarded the franchise for Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth in November 1992, its services were provided under the name of Anglia Cable Communications. Late 1993 saw services started in

190-415: A network segment. In addition to the main peering infrastructure, LINX provides managed private interconnections (via Single Mode Fiber ) between LINX members, and works with a number of fibre carriers to provide rapid connection between LINX members for private circuits. These PI circuits may be used for any purpose, but are mainly intended for Private Peering arrangements between members. Private Peering

228-427: A non-profit organization run for the benefit of members and governed collectively through regular member meetings, a practice which continues to this day. While PIPEX continued to provide administrative oversight – charged at cost to LINX – member meetings were held every two months (now every three months) to decide strategic direction. Eventually, it was accepted that the purely co-operative system of operation at LINX

266-660: A share capital, although the number of these companies remaining is very small., Some uses of companies limited by guarantee include clubs and membership organisations, including students' unions , residential property management companies, sports associations, such as the PGA European Tour , co-operatives , other social enterprise , non-governmental organizations and charities (especially larger charities, such as Oxfam ), and at least one political party (the UK Independence Party ). The form

304-566: A smaller Summit X460 switch for terminating slower ports. The links between sites will be provisioned on a dark fibre provided by NTL and lit by LINX with the use of SFP+ DWDM transceivers and passive DWDM MUX units. Initial ISL capacity will be configured at 20 Gbit/s but easily upgradeable to 80 Gbit/s if required. Located in Pulsant's South Gyle data center in Edinburgh (formerly Scolocate), IX Scotland, now known as LINX Scotland,

342-469: A time when it is still possible to influence them, and to educate, inform and influence regulators and legislators. At the UK level, LINX liaises directly with policymakers on matters such as content regulation, telecoms regulation, privacy and data protection, e-mail spam, online fraud/phishing, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and any other topics that affect LINX members. At the European level, LINX

380-542: Is a founding member of Euro-IX, a Europe-wide alliance of Internet exchanges. It is one of the largest neutral IXPs in Europe by average throughput. LINX functions as a non-profit organization, structured as a company limited by guarantee. Membership involves signing a memorandum of understanding, with each member collectively owning the company. All members hold a single vote at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) on issues related to finances,

418-636: Is a mutually governed Internet exchange point (IXP) providing peering services and public policy representation to network operators, encompassing over 950 different autonomous systems (ASNs). Established in 1994 in London, LINX operates IXPs in London, Manchester, Scotland, and Wales in the United Kingdom, as well as in Northern Virginia, United States. Founded by a consortium of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and educational networks, LINX

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456-529: Is also often used by organisations with some kind of national coordinating function. Examples in the UK include the domain name registry Nominet UK , England and Wales Cricket Board and IXPs LINX ( London Internet Exchange ) and LONAP (London Access Point). Examples elsewhere include Cricket Australia and the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong . In the UK, some quasi-governmental organisations are incorporated as companies limited by guarantee,

494-408: Is also possible from remote locations via the 'LINX from Anywhere' scheme via a range of layer 2 service/MPLS carriers. Redundancy of the network is managed using rapid-failover protection mechanisms such a VPLS service over an MPLS core (MPLS/VPLS) from Juniper and Extreme's Ethernet Automatic Protection System (EAPS). These restore connectivity within tenths of a second in the event of the loss of

532-624: Is an active member of Euro ISPA and works with Euro ISPA's other national associations to influence European policy. LINX also works actively with partner organizations such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Internet Society (ISOC). LINX was instrumental in the creation of the Internet Watch Foundation, the UK hotline for reporting and removing child sexual abuse material from

570-780: Is now part of Virgin Media . Private company limited by guarantee The form originated in the United Kingdom, and now exists under the company law of the Australia, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Gambia, and Ireland, and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Nova Scotia . It previously existed in New Zealand. It is used primarily but not exclusively by non-profit organisations (including charities) that require legal personality . Other uses include mutual insurance companies and quasi-governmental bodies. In

608-452: Is sometimes more appropriate for managing large flows of traffic between ISPs and/or Content Providers. Telehouse hosts the vast majority of internet peering traffic from LINX. One of LINX's core functions is to represent its members in matters of public policy. LINX's Public Affairs department works to obtain advance warning of public policy developments that could affect LINX members, to inform members about important policy developments at

646-501: The Anglo-American law firm of Womble Bond Dickinson is similarly structured, with two limited liability partnerships of Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP and Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP being the members and providing client-facing services. London Internet Exchange 51°30′41″N 0°00′12″W  /  51.511453°N 0.003418°W  / 51.511453; -0.003418 The London Internet Exchange (LINX)

684-568: The Anglo-Canadian law firm of Gowling WLG , formed in 2016, is structured as an English private company limited by guarantee (named Gowling WLG International Limited), in which the two limited liability partnerships of Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP and Gowling WLG (UK) LLP are members and provide legal services; the structure is similar to the Swiss Verein structure used by several other major international law firms. In another example,

722-788: The Home Office Internet Task Force, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit , the Department of Trade and Industry and relevant departments of the EU Commission. In 2003, Roland was succeeded by Malcolm Hutty when Roland left to form his own advisory group. LINX also actively and financially supports the Internet Watch Foundation which, since 1996, has worked to eradicate child abuse images from the UK Internet. Initial funding from LINX

760-531: The Internet grew in popularity, legislators and law enforcement agencies began to call for its regulation. LINX increasingly found itself taking on non-core activities, such as providing expert advice on behalf of its members (and, therefore, the whole industry) to a wide range of official agencies. In 1999, LINX appointed its first full-time regulation officer in Roland Perry to advise organizations such as

798-521: The Internet, and continues to advise the IWF as a member of its Funding Council. As a mutual, membership-based organization, all of LINX's public affairs activity is informed and guided by extensive and ongoing consultation with LINX members. Launched in April 2012 IX Manchester, now known as LINX Manchester was initially a single-site platform based on a stand-alone Brocade BigIron RX-16 switch, repurposed from

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836-608: The LINX founders with a Cisco Catalyst 1200 switch with eight 10-megabit ports. Rack space was leased at a then virtually empty data center operated by Telehouse International Corporation of Europe Ltd at Coriander Avenue in London's Dockland. Switching the first data through the Telehouse hub was accomplished by primarily technical specialists who were unconcerned about the formalities of legal contracts. However, while PIPEX continued to provide administrative and technical oversight,

874-417: The UK, a company limited by guarantee can distribute its profits to its members, if allowed by its articles of association . However, in Australia this is not allowed. In many countries, a company limited by guarantee must include the suffix Limited in its name; alongside private companies limited by shares . Until 1981, it was possible in the United Kingdom to form a company limited by guarantee with

912-443: The UK, not legal. This interpretation of the constitutional change was disputed on the official LINX website. Voting on the constitutional revision took place during a hastily called Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 21 February; although a majority supported the change the number attending was too small for the motion to be carried. 2021 – LINX reported a record level of UK Traffic at 6.05 Tbit/s. 2022 – LINX joined

950-651: The cable television franchise for the city of Cambridge and the surrounding area, and in July 1990 was granted licence by the DTI to operate a public telecommunications service and distribute television channels via its underground cable network. Cambridge Cable's inaugural service commenced in July 1991 with a cable television service; the company's public telephone service launched in September 1992. The company gained financial and operational backing from Comcast Corporation ,

988-581: The company's East Coast Cable franchise with subscribers in Colchester added first; network build throughout Colchester, then Ipswich and, later, Felixstowe followed. On 2 June 1999, the Cambridge Cable Group, as it by then had become known, became part of NTL 's growing portfolio, having operated franchises under the names Cambridge Cable , Anglia Cable , East Coast Cable and Southern East Anglia Cable . The company and its network

1026-645: The constitution, and the scope of LINX activities. The members periodically elect the non-executive board of directors and convene at regular meetings to discuss technical, corporate governance, and regulatory matters. LINX operates under a mandate to avoid direct competition with its members. In November 1994, using a donated piece of equipment no bigger than a video recorder and without any written contracts, five UK-based Internet service providers (ISPs) linked their networks to exchange data and avoid paying high transatlantic bandwidth costs. LINX effectively began when two ISPs ( PIPEX and UK Net) linked their networks via

1064-637: The first Internet exchange in the world to install a Juniper PTX5000 in a live network and the exchange opened its first site outside London in Manchester (IX Manchester). 2013 – Two additional local exchanges, IX Scotland in Edinburgh and LINX NOVA in North Virginia, USA , were launched. They were the exchange's first sites outside England. 2014 – Another local exchange, IX Cardiff in Wales ,

1102-493: The geographical diversity by doing so in the City of London, North Acton and Slough. It also heralded new relationships with data centre operators, with the addition of Interxion and Equinix (to the pre-existing ones of Telehouse and Telecity). 2011 – The LINX primary LAN was redesigned to a VPLS-based infrastructure with a new vendor, Juniper Networks. 2012 – The Connection reseller Programme launched. Also this year LINX became

1140-719: The long list of organizations supporting Ukraine by disconnecting Russian services from its networks. In London , LINX operates two physically separate networks, or switching platforms , on different architectures using equipment from different manufacturers ( Extreme Networks and Juniper Networks ). These networks are deployed over ten locations, each connected by multiple 100 Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections over fibre networks. The LINX Engineering team restructured its secondary LAN in London, LON2, in 2018 using software and hardware from two different suppliers. LINX data center facilities are found at sixteen locations throughout London, including: Connecting

1178-551: The manpower and Rackspace costs of having their own installation in London. 2004 – LINX considerably expanded its footprint, with four new points of presence (Pop's) – all in the Docklands area of London. 2005 – LINX members voted to make public affairs one of the company's "core functions", placing it on an equal footing with peering and interconnection. 2006 – LINX membership reached 200. 2008 – LINX expanded again opening three new PoPs, this time adding considerably to

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1216-445: The members that provide client-facing services are the individual constituent firms using a common brand. The company limited by guarantee typically does not itself provide client-facing services. The Big Four accountancy firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers ) are each organized using this structure. Some law firms also use this structure to establish an internationally branded presence. For example,

1254-405: The need for a formal constitution was eventually recognized. The solution was to form a company limited by guarantee. Lawyers produced a draft memorandum and constitution which was extensively modified by members. The company was formed in 1995, and a board of five non-executive directors was elected, with Keith Mitchell as the initial chairman. From the beginning, it was agreed that LINX would be

1292-424: The primary LAN in London. A new design extends the network to two new sites – M247's Ice Colo & Joule House and brings in completely new hardware from Extreme Networks. The new network will be configured as an EAPS protected ring, topology currently used for the secondary LINX LAN in London. All sites will use a Summit X670v switch, capable of connecting 48x10 Gb member ports. Telecity Williams will also have

1330-500: Was becoming overly demanding. Then, in late 1996, Keith Mitchell accepted the role of full-time chairman, working with a personal assistant from offices in Peterborough. In the summer of 1996, LINX became the first Internet exchange in the world to deploy a 100-megabit switch – a Cisco Catalyst 5000. In January 1999, it pioneered the implementation of a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) running over gigabit Ethernet connections. As

1368-580: Was instrumental in enabling the IWF to launch and the decision to create the IWF and define its charter was taken at a LINX member meeting in Heathrow. 2000 – A training manager was appointed to introduce an accredited training program for Internet engineers and technicians. 2001 – LINX amended its corporate structure to make the post of chairman non-executive and appointed its first chief executive officer, John Souter, previously UK managing director of German-owned Varieties Communications. 2002 – LINX

1406-537: Was launched. 2016 – Sees the introduction of new hardware and a restructuring of LON2 with hardware from EdgeCore Networks 2017 – Following the passage of the Investigatory Powers Act , a new constitution was proposed which would ban directors from reporting the installation of surveillance equipment to members. This caused dissension among members, many of which are non-UK based ISPs operating from countries where mass surveillance is, like in

1444-411: Was the first exchange to introduce 10G Ethernet operation, using equipment from Foundry Networks – in fact, the second of their worldwide customers to deploy their technology. 2003 – This year saw the launch of the 'LINX from Anywhere' service, a facility that permits smaller ISPs to piggyback on the networks of existing members to obtain a secure, virtual presence on the LINX exchange without incurring

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