AMS-IX in Amsterdam, DE-CIX in Frankfurt and LINX in London say they have developed a common application programming interface (API) that will allow users to self-manage their existing and new interconnection services.
Epsilon and Interxion will act as pilot customers for the new software.
“In a very competitive market, we have found a common ambition and drive for the greater good of the internet,” said Henk Steenman, CTO of AMS-IX.
The three companies announced their move, which is called IX-API, at the meeting of the European Peering Forum (EPF), in Tallinn. Users will be able to peer more effectively, from ordering new ports to monitoring provisioning processes.
Richard Petrie, CTO of LINX, said: “Our software and engineering teams have collaborated, working hard to create this modern RESTful API based on OpenAPI Specification v3 for managing IXPs customers and services.”
Epsilon and Interxion’s tests came out with positive results, said the three exchanges, and they will be joining the exchanges at the EPF to present and demonstrate the tool to the rest of the internet and telecoms community.
Thomas King, CTO of DE-CIX, said he hopes IX-API will have wide acceptance. “We are convinced that this new industry standard will be adopted by other internet exchanges and interconnection providers,” he said.
The three said that there is a large percentage of member and customer crossover between all three exchanges, working with the same remote peering partners and data centres. “Being able to work with – and offer out to the community – a universal API tool is a huge step forward for the industry,” they said.
