“Solving latency and data transit challenges are high priorities for Proximity and our growing portfolio of customers, especially those developing virtual reality, gaming and IoT services,” said John Hall, managing director of colocation, Proximity Data Centres.
“The wider availability of regional internet exchanges will enable the lowest latency possible for demanding edge computing applications and services including those for gaming, healthcare, manufacturing and smart cities, while also offering a more efficient and cost-effective solution for the backhauling of rapidly growing data volumes.”
Starting in Q1 2023, the company’s newly formed Edge IX division will begin a phased build out of internet exchanges that will be based at Proximity’s regional colocation data centres.
At present there are 10 such facilities strategically located to conurbations and cities in the North, North West, Midlands, Thames Valley, South West and South Wales.
Further data centres equipped with exchanges will be added to the portfolio during 2023.
“Internet exchanges in the UK have been successful in supporting the development of the digital economy but the increasing demands of low latency bandwidth-hungry applications requires a new approach, complementing the existing infrastructure model," added Hall.
"The proliferation of edge data centres and internet exchanges will play a vital role in regional economic development. The availability of these resources at a local level will support digital businesses, regional tech hubs and bring significant economic growth to the regions. These will in turn bring new opportunities to the benefit of local communities.”
The news is the 'first of its kind' according to the company and comes in line with Proximity’s commitment to reducing latency by bringing data and services physically closer to the end users.
