(Revision 1.4: 2011-06-01)
The policies below were formally ratified by ISPA’s Management Committee on 2011-05-03.
Basic principles
1. ISPA is responsible for the administration of the INXes and determines policies relating to the INXes.
2. The host provides resources essential to the operation of the INX facilities, including power, air- conditioning and secure access to the site. The host also maintains the switches at each INX. Both JINX and CINX are currently hosted by Internet Solutions.
3. Each INX user is responsible for obtaining one or more links to the INX facilities, and for all costs associated with those links. INX users are also responsible for supplying any equipment, such as routers, they require to connect their networks to the INX switches.
4. There is no restriction on lines a participant may terminate at the INXes and participants may use an INX as a key node on their backbone network, provided that they comply with all of ISPA’s INX policies.
Fees
5. There are no joining fees for the INXes.
6. A monthly hosting benefit fee of R40,000 (excl. VAT) applies to the host of JINX, a monthly hosting benefit fee of R30,000 (excl. VAT) applies to the host of CINX, and a monthly benefit fee of R15,000 (excl. VAT) applies to the host of DINX. The amount must be paid by the host and will be a condition of any hosting agreement for each INX. (Hosting benefit fees for any future exchanges will be determined as additional exchanges are established.) Port charges, as set out below, apply to the host in addition to the hosting benefit fee.
7. Monthly port charges apply to connections to the INXes. These charges depend on the speed of each port used by an ISP. The port charges will be reviewed on an annual basis by the INX working group.
8. For ISPA members, there is a minimum membership requirement for access to some ports. For access to 10 Gbps and 1 Gbps ports, ISPs must be Large ISPA members. For access to 100 Mbps ports, ISPs must be either Medium or Large ISPA members. There is no minimum requirements for access to 10 Mbps ports; Small, Medium and Large ISPA members can all use 10 Mbps ports.
9. For the purposes of the minimum membership requirements above, Honorary ISPA members are considered to be Large ISPA members. Affiliate ISPA members are considered to be Small ISPA members.
10. ISPA members pay port charges as shown below:
Port charges for ISPA members (excl. VAT)
Port speed Minimum membership
10 Gbps Large R4,980.00
1 Gbps Large R2,490.00
100 Mbps Medium R1,245.00
10 Mbps Small R622.50
11. Non-members of ISPA may connect to ISPA’s INXes, and pay port charges as shown below:
Port charges for non-ISPA members (excl. VAT)
Port speed
10 Gbps R12,480.00
1 Gbps R9,990.00
100 Mbps R3,245.00
10 Mbps Not available
12. The port fees may be waived for ports used for hosted services (such as DNS servers) located at an INX. The INX working group remains responsible for determining which services it is appropriate to have hosted at the INXes, and when port fees should be waived.
Allocation of scarce resources
13. ISPA notes that ideally, there will be sufficient ports and other resources to meet all of the demands of users of the INXes. However, in practice there may be a scarcity of a particular resource at an INX. In this case, the policies on the allocation of scarce resources applies.
14. The INX administration team will allocate scarce resources primarily on the basis of demonstrated use. INX users requesting scarce resources may request an allocation above that required for demonstrated use, but in such a case, the INX administration team has the right to reclaim underutilised resources if they are needed for another INX user with demonstrated use. If a scarce resource is reclaimed from any INX user, once the resource ceases to become scarce, that user’s access to that resource should be prioritised.
15. In the case of a dispute in the allocation of a scarce resource at a particular exchange, the matter will be put to all active users of that INX who are ISPA members, with one vote per user.
16. ISPA reserves the right to charge for unused ports from the date the port was allocated to the user.
Requirement to exchange traffic via the INX switch fabric
17. With the exception noted, all interconnection at each INX must take place via the INX switch fabric. This means that within each INX cage there may be no peer-to-peer interconnection, and all traffic exchanged must be via the switch.
18. The above policy does not apply to any ISP paying the 10 Gbps port charge; this gives that ISP the right to interconnect privately. An INX user is welcome to pay the 10 Gbps port charge to gain this benefit, but make use of a lower speed port on the switch. For the avoidance of doubt, both parties interconnecting privately must be paying the 10 Gbps port charge, in order to have the right to interconnect with each other.
19. The INX working group retains the right to grant additional exceptions to the above clause, where technically necessary. (The specific example was put forward of voice traffic exchanged via SS7. The JINX switch does not support this, and it would have to bypass the switch.)
Rack space
20. The monthly port charge gives that INX user the right to use a maximum amount of rack space depending on the primary port used, as indicated below. ISPA reserves the right to impose additional charges for ISPs using more than this, with appropriate fees to be determined by the INX working group.
Primary port speed Maximum rack space
10 Gbps 8U
1 Gbps 6U
100 Mbps 4U
10 Mbps 2U
21. The above rack space allocation includes any telco infrastructure associated with an INX user.
22. All equipment hosted at the INXes must be rack-mounted. ISPA reserves the right to disconnect any equipment which is not rack-mounted. The INX working group may grant exceptions to this rule on case-by-case basis.
23. The above policies on rack space are intended to ensure that each INX remains an Internet exchange, and not an equipment hosting facility. Additional rack space will not be made available to INX users.
24. Rack space allocations are not transferable. INX users may not resell, sublet or give away rack space without permission from ISPA.
Cabling
25. The INX host will provide all ethernet patch cabling for the INX facilities. ISPA members may not supply their own ethernet cabling. ISPA members are, however, responsible for their own power cables. These rules are subject to the discretion of the INX host.
26. The host may levy a cabling fee of R1200 (excl. VAT) per port used for connections into the JINX and CINX facilities. This fee is for the cabling between the host’s meet-me room and the INX environment and is a per-cable installation fee, and not a recurring cost.
27. For transparency and fairness, the host must publish a list of prices for other cabling projects within the hosting facility.
Wireless connections and roof access
28. For transparency and fairness, the host must provide up-to-date information on the availability of roof space at the hosting location for the purposes of wireless links. Contact details for further enquiries should also be provided.
Participants’ interconnection policies
29. A connection to an INX is not the same as interconnection with other organisations using that INX. ISPA does not require INX users to interconnect with all other INX users. Each organisation connecting to an INX is free to establish its own policy for interconnection. It is up to each user of an INX to negotiate interconnection agreements with the other INX users.
30. Each INX user must provide ISPA with a clear policy for interconnection with other INX users and must notify ISPA of any changes to this policy. If an INX user fails to provide ISPA with a clear policy for interconnection with other INX users, then they agree to exchange traffic with all other INX users on a no-charge basis.
31. In cases where disputes arise between members regarding interconnection policy, if both members agree, ISPA will play a mediation role.
Hosting of servers
32. No servers or other non-standard equipment may be hosted at an INX without the explicit permission of the INX working group. Any requests to host third party equipment (e.g. monitoring devices) will be dealt with by the INX working group on a case-by-case basis.
SNMP access
33. No ISPA member may have access to the community string for the INX switches unless cleared to do so by the INX working group.
Insurance
34. Members are responsible for the insurance of their own equipment.
Liability for outages
35. ISPA members using the INXes cannot hold ISPA or other INX users liable for network outages of any kind.
Non-compliance
36. ISPA reserves the right to terminate any INX user’s access to an INX for non-compliance with ISPA’s INX policies.
Changes to this policy
37. ISPA reserves the right to make changes to its INX policies, following due consultation with ISPA members.