Cairo Regional Internet Exchange
Encyclopedia
The Cairo Regional Internet Exchange (CRIX) is an Internet Exchange Point
which was formed in Cairo
, Egypt
by a joint venture between the National Telecom Company (NTC) and its subsidiary ECC Solutions along with the India
n FLAG Telecom
. The exchange was officially inaugurated in Cairo on December 18, 2002 by the then Minister of Communications & Information Technology
, later Prime Minister
H. E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif
.
CRIX is the central peering
point for local and regional Internet Service Provider
s (ISPs) in Egypt and the Middle East
. Its purpose is to efficiently route all intra-Regional Internet traffic among the operators without having to pass through the United States
or Europe
. This allows the regional data carriers to significantly optimize upstream capacity costs, enhance their existing bandwidth
capacities and reduce the size of the routing table
s worldwide. CRIX is hosted by ECC at its data center
.
A 2005 report for the Arab Telecommunications
and Information Council of Ministers concluded that the exchange was being under-utilized and that there was no real peering between Arab countries.
Internet Exchange Point
An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers exchange Internet traffic between their networks . IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the average per-bit...
which was formed in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
by a joint venture between the National Telecom Company (NTC) and its subsidiary ECC Solutions along with the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n FLAG Telecom
Flag Telecom
Reliance Globalcom is a division of Reliance Communications, an Indian integrated telecommunications service provider. Reliance Globalcom provides global managed network solutions and services, and has network management capability in partnership with carrier partners...
. The exchange was officially inaugurated in Cairo on December 18, 2002 by the then Minister of Communications & Information Technology
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Egypt)
The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is the government body responsible for information and communications technology issues in the Arab Republic of Egypt...
, later Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Egypt
The Prime Minister of Egypt is the head of the Egyptian government. According to the constitution, the prime minister is the leader of the largest political party in the Egyptian Parliament....
H. E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif
Ahmed Nazif
Ahmed Nazif served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011...
.
CRIX is the central peering
Peering
In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the customers of each network. The pure definition of peering is settlement-free or "sender keeps all," meaning that neither party pays the...
point for local and regional Internet Service Provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs) in Egypt and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Its purpose is to efficiently route all intra-Regional Internet traffic among the operators without having to pass through the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. This allows the regional data carriers to significantly optimize upstream capacity costs, enhance their existing bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
capacities and reduce the size of the routing table
Routing table
In computer networking a routing table, or Routing Information Base , is a data table stored in a router or a networked computer that lists the routes to particular network destinations, and in some cases, metrics associated with those routes. The routing table contains information about the...
s worldwide. CRIX is hosted by ECC at its data center
Data center
A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
.
A 2005 report for the Arab Telecommunications
Arab Telecommunications
Arab Telecommunications is a telecommunications company based in Kuwait. It offers broadband and mobile data services to clients....
and Information Council of Ministers concluded that the exchange was being under-utilized and that there was no real peering between Arab countries.