Foundation Projects
FCA: BKNIX Infrastructure Development
Bangkok Neutral Internet Exchange (BKNIX)
Bangkok Neutral Internet Exchange (BKNIX) is the first Bangkok-based neutral Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Thailand. It is not a transit provider nor ISP, but it provides an exchange service where any network owner can become a member of the community and exchange traffic. Its members include small to large ISPs , Telcos, CDN providers, Cloud services, Research and Educational networks.
Regional exchange is particularly important for Internet users in the Bangkok region since users can exchange traffic locally without sending traffic back and forth to Bangkok.
Chiang Mai is the first regional exchange to serve as a local exchange in this province and the northern region. BKNIX Chiang Mai has been operational since 2020 with support from APNIC.
The grant:
The main challenges of setting up new exchange point involve accommodating the growth across growing peering members, and acquiring switching hardware.
Enterprise-grade switching hardware costs more than switches used in small offices. Due to budgetary constraints, It is very difficult to afford switching hardware early in an IXP's development, stage since the IXP does not have enough members to contribute to operational costs including hardware costs.
Getting support for initial switching hardware is significantly essential for the IXP to be fully operational.
