LINX selects Nokia to deliver future-ready LON2 network refresh in London

The project focuses on LON2, LINX’s secondary interconnection fabric, which operates alongside the primary LON1 LAN to deliver resilience, redundancy and architectural diversity for members. The upgrade represents a strategic investment as the previous infrastructure approached end of life.

Originally launched in 2002 to complement the growing demand on LON1, LON2 was designed to eliminate any single point of failure in the UK’s internet connectivity. LINX’s dual LAN model has since been a key differentiator among Internet Exchange Points, enabling members to access resilient, in-house interconnection services without relying on external providers.

LINX has a track record of innovation, including becoming the first IXP globally to deploy a disaggregated network using EVPN in 2018. While LON1 transitioned to Nokia technology in 2021 to meet demand for 400GE services, LON2 had remained vendor-diverse until now. The decision to align with Nokia followed extensive proof of concept testing.

Richard Petrie, LINX CTO comments: “The LON2 refresh is a cornerstone of our strategy to deliver resilient, scalable, and cost-effective interconnection. Nokia’s platform not only meets our technical requirements but also supports our long-term vision for a diverse and robust network ecosystem.”

“When looking for a new technical partner for LON2 we had criteria we needed to meet including being able to support all our interconnection solutions, be able to support EVPN and also capable to scale from 10GE to 100GE, 400GE and even 800GE port options for the future.”

“Diversity to LON1 was still a crucial element for us in the decision-making process. Many of our members take complete mirrored infrastructure and LINX services on LON1 and LON2 for resilience and redundancy so diversity was non-negotiable.”

Despite the move, LON2 remains fully diverse, using different hardware and software to LON1. Nokia will now support LINX across multiple regions, including the US and Africa.

Paul Alexander, VP and country general manager UK&I at Nokia added: “LINX’s networks are critical to the UK’s digital infrastructure. Its continued trust in Nokia to provide high-performance, flexible and advanced connectivity across both of its UK networks demonstrates a shared commitment to resilience, innovation and long-term scale.”

With LON2 approaching 25 years in operation and nearing the 1Tb traffic milestone, it continues to serve as a critical interconnection hub for the UK and Europe.

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