KINXCONNECT

There is positive motion in the VoIP Peering world! After just speaking with Eli Katz CEO XConnect about their recent announcement with the Korea Internet Neutral Exchange (KINX) I learned a few things about why Korea is a logical place for this to be happening.

First off, Korea has the second highest average broadband speed to the home (something like 75meg) in the world. That's good for starters as VoIP doesnt take up that much space in the grand scheme of apps over IP, but it doesn't hurt. It means that the people are connect to IP in many ways and voice certainly plays a major role in several aspects of daily life. Big pipes just make it easier to do more and use more VoIP.

The next most important component is that the KINX is a well-established IX with many existing members. This helps solve the layer 2/3 interconnection piece that XConnect needs for their customers to gain access to their services. Community building needs roads. The KINX sees the XConnect relationship as something that adds value to the existing members, but it is also going to become a driver for new members to join. This is the network effect at work at layers 2/3 and 5/7.

Being a first-mover in this space especially in Asia is bound to produce positive results in the future. It will be interesting to see how much of an effect the KINX has on other Asian nations VoIP Peering and whether they default to the KINX because of a growing critical mass, or they try to establish their own national, local VoIP Peering IX. Whatever the case may be VoIP Peering services are sure to expand.