NIXI inaugurates internet exchange points in Bardhaman, Durgapur

The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has announced the introduction of two new internet exchange points (IXPs) in the cities of Bardhaman and Durgapur, in West Bengal. Announced on Saturday, July 9 by Rajeev Chandrashekhar, union minister of state (MoS) for electronics and IT, skill development and entrepreneurship, the new IXPs will help bolster broadband internet connectivity in these regions.

An IXP is a physical interconnectivity terminal that uses network switches to help internet service providers (ISPs) connect to a global network framework along with content distribution networks (CDNs). These terminals are key to improving the internet connectivity framework of a region – reducing web content loading times, bandwidth of connectivity and other parameters of connectivity. Adding IXPs to a region bolsters its overall quality of connectivity, thus enabling enterprises to also have access to superior network connectivity in a region.

NIXI is a nonprofit organization under the government of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), which works towards the setting up of IXPs across India. An increasing number of IXPs in India is expected to help improve connectivity across tier II cities and beyond, thereby expanding the reach of internet connectivity in the country.

Increasing the reach of internet exchange points across India could be key to India's push for digitization of businesses, as the nation eyes rapid expansion of digital services, going forward. Earlier this year, speaking at a conference at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian digital economy could grow to $800 billion by 2030.

An increasing volume of digital payments, and digitization of operations with growing information technology (IT) infrastructure in tier II markets and beyond is tipped to play a key role in this projected growth. A wider number of IXPs across a larger number of cities across India will play a key role in enabling organizations to adopt connected services.