DE-CIX And Lightstorm Advance Ongoing Partnership To Offer New Capabilities To Enterprises

DE-CIX, one of the global leaders in interconnection platforms, is advancing its existing partnership with Lightstorm, a provider of digital infrastructure for hyperscale networking, to now provide access to Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) as part of the collaboration suite of services and enhance the customer experience via Polarin, a unique Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform by Lightstorm. As part of the ongoing partnership, Lightstorm has added 17 DE-CIX-enabled data centres to the 17 independent data centres DE-CIX India currently has a presence in. DE-CIX India, which already has a strong presence in the Indian internet sector, has strengthened its position through this partnership, doubling its presence in India. 

Access to MAPS will allow the users to benefit from reliable and optimized connectivity, latency telemetry and security alerts for Microsoft Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It also offers a dedicated, controlled, secured, and direct connection to the Microsoft network for businesses of all sizes to improve user experience.

Polarin platform helps enterprises to consume instantaneous network services with complete transparency, enabling them to access and utilize them on-demand as they would consume Cloud. This is done by eliminating the cumbersome process of months of network setup and multiple partner onboardings, allowing faster GTM execution. The integration of Polarin with the DE-CIX fabric in India will enable customers to enjoy a seamless experience in connecting to the exchange. 

The partnership helps customers of DE-CIX and Lightstorm directly access DE-CIX’s internet exchanges, thus allowing them to benefit from extended network coverage and superior network performance. Powered by utility-grade fibre and leaf-spine mesh network architecture, Lightstorm is empowering digital enterprises to realize their business vision without network issues becoming an obstacle. Joining hands with DE-CIX further allows the enterprises to benefit from its global presence and a track record of providing first-rate interconnection and peering services. 

In markets where internet traffic is perpetually on the rise, the enhanced services under this partnership come with optimising connectivity to meet the needs of the fast-paced business world, boosting online operations and the overall productivity of enterprises. Additionally, the new set of services includes customised interconnection services and improved security, the capability to build private ecosystems in the form of closed user groups, and the provision of direct connections to clouds. 

Commenting on the partnership, Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, says, "The collaboration with Lightstorm is an important step for us as we continue to expand our partner network in India. In the digital world, dependable connectivity is crucial, and we are delighted to offer Lightstorm's customers direct access to our DE-CIX India Internet Exchanges and to the digital ecosystems that form around them. This will provide Lightstorm’s customers with lower latency and more reliable connectivity to other networks, better performance of content and applications, and advanced interconnection services for their business needs. We look forward to working alongside Lightstorm to offer truly exceptional connectivity to India’s enterprises."

On a similar note, Amajit Gupta, Group CEO and MD of Lightstorm, said, “Partnership with DE-CIX is in line with our commitment to provide the best digital infrastructure  for business of all sizes. Lightstorm is bringing a paradigm shift in the industry by introducing Network-as-Service. Collaboration with DE-CIX allows us to offer greater value and superior experience to our customers and accelerated revenue growth by reducing time to market.”

About DE-CIX:

DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange) is the world’s leading operator of Internet Exchanges (IXs). DE-CIX offers its interconnection services in more than 40 metro markets in Europe, Africa, North America, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. Accessible from data centres in over 600 cities worldwide, DE-CIX interconnects thousands of network operators (carriers), Internet service providers (ISPs), content providers and enterprise networks from more than 100 countries, and offers peering, cloud, and interconnection services. DE-CIX in Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world, with a data volume of almost 34 Exabytes per year (as of 2022) and close to 1100 connected networks. In India, they operate four IXs, with DE-CIX Mumbai being the largest IX in the APAC region. 

Since the beginning of the commercial Internet, DE-CIX has had a decisive influence – in a range of leading global bodies, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) – on co-defining guiding principles for the Internet of the present and the future. As the operator of critical IT infrastructure, DE-CIX bears a great responsibility for the seamless, fast, and secure data exchange between people, enterprises, and organizations at its locations around the globe.

About Lightstorm:

Lightstorm is building infrastructure for hyperscale networking in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East to accelerate the region's growth and spur innovation in the digital economy. Lightstorm is a pioneer in building a first-of-its-kind utility-grade resilient fiber network, SmartNet, in several countries in the region. Lightstorm’s Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform, Polarin opens new opportunities for enterprises by providing a simple, secure and smart way to enhance their application performance and user experience. A trusted partner of several Fortune 500 companies, Lightstorm is creating a robust foundation of digital infrastructure to create new sources of value and differentiation for businesses.