BDIX is an IXP (Junction) where ISPs and other data service providers gets connected among themselves. It was established in 2004. It is a not-for-profit venture of the Sustainable Development Networking Foundation (SDNF) Bangladesh.
Why BDIX?
Internet Service providers used to get bandwidth from various upstream providers from various part of the world through- Submarine cable, VSAT, MicroWave Links etc. When data transmission from one ISP to another ISP was required – it used to go through the upstream providers round the world and come back to the destined ISP. I remember I had two different Internet connection in my two PC and did a traceroute – and guess what!! There were 20+ nodes it had to pass from one IP to another. This created a lot of latency. Moreover, it was a very inefficient way of communication as data from one computer had to travel half of the world to reach the other one in my next room.
Some prominent ISPs in Bangladesh could well understand the fact and was eager to create an exchange among them so that local Internet traffic may routed locally. Year 2004 – United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) took the initiative through the project named “Sustainable Development Networking Programme” (SDNP). With the help of some individuals and ISPs BDIX was established.
From then more than 50 ISPs and Mobile/data operators got connected through BDIX.
What are the benefits?
Saves International Bandwidth
Well it is easy to guess what the benefits are. Local bandwidth remains locally. It means when one user from an ISP sends a files to another user in another ISP – the data does not need to travel out of the country. This keeps the International gateways free of data required to travel within the country. This saves the precious International Bandwidth.
Low Latency
Another benefit is – very low latency. In case of local traffic – data first goes to the BDIX from the source ISP and BDIX routes the data to destined ISP. This is only a matter of 3/4 hops/nodes. This means data travels faster.
High Data Volume
One major benefit is – a huge data can be transferred among the the local users. Since ISPs can get high bandwidth easily from BDIX.
Saves a lot of money to ISPs and End users
Low Cost + High local bandwidth – causing most of the ISPs to get connected to BDIX. BDIX bandwidth is way cheaper than actual International Bandwidth. Moreover, ISPs are creating local FTP server – where they store a bulk of movies, songs, games etc – which used to consume a lot of International Bandwidth. Now users download movies, songs, games etc – but it doesn’t use International Bandwidth keeping that one for much important uses. ISPs are now able to offer very low rate for Internet subscription as they can serve more people with less International bandwidth. End Internet users are getting higher bandwidth at lower cost.
New Features and Services
A lot of local sites have emerged with live TV facility, Local FTP servers, game servers etc. Volume of Data is not a problem if it remains locally.
Redundancy
We are developing our own local Internet through BDIX – and if for some reasons – International gateways are disrupted – we are less affected. Although International data transfer may be interrupted but local data communication will still remain running.
BDIX membership fee:
10,000 taka for 100mbps port
20,000 Taka for 1GB port.
Please visit BDIX website to learn more about them.
