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“Quantum Internet can alter the way the Internet operates”

Sudhir Kunder shares his insights on the developments in the space which is the backbone of technology leap that the digital world is taking.

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VoicenData Bureau
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Sudhir Kunder

Sudhir Kunder, Country Director of DE-CIX India, an Internet Exchange Point that claims to be India’s first legally-compliant exchange shares his insights on the developments in the space, which is the backbone of every technology leap that the digital world is taking. In an interaction with Pratima Harigunani, he connects the lines across many industry circuits, from the Internet during the pandemic to emergence of IXPs in a space dominated by ISPs, evolution of peering, and the arrival of IoT and Edge. He also addresses debates like IPv6, OTT Internet payments, decentralised Internet and Net Neutrality.

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How do IXPs, edge computing, co-location centres, and the Internet of Things (IoT) affect the Internet landscape?

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) increase Internet speed and reliability by enabling network operators to exchange traffic directly with one another, decreasing reliance on third-party transit providers. Instead of depending on centralised datacentres, edge computing pushes computation and data storage closer to the source of the data, resulting in quicker processing speeds and lower latency.

Colocation centres offer physical space for businesses to host their servers and other computer equipment, enabling them to connect securely and directly to different networks and service providers. With backups available at multiple colocated datacentres, resilience is increased and dependency on a single PoP is reduced. Technology has changed the Internet environment by making it more widespread, faster, and better connected.

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What role do Peering and IXPs play vis a vis existing Internet Service Provider (ISP) infrastructure?

The current infrastructure of an ISP uses Full Duplex Internet bandwidth with no dedicated connections to the Content Delivery Networks, CDNs. Peering saves bandwidth, reduces cost, and makes the connection robust, resilient, reliable, redundant, and secure as there is no external interference. Also, since the data skips the public Internet traffic and travels directly to the peered CDN, the chances of a data breach are minimalised. Peering and IXPs usually make the Internet work better because they give ISPs a more direct and efficient way to exchange traffic than what they already have.

We at DE-CIX India have made sure that all of our Points of Presence (PoPs) are located inside datacentres that are present at strategic locations to make our Internet Exchange Services secure while offering the best latency.

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So where does DE-CIX fit in this and what has been the impact of the market on the company’s business?

From our modest beginning with only 74 connected customers in December 2019 until February 2023, we have come a long way, becoming India’s Largest Interconnection Platform with 600 connected networks. Also, DE-CIX Mumbai is now the largest IXP in the Asia Pacific region, among 153 exchanges in 29 countries, and we have maintained this leadership in the industry for 17 months in a row.

Peering and IXPs make the Internet work better because they give ISPs a more direct and efficient way to exchange traffic than what they already have.

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Even during the pandemic, we were able to ensure that our services reached customers across all corners of not only India but also Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. We have been India’s first legally-compliant exchange for a very long time. This became the reason for SMEs, SMBs, and telcos to trust us when we introduced DirectCLOUD in January 2021 while the world was transitioning from ‘work at the office’ to ‘work from home’.

DE-CIX Global has set a new record with 48 Exabytes of data flowing across its platforms with India operations contributing significantly to this number.

DE-CIX Global has set a new record with 48 Exabytes of data flowing across all our platforms, and the India operations has contributed significantly to this number. This has helped us uncover the true potential of fulfilling the latency and security demands of BFSI, agrotech, fintech, edtech, automation, manufacturing and distribution, pharmaceuticals, gaming, and OTT sectors.

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What about the implications of IPv6 in the Internet market?

The adoption of IPv6, the most recent version of the Internet protocol, which resolves the issue of IPv4 address exhaustion and offers a much larger pool of address space, is anticipated to have significant effects on the Internet market. It will also accelerate development of the IoT and other technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Augmented and Virtual Reality.

And what will change with 5G and Metaverse?

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The introduction of 5G is anticipated to spur the development of new services and applications, such as augmented and virtual reality, self-driving cars, and smart cities. A significant market could emerge for the shared virtual space of the metaverse as physical and virtual reality converge. The demand for new and more effective technologies and services, such as virtual and augmented reality, cloud gaming, and secure online identity solutions, is probably going to increase as the metaverse expands. Peering and cloud exchange services are examples of interconnection services that have been successfully used to accomplish this.

How much, and how soon, would Quantum Internet change the existing space?

By providing capabilities beyond what is possible with conventional information processing, the quantum Internet, which applies the concepts of quantum mechanics to transmit and process information, has the potential to completely transform the way the Internet currently operates. However, the creation of a full-fledged, global quantum Internet is still in its infancy and won’t likely be fully developed for several decades. Many technical and practical issues still need to be resolved, such as creating a quantum memory with enough storage space and enhancing the effectiveness of quantum communication systems.

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The demand for technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, cloud gaming, and secure online identity solutions will increase as the metaverse expands.

In summary, while the quantum Internet has the potential to fundamentally alter the way the Internet operates today, its full effects are likely to be felt only in the long run and will require decades of research and development to fully realise.

Would decentralisation of the Internet be a good move? Would it be practical?

Decentralisation is believed to result in a safer, more dependable, and more accessible Internet where users would have more control over their data and privacy. However, there are also real-world obstacles to the decentralisation of the Internet, such as the need for a sizable investment in technical know-how and infrastructure, the difficulty of guaranteeing a constant level of service quality, and the potential for a rise in management and administrative complexity.

Decentralisation of the Internet may be advantageous or detrimental, depending on the situation and the objectives being pursued. The specific implementation and the willingness of the various actors involved to cooperate and invest in it will ultimately determine whether or not it is practical. Until these arguments churn out a feasible result, DE-CIX has proven that it is the most trustworthy and reliable option available, with 40 Internet Exchanges, over 3,000 customers and 500+ datacentres with customers connected across 100 countries.

How well is the industry addressing issues like fragmentation, Big Tech dominance, data privacy, and security?

By creating cross-platform technologies and inter-connection agreements between ISPs and data centres, for instance, the industry has made some progress in resolving the problem of fragmentation. To address this problem of Big Tech Dominance, the interconnection industry has been pushing for regulatory measures that safeguard consumer choice and privacy while also encouraging competition and innovation. Additionally, important concerns for the interconnection industry are data security and privacy. To protect customer data, businesses are investing in security measures like encryption and authentication. To ensure a safe and sustainable Internet for everyone, the industry must continue to cooperate and invest in solutions to these problems.

What are you excited about next, for your company and the industry?

To better serve our valued and expanding customer base, we at DE-CIX India are constantly looking for new ways to connect with the genuine problems facing the market and offer solutions. We have taken into account the needs and reliance on Microsoft services of SMEs, SMBs, and even ISPs that serve small businesses as they connect to us. For our connected clients to avoid public Internet traffic and maintain a secure connection to Microsoft 365 services with the least amount of latency, we will shortly launch maps or Microsoft assured peering services in India. We are coming up with new pops in Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

We are delighted to inform you that DE-IX Global became the first to introduce 400GE access technology in Frankfurt, and they recently added 800GE access technology as well. This legacy of being one step ahead of our time and requirements is what we bring to India as well. As a result, we were able to provide services even during the pandemic, when even telcos could not fulfil the bandwidth requirements for domestic and commercial needs. Thus. we will continue to take leaps and strides towards fulfilling our dream of making interconnection available to everyone, everywhere.

Sudhir Kunder

Country Director, DE-CIX India

By Pratima H

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in

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