Vocus Communications (ASX:VOC) has launched a “multilateral internet peering exchange” service, PacificIX, connecting Sydney and Auckland.
The service, which Vocus claims to be unique in the Australian market, will allow ISPs, hosting companies and telcos to directly connect to other such companies as an alternative to buying internet access to connect and exchange traffic between the two cities.
According to Vocus CEO James Spenceley, this approach should provide a faster and more direct route at lower cost to its wholesale customers.
“Some traffic actually routes between Australia and New Zealand via the US, so [the new service] will reduce this traffic's latency from 150ms to 14ms,” Spenceley said.
The PacificIX offering is the first since Vocus was sold for $20 million in April and became listed on the ASX.
In August it also chalked up a record profit with consolidated profit before tax of $5.69 million, some 501 per cent increase over the previous financial year’s earnings of under $1 million.
The company’s CEO, James Spenceley, has also been a vocal part of the Alliance for Affordable Broadband which is lobbying for changes to Labor’s NBN.