Northern Lights Local Exchange Point
Encyclopedia
| Name | Northern Lights Local Exchange Point |
| Abbreviation | NLLXP |
| Founded | May 2000 |
| Location | Minneapolis, MN Minnesota Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state... , USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| Members | 22 |
The Northern Lights Local Exchange Point (NLLXP) is a free Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, in the USA. The NLLXP public peering exchange is closely linked with the Northern Lights GigaPoP (NLG), an Internet2
Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced not-for-profit US networking consortium led by members from the research and education communities, industry, and government....
project of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Office of Information and Technology: the NLG is the regional Internet2 access point for research and educational institutions, and the NLLXP is the regional peering exchange between those institutions and commercial networks, and among commercial networks.
As of August 23, 2008 there were 22 members participating in the NLLXP, advertising 439 unique BGP routes from 93 originating autonomous systems
Autonomous system (Internet)
Within the Internet, an Autonomous System is a collection of connected Internet Protocol routing prefixes under the control of one or more network operators that presents a common, clearly defined routing policy to the Internet....
. NLLXP participants include Internet content creators, Internet service hosting providers, and Internet access providers.
Technology
The core of the Northern Lights Local Exchange Point (NLLXP) is a single Juniper NetworksJuniper Networks
Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...
T640 router, acting as a Layer-3 IXP. Similar to at IXPs using a route reflector
Route reflector
A route reflector is a network routing component. It offers an alternative to the logical full-mesh requirement of internal border gateway protocol . An RR acts as a focal point for IBGP sessions. The purpose of the RR is concentration...
, each member peers with the IXP's autonomous system
Autonomous system
Autonomous system may refer to:* Autonomous system , a collection of IP networks and routers under the control of one entity* Autonomous system , a system of ordinary differential equations which does not depend on the independent variable* Autonomous robot, robots which can perform desired tasks...
, making member BGP configurations simple to configure and maintain.
The NLLXP core router is located at 90 Church Street, on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Using Metro Ethernet
Metro Ethernet
A Metro Ethernet is a computer network that covers a metropolitan area and that is based on the Ethernet standard. It is commonly used as a metropolitan access network to connect subscribers and businesses to a larger service network or the Internet...
, the NLLXP has been extended to an Ethernet switch located in the Minnesota Gateway colocation facility
Colocation centre
A colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
, where many metro-area members connect. Cross-connects from the NLLXP Ethernet switch are available within the Minnesota Gateway colocation facility. Extensions of these cross-connects to other locations using Metro Ethernet or intercity managed wavelength are available from several carriers.
Location
Northern Lights Local Exchange Point- 90 Church St SE
- Minneapolis, MN 55455
- NPA-NXX: 612-625
- CLLI: MPLSMNUM
NLLXP Extension at Minnesota Gateway
- 511 11th Av S #261
- Minneapolis, MN 55415
- NPA-NXX: 612-341
- CLLI: MPLSMNCD
Contact
Administrative contacts:- Myron Lowe (Office of Information and Technology, University of Minnesota), Northern Lights GigaPOP External Initiatives
- Frank Di Gravina (Networking and Telecommunications Services, University of Minnesota), Network Engineer
- David Farmer (Networking and Telecommunications Services, University of Minnesota), Network Design Engineer