Web Africa embraces open peering in South Africa.  We are peering and setting up peering agreements to pioneer a faster local internet with reduced ping times and latency.  Through the connection of multiple providers with one another, we will be able to reduce subscription costs and further achieve our vision of enhancing the online experience in South Africa.

South Africa has come out of the Dark Ages, moving forward at a rapid pace towards the global internet standards set for the Information Age.

One of our most important goals at Web Africa is to improve and promote local industry, internet and content.  Through improvements made locally, we will be able to better our subscribers online experience dramatically, helping South Africans to get a good foot-hold in the international online market.

One of the most important aspects of modern internet is peering.  Peering occurs when separate networks voluntarily interconnect for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the customers of each network.

When the two networks come together they reach a mutual benefit.  The benefit is that vast amounts of data can be stored locally per network.  When the networks peer, they allow each other to access locally stored data, resulting in quicker transit times, meaning our customers overall browsing is improved and media like videos and images load much faster.

There are other motivations for peering:

Through peering, our network will become more reliable, as we now have more links throughout the internet.  This means that if a circuit fails, we have alternate paths through which to send traffic, and additional capacity to do so.

Due to a decrease in router hops, latency is decreased, with traffic being sent to and from our network to our peering partner directly.

Having our own network means that we are Tier 1.  The primary benefit of this is that we can customise and optimise network performance, and decide how traffic is routed.  This means peering enhances the efficiency of our network.

At the moment, we are using the peering location CINX, and are peering with NapAfrica.  We have a number of agreements underway with big names in the industry which are being set up in as you read this blog, and we are very excited about the changes that the future will bring to our customers.