ChinaCache International Holdings has opened a new Internet exchange point (IXP) in Shanghai, its third in China following the launch of facilities in Beijing and Guangzhou earlier this year.

The CHN-IX Shanghai node aims to facilitate the delivery of local content as well as the exchange of data between the cities in which ChinaCache operates its Internet exchanges. A customer who gets an IX port in one location will automatically receive coverage in the other two markets.

Song Wang, chief executive, founder and chairman of ChinaCache, said: “We are pleased to announce the official launch of our third Internet Exchange Center in Shanghai, which is home to many leading international companies and Chinese Internet companies.

“With our state-of-the-art facilities and coverage of China’s tier-one cities, we look forward to providing high-quality interconnection services to our customers.”

Millennial exchange

Shanghai
Beijing skyline

It is believed the node will be run from the existing Shanghai Internet Exchange Center, which was first opened in 2000, to provide traffic exchange services for 13 initial customers. ChinaCache has been approached for confirmation of the exchange point’s precise location.

The three official Network Access Points established by the Chinese government in the early 2000s - in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - were launched to offer similar services, but are only open to major carriers and not content providers.

The government has recently expressed its determination to improve connectivity, notably in President Xi Jinping’s speech to the Wuzhen World Internet Conference in December 2015. He said: “The essence of the Internet is connectivity, and herein lies the value of information.” He suggested that action should be taken on a global level to speed up the building of infrastructure and promote interconnectivity.

ChinaCache is also an operator of content delivery network services licensed by the Chinese government. It works with clients to help them obtain the necessary Internet Content Provider ’Beian’ permit required for websites that want to operate in the country.

Yali Liu, vice president of ChinaCache responsible for global business development, cited the government’s Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation program as evidence that the timing of his company’s investment in the Internet exchange is “perfect”.

Changing priorities

ChinaCache maintains 600 points of presence in 146 cities worldwide, and in China alone it owns 11,000 servers across 127 locations, according to CDNPlanet. 

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The company was founded in 1998 as a content delivery network, before it moved into providing data center and cloud services. It runs the Atecsys data center, the largest cloud computing campus in Beijing that offers more than 860,000 sq ft of white space.

The Atecsys facility benefits from its location inside the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone near Beijing Capital International Airport.

In April 2016 ChinaCache launched mainland China’s first IXP, when it opened the original CHN-IX within the Atecsys data center. The project was carried out in partnership with the Amsterdam Internet Exchange, one of the largest in the world.