Just weeks after the independent broadband provider’s partner company Netomnia Group revealed full-year results for 2024, showing the firm solidifying its position as the UK’s second-largest altnet, YouFibre has become the first internet service provider (ISP) to take a 400G port at the London Internet Exchange’s (LINX) regional interconnection hub in the north – LINX Manchester.
The full-fibre broadband provider has more than doubled its customer base over the past 12 months, and the strategic upgrade is said to underscore the company’s commitment to delivering “unparalleled and ultrafast” connectivity. Netomnia, which believes it is the UK’s second-largest altnet, provides the underlying infrastructure enabling YouFibre’s services.
The move is also said to align with an increasing and broader industry trend of ISPs adopting 400G technology to meet escalating data consumption and the need for faster, more reliable internet services.
“We have been monitoring our network traffic growth on a regional level and we’re always looking to stay ahead of user demand, especially in big moments like a gaming update, which has driven our decision to install 400G ports in key locations, starting in Manchester,” commented YouFibre network director Sam Defriez. “We will be looking to roll out to more locations through 2025.”
“Internet exchange company LINX has approximately 900 members in our community, which spans all major cloud, data communications, telecommunications, financial and enterprise companies across more than 75 countries worldwide,” he added.
Manchester is regarded by LINX as one of the UK’s fastest-growing digital and media hubs, and home to some of the country’s most successful home-grown unicorns. LINX Manchester acts an internet exchange point (IXP) for the north of the UK, serving as a critical meeting point for ISPs, content networks, media, gaming, finance and enterprise to meet via a single cross-connect to share traffic for low-latency user experiences.
The regional IXP operated by LINX has lately experienced growth through multiple traffic peaks, tipping the 700Gbps mid-February and then coming close to 800Gbps during the latest Call of Duty and Fortnite gaming updates. The LINX Manchester networking community is accessible from five datacentres across the metro network: Equinix, Datum, Pulsant, Lunar Digital and AtlasEdge. Networks meet at the IXP regardless of which datacentre they are colocated at, creating, said LINK, more opportunities for effective network routing.
“Manchester continues to evolve as a key digital hub and we are seeing new networks connecting into LINX Manchester for more efficient network routing and content delivery, as well as existing members, like YouFibre, increase their capacity,” observed Colin Peckham, interconnection manager for LINX and LINX Manchester lead.
“Our internet exchange points across the UK are designed exactly the way that YouFibre are utilising them. Taking a 10G or 100G port at each site in London, Wales, Manchester and Scotland to keep their traffic local. This is especially valuable when our LINX membership fee of £100 per month includes a 10G port with 2Gbps of service at each location for this reason.”
