Internet Pioneer Vint Cerf featured in HotLINX24 magazine

HotLINX24 magazine

The latest edition of London Internet Exchange’s magazine – HotLINX24 – is now available to download from the LINX website: https://www.linx.net/files/hotlinx/hotlinx-24.pdf

The cover story this time is on Internet pioneer Vint Cerf and his keynote address at the 6UK launch event back in November. IPv6 is understandably a big talking point in the industry right now with IPv4 exhaustion just around the corner.

Other stories featured in this edition include the Google Internet Economy Report, the Cisco Visual Networking Index and data centre news from Greg McCulloch at Interxion. There’s also a bumper member news section with Cablenet, ATMAN, Hurricane Electric and associate LINX member, Netnod.

There also the regular features from the Internet Society (ISOC) and the RIPE NCC plus a round up of recent Public Affairs news stories. Added to this is a review of the recent Internet industry events such as the 5th Polish Network Operators’ Group meeting (PLNOG5) in Krakow.

Readers may be interested to know that there is now a specific HotLINX Facebook page which includes exclusive content such as unpublished event photos and articles.

Cloud Computing and the African Peering Scene discussed in the latest issue of HotLINX magazine

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced the launch of the latest edition of its quarterly magazine, HotLINX, which includes a special three page feature on Cloud Computing as its lead story.

Internet intelligence and cybersecurity experts Renesys, LINX member BSO Network Solutions and network hardware provider Brocade, have all contributed with each approaching the Cloud concept from a different angle. The topic has polarised many in the industry so these articles are sure spark further debate in the LINX community.

LINX is a mutual, not-for-profit organisation whose 370-plus members include the majority of the world’s leading network operators. Membership of LINX provides a cost effective way of improving traffic latency and quality by direct peering with other member networks.

Event Traffic – the streaming media summer

HotLINX issue 22 - Download available now

The latest edition of LINX’s member magazine – HotLINX22 – is now available to download from the LINX website: https://www.linx.net/files/hotlinx/hotlinx-22.pdf

The cover story focuses on the impact streaming media has had on networks during the summer months. In the UK in particular, traffic has risen sharply as Internet users kept up to date with what was happening in the General Election, the Budget as well as with sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon.

Below is an extract from the article as featured in HotLINX22.

Changing habits in TV and Internet usageThere appears to be a change in the way that people are using the Internet and television. Where once it was a ‘one or the other’ activity, users often now have the TV on in the background while browsing on their laptops or mobile devices. Different large scale events such as the Grand Slam tennis and the football in Africa can now be followed simultaneously. With more and more content available online this pattern of behaviour can only increase.

Sport and Politics mix in Summer Internet Traffic Surge

There is an old phrase that says that sport and politics don’t mix but they certainly did between the 22 and 24 June and in quite a remarkable way.

As George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons began his Budget speech on the afternoon 22 June, two tennis players, American John Isner and French qualifier Nicolas Mahut, were preparing for a first round match at Wimbledon in what was to become the longest match in tennis history. The match began at 6:13pm on Tuesday evening and wasn’t completed until 4:48pm two days later after a total playing time of 11 hours and 5 minutes.

While the match wasn’t of any great significance to viewers in terms of who was playing,the sheer fact that the final set finished with an incredible score of 70 games to 68 in Isner’s favour kept the public hooked until the end. What was also grabbing people’s attention at this time was the finer detail of the first post-election Budget and the must-win England match against Slovenia in South Africa which took place on Wednesday afternoon.

All three events were largely intertwined in that there were key periods in coverage that overlapped and that the majority of it occurred during office hours.

Online links to earlier issues of HotLINX can found here: https://www.linx.net/publicity/hotlinx.html

HotLINX, the Magazine for the London Internet Exchange, is 10 Years Old This Year

HotLINX magazine

One of my tasks in recent weeks has been the co-ordination and design of the latest edition of the London Internet Exchange’s membership magazine, HotLINX. When the first edition was published in the year 2000, it was intended to be an occasional, LINX member only newsletter. Over time it has developed to become a regular quarterly publication read by stakeholders right across the Internet industry.

Articles have covered technical and regulatory news, LINX member stories, event reviews, meeting sponsor advertorials, opinion pieces and helpful ‘How to…’ guides. Recipients include LINX members, vendors, colocation providers, news agencies as well as government officials and policy makers concerned with Internet regulation.

Traditionally HotLINX contained eight pages with a print run of just a few hundred copies. Following the success of the relaunch issue in August 2008, it quickly expanded to 12 and then a 16 page format with an increased circulation of 1250 printed copies distributed to some 50 countries worldwide. Then, in November 2009, LINX commemorated its 15th anniversary with a special edition of the magazine and made all archive issues available for download, some for the very first time.

The latest issue, HotLINX21, went online at 9.45am on Thursday 18 February and, as I type, has had over 450 downloads. This has helped all downloads break the 12000 barrier since August 2007. While these are not huge figures they have been seen in the context of the target audience and the rate of growth over the past year.

Don’t just read the news, plunder it!

There has never been a time in history in which news is more readily available. Forgetting traditional newspapers and magazines for moment we have television, radio, Internet and simple word of mouth but this barely scratches the surface as to what is available.

In the online world there are dedicated news websites, specialist industry forums, comment through blogs and the growing impact of social networking which makes certain news stories almost inescapable. It can be overwhelming if we take this information at face value but how we digest the detail could yield a host of different business opportunities.

What I encourage readers to do is once you’ve understood the message of a story is to go back and look for those opportunities. Would the writer be a useful contact or is there a person or organisation in the article itself be worth speaking to?

No? Look a bit deeper. Does it mention an event you could attend or a shortage in equipment or skills that could be solved by your involvement?

Maybe not. What else is happening then? Is a company implementing a campaign that you could adapt for your own purposes? Is there an emerging market you haven’t considered before?

It doesn’t have to be specific to your market but could be a simple story in your local free paper. Make a point of trying to find the opportunity in every article on a single page even if most are unworkable. What it does is make the brain think a bit differently to the norm and as a result the big chance may just come your way.

Newsletter Checklist #4 – ‘What is the schedule for production?’

A final set of questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• when do your readers need to receive your newsletter?
• has adequate time been built in to cover production and printing?
• who are you relying on to produce content or deliver copies?
• have you allowed time for thorough proof reading and sign-off procedures?

I hope these brief checklists were useful to you. I shall return to this topic in due course to give a more detailed overview of the subject. As always, if anyone has any questions feel free to contact me.

Newsletter Checklist #3 – ‘What should it look like?’

Additional questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• what the most suitable format if it is being printed? (paper stock, colours, layout etc)
• how many pages will it have?
• what type of imagery should be used?
• will anyone else be contributing content?

The final checklists for newsletter production will be published tomorrow.

Newsletter Checklist #2 – ‘Who is my readership?’

Additional questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• what type of person will be reading the newsletter?
• what is the appropriate style and tone of the publication?
• what impression do you want to make?
• do you want feedback and will this be managed?
• who else is writing for your market and how?

Further checklists for newsletter production will be published over the coming days.

Newsletter Checklist #1 – ‘Why am I writing a newsletter?’

Questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• what do you want to achieve by having such a publication?
• what are the long-term goals?
• how often will it be published?
• how will you judge its success or failure?
• What format will it be? Will it be print only, email or PDF download?

Further checklists for newsletter production will be published over the coming days.