DE-CIX & Chief Telecom partner for East Asia interconnection

DE-CIX, an Internet Exchange operator, and Taiwan-based Chief Telecom have initiated a strategic partnership focusing on peering, cloud, and interconnection services in East Asia via the Microsoft Azure Peering platform.

The agreement, effective from June 2024, allows Chief Telecom customers to connect to DE-CIX's ecosystem, enabling a range of interconnection services.

With the new partnership, Chief Telecom will connect its customers in Singapore to the DE-CIX ASEAN distributed interconnection platform. This includes remote peering opportunities with DE-CIX Frankfurt, the largest Internet Exchange in Europe. Chief Telecom's clientele will gain access to DE-CIX's enterprise services, including Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) for dedicated connectivity to Microsoft 365, as well as inter-cloud connectivity through DE-CIX Cloud Router.

Mareike Jacobshagen, Head of Global Business Partner Program at DE-CIX, remarked, "Wherever networks interconnect, this reduces latency times and increases performance of content and digital applications. Chief Telecom's customers will be able to capitalise on this to support their close economic ties to Singapore, as well as South and Southeast Asia."

Jacobshagen added that the partnership opens a doorway to the ASEAN region, allowing Chief Telecom's networks to directly interconnect with networks in Southeast Asia. "Together with partners like Chief Telecom, we are driving digitalisation in many regions around the globe and shaping the infrastructure that today's digital economies and societies need to grow and prosper," she said.

Echoing this sentiment, Joseph Wu, Chairman of Chief Telecom, highlighted the significance of the partnership. "DE-CIX not only connects thousands of data centers in Europe, the Middle East, North America, Asia, and Africa, but also operates more than 50 Internet and Cloud Exchanges worldwide. It is one of the top commercial internet exchange operators globally," Wu said. "In the future, Chief Telecom and DE-CIX will leverage their combined strength to promote more comprehensive solutions in Europe and Asia. The customers and peering members of both parties, therefore, will benefit from higher-quality internet services."

The DE-CIX ASEAN interconnection platform covers key metropolitan markets in Southeast Asia: Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Penang, Brunei, and Manila. Customers of the exchanges can share Internet traffic with networks at any of the other IXs in the region. This setup offers connectivity, high-quality interconnection services tailored to wholesale and enterprise needs, and provides a cost-effective way to peer across Southeast Asia.