Ottawa Internet Exchange News Bulletins

[2011-05-03] OttIX Announces closure of Tonrot-based POP and intra-provincial link shutdown

The Ottawa Internet Exchange has decided to shutdown the experimental link it has between Toronto, where its 151 Front Street POP is located, and its Ottawa POP, effective June 3, 2011. More information can be found here

[2011-04-16] OttIX successfully Completes DITL Participation

The Ottawa Internet Exchange, as part of its beneficial member status with the DNS Operations and Research Center (DNS-OARC), today completed a successful contribution to DNS research efforts. The DITL, or Day-in-the-Life event is an effort to study a sampling of DNS traffic to obtain information on its behaviour and effect on top-level DNS servers world-wide. OttIX's contribution to the effort consists of submitting data captured from it AS112 DNS node. For more information about DITL, view this year's event and an overview at CAIDA's web page.

[2011-03-27] OttIX Participates in World IPv6 Day

The Ottawa Internet Exchange is pleased to announce its participation in World IPv6 Day. This ISOC-sponsored event is being used to promote awareness of the next generation Internet protocol, IPv6.

IPv6 has a number of features over the current IPv4 protocol that the Internet still uses, such as:

Larger address space, so that poor technology kludges such as NAT can be avoided.
Auto-confugration of network devices, which is built into the protocol instead of relying on external applications to permit a host to connect to an IPv6-enabled address and commence communication immediately.
The option to use the built-in features of encryption.
And many more.

OttIX itself has long used IPv6 in its support systems and has been supporting IPv6 within the Internet exchange fabric for an even longer period of time. OttIX encourages and enables its members to deploy IPv6 by adhering to its protocol-neutral stance.

[2010-02-08] OttIX Announces DNSSEC Deployment

As part of its commitment to be a good networking and DNS citizen, the Ottawa Internet Exchange has deployed DNSSEC in several of its DNS zones. DNSSEC is a security extension to the DNS that protects DNS servers from certain attacks such as cache poisoning. Also, the DNS domain's files contain keys which help with the authentication of DNS data. In concert with DNSSEC, OttIX is also using the ISC's DLV registry which enables early adoption of DNSSEC on the Internet.

[2010-01-09] OttIX Announces Upgrades to Switching Fabric

The Ottawa Internet Exchange has upgraded the main switching fabric. The old platform consisted of a lower capacity and chassis with a smaller engine, but this has now been upgraded to a larger chassis with a larger engine to accomodate growth (from 4 1Gb/s ports free to 12). The engine also allows OttIX to implement performance and analysis tools for peers, including visualisations of Internet traffic across the IX.

[2009-12-03] OttIX Becomes a Beneficial member of the DNS OARC

The Ottawa Internet Exchange is proud to announce the signing and approval of a membership agreement with the DNS-OARC. The DNS Operations, Analysis, and Research Center (DNS-OARC) is a not-for-profit organization concerned with bringing together anyone involved in one of the Internet's most key pieces of infrastructure, the DNS. As a custodian of one of many AS112 nodes (See AS112) servers in operation, joining the DNS-OARC as a Beneficial member simply makes sense.

Research done through the DNS-OARC enables it to further understand the dynamics of DNS traffic, which can include the analysis of anomalies that usually signal an attack in the Internet of some kind. It is hoped that data coraled from different AS112 nodes around the world will help to aid in this endeavour.

[2009-11-01] OttIX Completes switch fabric expansion

The Ottawa Internet Exchange has deployed a second 8-port gigabit ethernet linecard and a new 48-port 10/100 RJ-45 ethernet linecard to accommodate future growth and higher capacity. The additional ports also allow OttIX to consolidate equipment such as seperate switches and integrate them into a common platform, which takes the switching capacity from 8Gb/s to a potential 32Gb/s and beyond.

[2009-09-30] OttIX Members Meeting, 2009

The Ottawa Internet Exchange will be holding a meeting on Oct 30 2009 to bring members up to date on the year's past events and status of the IX. Further details will be posted to the OttIX members mailing list.

[2009-08-14] OttIX DNSSEC Enabled Zones

As part of its mandate "to improve the Ottawa Internet", OttIX has deployed DNSSEC-enabled DNS servers to improve the security and authority of OttIX domains as part of a larger effort on the Internet to do the same.

[2009-07-23] OttIX Announces Seaside Communications as new member

Seaside joined today through the OttIX switch fabric located at 151 Front Street.

[2009-07-22] OttIX Announces Clear Cable as new member

Clear Cable joined today at 100Mb/s through the OttIX switch fabric located at 151 Front Street.

[2009-04-17] Packet Clearing House co-locates and establishes peering

Packet Clearing House, an operator of an anycast cloud of servers carrying ccTLD and root DNS servers, today co-located an OttIX-specific cluster and established peering with the OttIX route servers. This cluster will strengthen Internet infrastructure in the OttIX-connected Ottawa area by making available these locally-reachable DNS systems in the event that the master DNS systems located far off in the Internet become unavailable. On the flip-side, they will also attract local attempts to launch distant denial-of-service attacks against those same distant master DNS servers.

[2008-10-28] OttIX Members meeting

OttIX will be holding a members meeting on Oct 28, 2008. Details to follow.

[2008-01-17] OttIX Announces TekSavvy Communications as new member

TekSavvy joined today at 100Mb/s through the OttIX switch fabric located at 151 Front Street.

[2008-01-07] OttIX Announces Nexicom as new member

Nexicom has joined OttIX as a member through its connection at 151 Front Street. The link is over a 100Mb/s port at present and is the first such connection to bring in an ISP from the Greater Toronto Area.

[2007-09-19] OttIX Members meeting

Michael Richardson of XDS Canada plays host to October's OttIX Members meeting to be held at 265 Carling, suite 203 at 9:30AM.

[2006-09-16] OttIX Announces new site for peers

OttIX's newest presence for the Ottawa area is now at 250 Albert Street, Suite 205. Prospective members are encouraged to contact peering -at- ottix.net for connection info and co-ordination.

[2006-02-06] OttIX Announces Moratorium on further connections

OttIX advises that prospective members should not place circuit orders for the 102 Bank street POP due to its shutdown and migration as of Feb 28, 2006.

[2006-02-01] OttIX Members Meeting Feb 1, 2006

OttIX members will be meeting on February 1, 2006 at 2PM, at the National Research Council for an update on OttIX operations and the shutdown of the 102 Bank street POP.

[2004-08-30] OttIX Members Meeting Sept 3, 2004

OttIX members will be meeting on September 3, 2004 at 6PM, at IGS for an update on OttIX operations and other items of interest to the membership.

[2004-06-30] Telecom Ottawa Ltd. joins OttIX

Today Telecom Ottawa Ltd. joined OttIX by activating its 1Gb/s link and BGP peering. Telecom Ottawa brings such luminary organizations such as the Bank of Canada, the University of Ottawa and Carleton University to the OttIX community, helping to strengthen the Ottawa-area Internet.

[2003-11-17] Magma Communication Ltd. joins OttIX

Magma Communication Ltd. joined OttIX today by hooking up and activating its 100Mb/s link to the OttIX switch fabric.

[2003-10-17] OttIX deploys USENET news server

Today OttIX deployed its first USENET news server, designed to assist OttIX member ISPs to deliver timely news postings to their customers. The server uses the Internet Software Consortium's INN news server product, which is capable of feeding news using IPv6 as well as IPv4.

[2003-10-8] Storm Internet joins OttIX!

Storm Internet has joined OttIX. Read more about it at Storm's web site.

[2003-07-18] OttIX cross-connects with the Federal GigaPOP

Today the Ottawa Internet Exchange completed work to peer with the Federal GigaPOP. The Federal GigaPOP is one of several nodes in Canada connecting its research users to Canada's advanced research network, CA*Net 4. The Federal GigaPOP has as some of its peers the National Research Council and ORANO.

[2003-04-25] OttIX establishes first IPv6 peer

The first IPv6 packets traversed the OTTIX switch at 17:13 on April 24 with the establishment of a native IPv6 BGP peering session between the OTTIX route servers and Cooperix.

[2003-04-24] OttIX Deploys IPv6

OttIX is pleased to announce the phased deployment of IPv6 BGP peering, starting with Route Server 2. IPv6 is the Internet's next generation Internet Protocol, designed with features that have been regarded as add-ons to IPv4, such as IPSec, end-station autoconfig and the like. OttIX Members will be assigned an IPv6 address so that they may start peering with each other and start exchanging IPv6 traffic. The OttIX web site is slated to be reachable via IPv6 in the following weeks.

[2003-04-02] OttIX Announces AdUni website Preview

OttIX is pleased to announce that it has a acquired the web content of AdUni, thanks to the efforts of Stanislov Vardomskiy. "The goal of ArsDigita University was to offer the world's best computer science education, at an undergraduate level, to people who were otherwise unable to obtain it. ADUni.org is now a site run by alumni of the school seeking to carry on that mission." The OttIX version is located at http://aduni.ottix.net/ and has been modified for OttIX members to use. The site is complete with large Real-format files, whose location is perfect for an IX.

[2003-02-05] Cooperix connects to OttIX

Cooperix joins OttIX.

[2002-11-27] OttIX members meeting hosted by the University of Ottawa

OttIX held its second members meeting today to discuss happennings at OttIX, including OttIX's incorporation as a Federal not-for-profit and the rollout of a new central server to house the OttIX Network Information Centre web site. Also discussed was the addition of a second route server, increasing the resiliency of OttIX's routing service for its members.

[2002-11-11] National Research Council connects to OttIX through EDUNet

Today the National Research Council activated a BGP session through EDUNet, thanks to the assistance of Cyberus.

[2002-08-12] OttIX announces New Home

OTTIX has announced it's new home after several weeks of deliberations. Read all about it in the joint Cyberus-OttIX Press Release.

[2002-02-08] OttIX Installs Route Server!

OTTIX installed a new route server today in a bid to ease the burden on its's member ISP's router configurations. This will also make it much easier for any new OTTIX meembers to join since they will have just one source of OTTIX routes: The route server. The BGP table for the OTTIX route server can be view at NRC's Route Views Project, by telnetting to 132.246.1.3 and executing the command show ip bgp regex.

[2001-08-22] OTTIX becomes an Akamai Accelerated Network Partner!

OTTIX has forged a relationship with Akamai Technologies, the leading provider of distributed application and content delivery. OTTIX member networks will benefit from enhanced reliability and faster downloads from thousands of the world's leading web sites.

[2001-07-20] First members meeting held!

The OTTIX members met today to discuss the future of the OTTIX organization. Topics included services provided/shared by OTTIX peers, Akamai and other similar rich media cache services, and a promotional campaign to raise awareness of OTTIX amongst the general public.

[2001-06-08] Travel-Net establishes connection!

Travel-Net Communications Inc. has established a connection to OTTIX. With 5 Ottawa-area networks connected, the effectiveness of OTTIX is growing exponentially with each new member.

[2001-06-05] OTTIX celebrates new peers!

After clearing a few hurdles with our DSLAM equipment, OTTIX now has 2 additional members! IStop Internet and Cyberus Online have established a connection into the OTTIX switch, and are now routing traffic.

[2001-05-08] OTTIX routing traffic!

We are pleased to announce that OTTIX is now routing traffic. Information Gateway Services (IGS) and Communications Research Centre (CRC) are the first to establish a peering agreement, and are now exchanging traffic through the OTTIX switch.

[2001-03-28] OTTIX Inaugural Meeting!

Our inaugural meeting was a great success. A copy of the presentation can be found in PDF format here (PDF 40K). The meeting was quite productive, with many attendees bringing useful ideas to the table.