How is LINX Manchester Serving Networks in the UK’s North?

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced an upgrade at Lunar Digital’s data centre in Manchester, moving from a single homed transmission site to a dual homed, fully resilient Point of Presence (PoP).

The upgrade follows strong uptake at LINX Manchester, the interconnection hub serving networks across the North of England. 

LINX first went live at Lunar Digital in September 2024 to test demand for an additional PoP. 

The site initially operated as a single homed location, meaning it connects through one path into the wider LINX platform. Continued uptake confirms the need for a diverse and resilient presence.

Jennifer Holmes, LINX CEO, says: “Manchester continues to establish itself as a powerhouse digital hub for the North and the response and demand for LINX services from networks at Lunar Digital has exceeded our expectations.”

A PoP is a physical access point where networks connect into an internet exchange. Introducing a dual homed configuration ensures the Lunar Digital site connects through two separate paths, reducing the risk of disruption and supporting higher availability for co-located customers.

Edge resilience and low latency connectivity

Manchester is attracting network operators, cloud platforms, content providers and digital businesses seeking regional interconnection. 

As more organisations deploy infrastructure outside London, demand rises for low latency connectivity, essential for cloud applications, streaming and real-time services.

Mike Hellers, Product Development Manager for LINX, explains: “Our Manchester LAN has tripled in size over the last couple of years to now enabling 130 networks to access low latency services and regularly carries more than 900Gbps of traffic at busy periods.”

A LAN (Local Area Network), describes the shared switching platform that allows exchange members to peer. 

Peering enables networks to exchange traffic directly rather than through third parties, improving performance and cost efficiency, a key factor for telco operators managing high-volume traffic and latency-sensitive services.

Mike adds: “Upgrading Lunar to a resilient PoP ensures existing LINX members and future networks can benefit from enhanced reliability, additional capacity and greater choice as the regional ecosystem continues to grow.”

Peak traffic exceeding 900Gbps highlights sustained demand for high bandwidth interconnection within Manchester’s data centre estate.

Supporting data centre growth and service access

Lunar Digital operates three data centres in Manchester. LINX services are accessible from Lunar1 and Lunar2 via a single cross connect, a direct physical link between a customer’s rack and the exchange. This keeps traffic local and avoids reliance on external circuits, improving performance for operators.

The upgrade reflects wider expansion among network operators, cloud providers and digital businesses co-locating in Manchester. 

LINX focuses on supporting the UK’s digital growth through distributed exchange infrastructure.

Rob Garbutt, CEO of Lunar Digital, says: “We’re thrilled to deepen our collaboration with LINX. The upgrade to a full PoP reflects not only the growth of Lunar Digital but the wider demand for robust, high-performance, low latency connectivity options across the North of England.”

The resilient PoP strengthens access to the LINX Manchester exchange through a single cross connect. Available services include peering, private VLANs (Virtual Local Area Network) and Closed User Groups, which allow defined communities to exchange traffic privately across the exchange fabric. 

Networks at Lunar Digital also access the Microsoft Azure Peering Service, known as MAPS, providing optimised connectivity into Microsoft Azure for cloud workloads.

By transitioning Lunar Digital to a dual homed, fully resilient PoP, LINX increases redundancy and capacity within Manchester. 

The move reinforces the role of regional data centres as critical interconnection points, ensuring networks in the North benefit from reliability, scalability and direct access to key digital services.