Sparkle joins SpeedIX to further increase footprint in the Netherlands and Europe
“Sparkle and the Speed-IX community – A win-win situation”
Valentina Cinelli, Key Account Manager at Sparkle
Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and among the top ten global operators, has become a partner of SpeedIX. Sparkle is the first Tier 1 provider to use this unique platform for peering and offering additional services.
Global Footprint
Sparkle has an impressive global footprint. With 540,000 kilometers of terrestrial fiber and international submarine cables across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, the company, a fully owned subsidiary of TIM Group, has ample experience in the field of global connectivity solutions.
In order to improve their service to existing and new customers in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, Sparkle has decided to become a partner of the SpeedIX peering community, the third and fastest growing IX in the Netherlands.
Increasing demand
Valentina Cinelli, Key Account Manager for wholesale data service in West Europe , said: “We have been serving customers in the Netherlands from multiple datacenters for many years now. We see a rapidly growing demand for our connections and layer 2 services, in particular from data centers and customers of data centers alike. But we needed a local partner to reach all locations.”
By connecting to SpeedIX, Sparkle can quickly and easily increase its Dutch footprint. With SpeedIX, each partner provides a Free 10G peering port and 1G VLAN to its members. Traffic between these members is exchanged free of charge.
“The way SpeedIX works has two major advantages for us”, says Cinelli. “First, it improves our IP network quality in the Netherlands by offering the shortest possible BGP routes and with the lowest possible latency. Secondly, all our customers worldwide can simply connect to the free SpeedIX peering services through our network.
Extensive portfolio
“Our offer goes far beyond just exchanging traffic with a closed exchange,” explains Cinelli. “Sparkle has an extensive portfolio of services, including IP, Data, Cloud, Data Center, Mobile Data and Voice solutions. Together with our parent company TIM, we are part of the critical infrastructure. That is why we have an extensive SOC with 24/7 staffing and services that ensure the security and integrity of the network for the benefit of our customers.”
The Layer 2 and additional services Sparkle offers via SpeedIX have a strong focus on security. Due to its operational scale, these come at a very attractive and competitive price.
Cinelli: “Companies everywhere choose Sparkle for four important reasons. The quality and size of our portfolio, our pricing, the flexibility of our organization that allows quick switching, and our strong customer focus”.
These four USP’s make Sparkle also attractive for Dutch companies, in particular the free peering community that forms SpeedIX. “We share the language of this community and that is a big asset as well.”
Sparkle and the SpeedIX community – A win-win situation
SpeedIX is, according to managing SpeedIX partner Gijs van Gemert, pleased to welcome a renowned party like Sparkle. “The community is pleased that this special Tier 1 player recognizes the added value of our philosophy and actively participates. With Sparkle added, traffic will now quickly grow to 1TBps per day”.
Cinelli: “It’s good to be part of an Internet exchange community that is prepared to help each other. This also ensures that the business will improve and become more interesting for everyone. That is a real win-win situation.”
Cinelli expects Sparkle to expand its offering for the SpeedIX community with free trial services or a Try before Buy offering. “That should be easy to do. After all, all Sparkle services are already available via the SpeedIX, users do not have to buy separate cross-connects and can start using our services today.”