Open Hub Med

Consortium launches first neutral hub for the exchange of internet traffic between Europe and the Mediterranean

Shareholders sign certificate of incorporation for new Sicily-based telecommunications node, aiming to become the main Mediterranean landing point for submarine cables.

The Open Hub Med (OHM) technology pole has today been launched by a consortium of eight founding members, with the aim of becoming the first neutral hub in Italy for the exchange of data communications. Expected to become operational within the early months of 2016, the new consortium has been established by Interoute (interoute.com), NGI (eolo.it), MIX (mix-it.net), SUPERNAP Italia (supernap.it), TelecityGroup Italia (telecitygroup.it), VueTel Italia (vuetelitalia.it), XMED (the newly founded Sicilian operators consortium), and Italtel as the technology partner (www.italtel.com).

Open Hub Med offers all international telecommunications operators and OTT service providers a multi-stakeholder model for the exchange of internet traffic at the heart of the Mediterranean. The consortium is made up of a team that demonstrates the awareness of Italian carriers with regard to the development and openness of the telecommunications market in Italy, with an approach that, based on principles of openness and neutrality, is significantly different from other initiatives currently taking place in the area.

Through connections between its Palermo Carini data centre, other submarine cable landing stations in Sicily and Bari, and optical fibre terrestrial paths with Milan, OHM will implement a unique international access platform offering the same neutrality, reliability, and security levels as Marseille – currently the only independent junction point of submarine data traffic in the Mediterranean.

This initiative enables overseas operators to diversify their data traffic routes, cutting down on submarine routes in favour of safer land paths and allowing them to benefit from reduced latency compared to the French node. The variety of operators involved in OHM’s management and the participation of the Milan Internet Exchange (MIX) represents an additional guarantee in terms of competitiveness and secure management of in-transit data.
Based in Italtel’s research centre in Carini, the OHM data centre also represents the first neutral and independent technology facility in Southern Italy, housing high-tech devices and property of operators, OTT service providers, private companies, and public sector entities.

“We believe that capability, security and resilience are fundamental features required to address the increase of internet traffic, particularly in an area such as the Mediterranean – a crossroads of submarine cables connecting India, the Middle and Far East to Africa, Europe, South and North America”, said a spokesperson for the founding members. “Most of the international internet data traffic and worldwide combined voice-data traffic already travels through these submarine cables.”

Open Hub MED is poised to be a fully-fledged info-telematic node in the Mediterranean area, at the forefront of access terms and management independence of all operators, and capable of providing the best possible conditions for internet price, security, quality and network reliability.

For further information: info@openhubmed.it

Download the press release

Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly., Update my browser now

×