Products

South African Internet Exchange (SAIX)

What is it?
Established in 1995, Telkom's SAIX has a more than 10-year track record in the wholesale Internet connectivity market in South Africa and Africa. Over the years, SAIX has become synonymous with high-quality, competitively priced wholesale Internet access and, in 2005, was ranked as Africa's top national internet exchange in the Kemilinks International ICT Africa Awards.

SAIX is a wholesale provider of raw Internet connectivity to Internet Service Providers and other licensed operators.

What does it do?
SAIX provides wholesale Internet access through an Internet Protocol (IP) network that is the largest in Africa, uses world-class routing technology and is unmatched in terms of reach, reliability and robustness

How does it work?
The IP network has the most international optic fibre-based bandwidth out of Africa to the rest of the world, via the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cable systems. Currently, SAIX runs 10 STM 1 links on these cable systems. Apart from providing ample international capacity, the use of optic fibre ensures extremely low latency and negligible service degradation.

SAIX has a well-established Points of Presence (PoP) infrastructure with ports in virtually every magisterial district, urban and rural. Through a single national PoP access number, SAIX-enabled ISPs can offer their subscribers dial-up access at local call rates from anywhere in South Africa.

SAIX offers dial-up, analogue and ISDN services, ADSL, satellite-powered and dedicated Internet access services. National ATM connectivity is available to customers who prefer ATM access technology.

Customers receive dedicated bandwidth, with committed throughput rates and bursting capability. This means customers are not exposed to the network congestion and service degradation that can come about when users are forced to share bandwidth on an over-subscribed network.

Effective capacity management prevents congestion on the national and international network.

For the convenience of customers, SAIX runs a one-stop sales, service activation and customer support service.

Who uses it and for what?
Specialising in the provision of Tier 1 Access, SAIX is the Internet Access provider of choice for the majority of South Africa's dial-up and ADSL Internet Service Providers. This is due to the specialist technology and skills employed in our well-established national and international IP network.

Outside South Africa, SAIX provides bulk connectivity to ISPs and telecommunications operators in almost all Southern African countries, including Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. Given our ample capacity, we are well positioned to offer connectivity to an even wider African footprint.

Please note that SAIX only provides connectivity to customers holding valid suitable licences or telecommunications licences, whether in South Africa or beyond the country's borders.

What are the benefits?

	Savings on raw Internet Access: The SAIX IP network provides greater scalability and economies of sale owing to the technology and management tools used.
	Best quality raw internet connectivity, as highlighted by SAIX's rating as Africa's top national Internet exchange in the 2005 Kemilinks awards.
	Negligible throughput degradation.
	Extremely low latency through the use of optic fibre.
	Minimal congestion on the national and international network due to effective capacity management.

What are the product options?
SAIX offers a wide range of wholesale connectivity options, competitively priced to suit customers' needs.

Our offerings consist of:

	SAIX Wholesale Dedicated access services.
	SAIX Wholesale Dial-up services.
	SAIX Wholesale ADSL services.
	SAIX Wholesale Satellite services.

SAIX Wholesale Dedicated access services
These services are available in increments of 64 kbs slots using Diginet and Martis access technology. Services of 2 Mbs and higher can be provisioned on ATM or SDH access technology.

Examples of some of our dedicated access offerings are:

	SAIX National-International 75/25 Dedicated Access: The 25% allocated for international traffic is burstable to full capacity subject to network conditions.
	SAIX International IP Transit: 100 percent of the bandwidth is allocated on the SAIX international links.
	SAIX National Plus: 100 percent of the bandwidth is allocated to the SAIX national (South African) network. This service includes access to the networks of SAIX's local peering partners.
	SAIX Silver National International 75/25: The 25% allocated for international traffic is capped and shared among four customers. Local bandwidth is not shared and is burstable to full capacity.

SAIX Wholesale Dial and ADSL Services
These services are available to Telkom Wholesale customers who have purchased SAIX National-International or SAIX National-International Silver Dedicated Access. In all cases, accounts are available in whatever numbers the customer requires.

	SAIX Analogue Dial: This is a standard V90 analogue dial-up service and provides dial-up access to the South African and World Wide Web content.
	SAIX ISDN Dial: 64 kbs and 128 kbs accounts are available. Through SAIX's new multilink service, customers using 64 kbs ISDN can double their Internet access speeds to 128 kbs.
	SAIX ADSL: Shaped and unshaped hardcapped accounts as well as a usage model is available.
	SAIX E-mail Dial: This service provides customised dial access for e-mail only and excludes Internet browsing or surfing.
	SAIX SpaceStream Express and SpaceStream Office Satellite dial accounts. Both SpaceStream services are for ISPs whose customers do not have access to conventional fixed-line Internet connectivity, whether analogue dial-up or ADSL. SpaceStream Express: Usernames and passwords are available on a 3 Gig account. SpaceStream Office: Usernames and passwords are available on a 2 Gig account.