Google cache servers drive interconnection in Africa

13.08.2011

While it has been easy for some IXPs with high numbers of Internet users to attract Google, it has not been easy for Malawi. The country has eight major ISPs peering at the Malawi IXP but the policy was that only members could see the amount of traffic and activity. Two months ago, the members decided to use public IP addresses instead of private IP addresses and now the IXP has initiated the process of obtaining Google cache.

However, the issue of private IP addresses has affected Africa's global appeal to content carriers. With private addresses, the number of users are not publicly visible online. In some cases, 2,000 users are able to use two public IP addresses, meaning to an international content carrier viewing online, there appears to be only two users.

With the ongoing digitization and innovation projects going on in Africa, Google is hoping to bring more people online and in the process grow its business portfolio in the region.