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By Heather McLean, 3 September 2001 11:10

NEWS Linx, the not for profit exchange point for ISPs, is splitting its network in two - spelling worse service and more downtime for smaller customers. Speaking to silicon.com, a Linx member said a split of the organisation's two Ethernet networks, Foundry and Extreme, was announced at its general meeting last week. Our source believes this will have a negative effect on the resilience of smaller customers at the exchange point in the event of downtime, as it is impossible to connect to the other network in order to resume service. Keith Mitchell, head of XchangePoint and former boss of Linx, said: "I set up XchangePoint when I realised the Linx model would run out of steam it simply won't scale. Linx has always taken a dual vendor approach, now it's taken the next step by creating two completely separate networks. This reduces its flexibility and reduces resilience." DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) networks are the only scalable way forward for ISPs, according to Mitchell. He said: "With DWDM you have no loss of flexibility and far greater scalability." Mitchell said the Linx funding model means it can't afford to deploy the relatively expensive DWDM network and as it attempts to scale using its splitting model, it will dig itself into a tight corner. Mitchell said: "Adding little bits of fibre instead of upgrading to better technology is hard to get out of." In Linx's defence, John Souter, CEO, said: "Our members voted overwhelmingly against becoming a commercial organisation in December. We present our budget to members once a year. The thing that did cause contention at our last meeting was that the board decided not to present 2 budgets, and some members preferred a choice. So it was a take it or leave it situation. As yet, we have found no reason to employ exotic technologies such as DWDM."