Summary
- LINX launched AWS and Google Cloud connectivity through existing Manchester member ports.
- More than 130 networks use the Manchester exchange; aggregate exchange traffic exceeded 1Tbps earlier in 2026.
- Latency, resilience and top-ten European ranking remain LINX claims; the launch is not a new data centre build.
The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has launched its Cloud Connect service at LINX Manchester, allowing existing exchange members to connect directly to Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform through ports they already use. The service went live in October and was confirmed in the organisation’s 13 October network strategy announcement.
The launch adds a connectivity service to an existing regional internet exchange, rather than additional building space or commissioned data centre megawatts. It does not involve the announcement of a newly constructed Manchester data centre or a separate publicly disclosed cloud region. Instead, the development changes which connectivity services customers can obtain using the exchange’s existing network arrangements.
LINX says more than 130 networks are connected to its Manchester exchange. The organisation also reported aggregate exchange traffic exceeding 1Tbps earlier in 2026, before the new Cloud Connect launch.
A different path into cloud providers
Internet exchange members traditionally use shared exchange infrastructure to exchange traffic with other networks. A cloud connection service adds arrangements for reaching a cloud provider through that access. Depending on the service and customer network design, it can reduce the need to buy a separate physical connection solely for the cloud path.
The approach still depends on network engineering. A member must arrange the appropriate service, routing and cloud-side configuration; owning a LINX port alone does not establish that any particular cloud application has been moved or secured. Performance depends on the end-to-end path, purchased capacity and traffic policies on both sides.
LINX presents lower latency, greater resilience and better customer control as expected benefits. Those are company claims rather than independently measured results for the new Manchester service. A direct connection may help remove some network hops, but resilience requires identifying distinct physical paths and avoiding shared failures across exchange, access and cloud systems.
That exchange-wide traffic milestone is not a measurement of uptake or throughput on the newly introduced cloud service. LINX also claims Manchester ranks among Europe’s ten largest internet exchanges; independent comparative figures and a consistent measurement period have not been established for that ranking.
Regional internet exchanges serve data centres partly through the concentration of networks they bring together. The usefulness of an exchange to an operator depends on member reach, available peering, transport costs and the number of direct service options accessible from the facility. Adding AWS and Google Cloud connections can widen that set of choices without changing the physical capacity of each participating data hall.
A Manchester-based member seeking cloud connectivity can now assess a regional service alongside any existing London-based option. Direct cloud access from a regional exchange may avoid taking all traffic through a separate London handoff, depending on each member’s existing network. It does not eliminate the need for local access circuits, traffic engineering or redundancy planning. Customers considering the service should compare total port and service charges, the required cloud-side fees and the availability of independent fallback paths. LINX has not disclosed uptake or a measured before-and-after latency comparison.
Cloud Connect is now listed among LINX Manchester’s available services. Neither the press release nor service listing provides subscriber numbers, contracted connection capacity or usage measurements specific to the Manchester launch.
