Linx upgrades Lunar Digital datacentre to full resilient point of presence

The London Internet Exchange (Linx) is set to upgrade its point of presence (PoP) at the Lunar Digital datacentre in Manchester.

Over 15 years ago, the then UK government established the Northern Powerhouse to accelerate economic growth in the north of England, centred in Manchester, and the after being an industrial hub since the Victorian times, the city is continuing to establish itself as a digital focal point.

Founded in 1994, member-owned, not-for-profit organisation Linx claims to be one of the world’s leading internet exchange points (IXPs), providing peering services to over 900 autonomous systems globally. With a focus on engineering and 24/7 network operations centre (NOC) support, Linx looks to offer robust and reliable services for its members, regularly investing in its infrastructure.

It operates IXPs in London, Manchester, Scotland and Wales in the UK, as well as in Northern Virginia in the US, adding interconnection locations in Kenya in 2023, with Linx Nairobi being the first footprint in Africa for the IXP. Linx Mombasa followed in February 2025, and Linx is busy preparing for its first IXP in West Africa to be launched later in 2026.

Lunar Digital has the stated mission of empowering UK businesses with “sustainable, innovative and reliable” datacentre services, providing colocation and high-performance computing and artificial intelligence offerings.

The company operates three datacentres in Manchester, with Linx being accessible via a single cross connect from Lunar1 and Lunar2. Linx initially went live at Lunar Digital to gauge market demand for an additional PoP at the Linx Manchester interconnection hub.

Explaining its reasons for the upgrade of the datacentre, transitioning the site from a single homed transmission site to a dual-homed, fully resilient PoP, Linx pointed to the response and demand for services from its networks at Lunar Digital since the initial September 2024 deployment as having exceeded its expectations.

Networks at Lunar Digital will be able to access services at the Linx Manchester internet exchange via a single cross connect. This includes services such as peering, private VLANs, Closed User Groups and the exclusive Microsoft Azure Peering Service.

The transition work is due to be completed in the coming weeks, and Linx says the expansion underscores the rapid expansion of network operators, cloud platforms, content providers and digital businesses choosing to collocate in Manchester.

“Our Manchester LAN has tripled in size over the last couple of years to now enabling 130 networks to access low-latency services, and regularly carries more than 900Gbps of traffic at busy periods,” said Mike Hellers, product development manager for Linx.

“Upgrading Lunar to a resilient PoP ensures existing Linx members and future networks can benefit from enhanced reliability, additional capacity and greater choice as the regional ecosystem continues to grow.”

Rob Garbutt, CEO of Lunar Digital, added: “We’re thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Linx. The upgrade to a full PoP reflects not only the growth of Lunar Digital, but the wider demand for robust, high‑performance, low latency connectivity options across the north of England.”