Main on HUBS

About

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HUBS is a not-for-profit membership organisation of community network operators, set up to enable smaller operators to get access to services that are normally too costly for local community groups.

Members pool purchasing and engineering resources; communities don’t have to be network experts; members primarily look after their own community network, but contribute to the services that help maintain the overall operation of the group.

HUBS grew out of research at the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics and the University of Stirling and was supported by the Scottish Government. Since 2020, we’ve moved our focus to a more operational nature, rather than being used as a research project. As a result, other than storms or other events outside of our control, the core HUBS network operates very reliably.

IX

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HUBS operates a distributed Internet exchange across all our points of presence. Connections to HUBS are operated on a non-discriminatory basis with any member entitled to connect to it on payment of a membership fee and a port charge. Once connected, arrangements can be made bilaterally between members to connect privately across the exchange.

HUBS manages the distributed exchange from Edinbugh all the way up to Applecross. It is not a layer-2 broadcast network like many exchange points, instead it is a full point to multipoint mesh implemented with BGP/VPLS. Unlike regular internet exchanges, the main focus of the HUBS IX is transit provision to members; peering relationships between members is the exception rather than the norm.

Membership

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Setting up an ISP needs considerable resources and experience, which many communities and smaller groups don’t necessarily have easy access to. Being part of HUBS gives you access to the shared resources we manage on behalf of our members, along with the combined experience of the people who helped build it in the first place. Every membership is unique; from resources needed to how any connection to our core network will take place. Get in touch if you are interested in being part of the HUBS group.

Services

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HUBS members have access to a number of centrally pooled resources:

IPv4 and IPv6 address ranges
Internet transits through multiple providers
Shared access leased lines to a number of locations
Long range microwave links connecting more remote locations to fibre
Centralised core services in an Edinburgh data centre, including DNS, Radius, Email and monitoring tools
Opportunities for co-located equipment and virtualised systems in an Edinburgh data centre

Status

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This page is used for communicating any pertinent news about the status of the HUBS network. When everything is normal, it should be rather sparse. We don’t use an automated system for updating this page; we’ve found they tend to give information that’s either too verbose or you need a good understanding of our network to work out what’s going on. Instead, we just manually update this page when necessary.