The association

An association of enthusiasts, run by volunteers, where every subscriber is a member. All the money we make is reinvested in the infrastructure and in the projects we support: we have no employees and no paid contractors.

Being a MilkyWan subscriber

From your first service, you are a member of the association, with no fee and nothing to apply for. Being a member commits you to nothing, but it opens the door to a community.

  1. The community on Telegram

    A channel for subscribers only, with the link in Univers. Geeks, people passionate about networks and self-hosting, a friendly atmosphere, and the team dropping by regularly.

  2. Helping each other

    A router to configure, a BGP session that will not come up, a hardware choice? Subscribers help each other, and the team answers too.

  3. The general assembly

    Once a year, in person in a different city from year to year, with video conferencing for those who cannot come. Every subscriber votes, and two subscriber representatives are elected for one year to the board of directors.

  4. Votes in Univers

    General assembly resolutions are voted on online, from your subscriber area: you can vote even if you cannot attend.

  5. Events

    We also meet at network events such as FRnOG or the FeDeRez days, and at the Gamers Assembly, where the association is present.

  6. Becoming a volunteer

    Volunteers come from our subscribers. We are not recruiting at the moment, but take part in the discussions and assemblies, and we will call on you when the time comes.

Become a subscriber All services

The team

We are a group of passionate engineers, and we run MilkyWan in our spare time. From system administration to graphic design and support, every role is essential!

The association also thanks Adrien, Alexis F., Alexis V., Aloïs, Antoine, Benoît, Cécile, Charles P., Corentin, Gaëtan, Guilhem, Jack, Maël, Martin, Nicolas, Pierre, PM, Stanislas and Vincent for their past involvement in the association!

Our story

From a few tunnels at home to a national operator.

  1. 2016

    • A network at home

      MilkyWan starts in its founder Hugues’s flat: a network between the living room and the bedroom, home-made tunnels and virtual machines at K-Net and Online.net.

  2. 2017

    • A non-profit association

      The personal network becomes MilkyWan, a French non-profit association (loi 1901), with infrastructure that pays for itself.

  3. 2018

    23
    subscribers
    5
    PoPs
    30 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    7
    volunteers
    • February

      AS57199 and DC2

      First AS number and first PoP, at DC2: a MikroTik CCR1009 and 10G transit with AppliWave. MilkyWan is already a declared operator with ARCEP (code MILK). lafibre.info ↗

    • June

      Vénissieux

      First PoP in Lyon, at SFR Netcenter in Vénissieux, now UltraEdge: connected to LyonIX, with a 10G link to Paris. lafibre.info ↗

    • August

      TH2, Bourse and Rennes

      PoPs at TH2, at Oxymium, and at Leonix Bourse in Paris, and in Rennes at Cogent. lafibre.info ↗

    • August

      First offers

      First public prices: tunnels, IP transit, virtual machines, housing. lafibre.info ↗

  4. 2019

    ~50
    subscribers
    6
    PoPs
    83 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    • May

      RIPE LIR

      MilkyWan becomes an LIR with its own blocks: 45.13.104.0/22 and 2a0e:e700::/29. lafibre.info ↗

    • September

      Lille

      PoP in Lille, at CIV: a MikroTik CCR1036 connected to LillIX.

    • October

      France-IX

      10G port on France-IX Paris, at DC2. lafibre.info ↗

  5. 2020

    ~150
    subscribers
    6
    PoPs
    101 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    7
    volunteers
    • November

      Bourse and DC2Scale

      MilkyWan leaves Leonix Bourse and opens its PoP at DC2Scale in Vélizy. Hosting moves out of the connectivity PoPs, with a new transit provider, FiberWay, at 10G. x.com ↗

  6. 2021

    ~250
    subscribers
    9
    PoPs
    185 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    8
    volunteers
    • January

      New website and a Brocade router

      New website and new visual identity. DC2Scale is the first site with a hardware core router, a Brocade, instead of a MikroTik. lafibre.info ↗

    • February

      CBO and HosTELyon

      PoPs in Croissy-Beaubourg, at AppliWave, and at HosTELyon in Lyon. First Cisco ASR router. lafibre.info ↗

    • April

      First FTTH subscriber

      First fibre subscriber: FTTH and xDSL backhaul goes into production. x.com ↗

    • July

      SIEA in the Ain

      First ISP to offer 1 Gbit/s on the SIEA public network. lafibre.info ↗

    • October

      First Arista

      An Arista 7050SX replaces the MikroTik CCR2004 at DC2. x.com ↗

    • October

      Toulouse

      The Toulouse PoP opens, followed by France-IX Toulouse in April 2022. lafibre.info ↗

  7. 2022

    ~400
    subscribers
    9
    PoPs
    200 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    • January

      MilkyWan TV on Apple TV

      The MilkyWan TV app arrives on Apple TV on 26 January. x.com ↗

    • March

      AS2027

      AS2027 is transferred to MilkyWan on 4 March; the whole backbone migrates overnight.

  8. 2023

    ~450
    subscribers
    10
    PoPs
    430 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    12
    volunteers
    • January

      Switzerland

      First PoP outside France, at CERN in Geneva (CIXP); virtual machines open in Geneva on 19 January. lafibre.info ↗

    • May

      Nexeren

      PoP in Civrieux, in the Ain, with NetSyst. lafibre.info ↗

    • August

      A 100G core network

      Investment in a 100G core network on Arista 7280R, with the full table, in Vénissieux, TH2 and DC2. lafibre.info ↗

    • Rennes closes

      The Rennes PoP, at Cogent, closes.

  9. 2024

    ~500
    subscribers
    9
    PoPs
    ~500 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    16
    volunteers
    • January

      Our own TV capture

      On 20 January, our own TV head-end, satellite and terrestrial, goes live in the Ain, linked at 10G to Vénissieux. lafibre.info ↗

    • February

      Arista 7280QR

      Investment in new Arista 7280QR 12×100G routers. lafibre.info ↗

    • September

      Kissgroup

      Fibre offers on the Orange, Bouygues and Axione networks via Kissgroup. lafibre.info ↗

    • October

      No more MikroTik

      Backhaul entirely handled by Cisco ASR1000 routers, last MikroTik retired; Netrix DDoS protection, multigig offers. lafibre.info ↗

    • New systems infrastructure

      A new systems infrastructure, full DDR4, on Dell R630 and R640.

  10. 2025

    ~550
    subscribers
    9
    PoPs
    720 Gbit/s
    of capacity
    • March

      nine

      Present on the nine internet exchange, at 100G. lafibre.info ↗

    • December

      Univers

      Univers, MilkyWan’s subscriber area, opens. Each subscriber follows their services in real time (line status, usage, configuration), controls their virtual machines (console, backups, reinstall), orders new services, finds their invoices and talks to support. General assembly votes take place there too, and everything can be driven through the API. lafibre.info ↗

    • Backups

      The whole PBS backup infrastructure is rebuilt, on Dell R540 and R740xd.

  11. 2026

    ~500
    subscribers
    9
    PoPs
    ~1 Tbit/s
    of capacity
    • March

      UltraEdge

      New dedicated rack at UltraEdge Vénissieux. x.com ↗

    • May

      as2027.net and ASPA

      BGP communities published on as2027.net, ASPA in place. as2027.net ↗

    • June

      Mobile data

      4G and 5G data plans with NetSyst. lafibre.info ↗

    • Second SIEA interconnection

      A second 10G interconnection with SIEA, at Nexeren.

    • ASR1001-X

      The ASR1001 and ASR1002 are replaced by ASR1001-X routers.

    • Full NVMe

      The systems infrastructure goes full NVMe.

    • Coming upNovember

      moji1

      A PoP at moji1 in Nanterre is due to open.