ISOC Monthly Newsletter – August 2010.
August 2010
Momentum in Kenya – IXP launch and Peering Forum
On 11-12 August, the Internet Society, with the help of local host, the Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) facilitated the inaugural African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) meeting.
The event was a major success thanks to the fantastic regional and international speakers that participated, our sponsors TESPOK, Google, Orange, NETNOD, AMS-IX, and DE-CIX, and a great turnout of engaged participants from across Africa.
The purpose of AfPIF is to provide a platform to discuss key regional interconnection opportunities and challenges in Africa, exchange global and regional insights on peering strategies and approaches, and provide network operators, IXPs, and others across the region an opportunity to meet with future peering and interconnection partners.
Over 150 people from some 20 African countries attended. The wide-ranging presentations and discussion topics included; the economics of peering vs. transit, African infrastructure assets, cross-border policy and regulatory issues, peering and interconnection jargon, contracts, and strategies, the role of local content, and approaches being used by African operators to grow from domestic to regional carriers. Dr. Peering, Bill Norton, hosted an entertaining and informative round of “The Peering Game”.
In addition, several interesting announcements were made at the meeting, including Google’s plans to establish a point of presence in Kenya in 2011 (which follows the company’s launch of a POP in Nigeria this year), Orange Kenya’s plans to continue expanding backhaul capacity in East African and beyond, Seacom’s plans to offer transit services in addition to capacity, and many others.
The meeting received excellent comments from participants and generated a lot of interest and momentum to move forward with the Forum. An AfPIF mailing list will be launched shortly.
If you missed the meeting, the presentations and audio files have been posted on the AfPIF agenda page. Video will be posted soon. Please do come back and check them out!
And to make a great week even better, on 13 August, the Internet Society also participated in the TESPOKlaunch event for the Mombasa IXP. We donated time, training, and equipment to assist the new IXP, and it was fantastic to be there with TESPOK and others from the Kenyan Internet community to share in the excitement of the occasion.
For more information about the IXP, please visit Bill Norton’s model of the value of the KIXP (Kenya’s IXP in Nairobi) using local estimates on transit and peering costs. It’s available here.
Chapter update: France
Contributed by Gérard Dantec
PARIS – 23 aout 2010 : L’Internet Society France Chapter prépare sa rentrée.
Le premier événement de la rentrée numérique 2010 en France sera le Forum des acteurs du numérique (FAN) organisé les 15 et 16 septembre 2010 au carousel du Louvre à Paris. Cette année, le chapitre français de l’Internet Society est partenaire de l’événement et apportera son expertise et son regard critique au débat autour de questions comme: Le numérique accélère-t-il la modernisation de nos sociétés ou faut-il craindre de nouvelles ruptures? “Désastre majeur dans la société de l’information”! Comment se préparer? Subir ou repenser l’économie numérique?
Lors du FAN, une convention de partenariat sera signée avec l’Aproged, association des professionnels pour l’économie numérique, avec pour objectif de renforcer mutuellement nos actions.
Chapter update: Bangalore
Contributed by Pradeep Sekhar
The Internet Society Bangalore Chapter is a recent fledgling to the Internet Society organization worldwide and the month of August proved to be the real springboard for a flurry of events to come. The team gelled together to lay down a road map for the chapter. The Internet Society Bangalore Chapter website was designed and developed in the first week of August and members have started coming in already. Currently the member base stands at 45 and still counting. Upcoming events for the next couple of months include a major contribution in the ‘Youth Confluence’ and event spearheaded by National Social Entrepreneurship Forum (NSEF). Besides that, the Bangalore Chapter is working towards conducting events and workshops in schools and social platforms with a major focus on the uninitiated sections of the society including school kids and senior citizens. An All India blogging competition is also in the pipeline and our team from the Bangalore Chapter is finalizing logistics and sponsorships.
Chapter update: Ecuador
Contributed by Carlos Vera
Reunión de Capítulos de la Región LAC en Quito el 6 de Agosto
Como estaba planificado por la Oficina regional para ALAC de ISOC, conducida por Sebastian Bellagamba y con la participación de Ilda Simao de la Oficina de ISOC, Raul Echeberria Presidente del Directorio de ISOC y Alejandro Pisanty, miembro del Directorio de ISOC, se realiaó la reunión de los capítulos de ISOC en Quito este pasado 6 de Agosto de 2010.
En esta oportunidad participaron los capítulos de Argentina, Ecuador, México, Uruguay, Perú y Puerto Rico para tratar varios temas de relevancia para la organización regional y la coordinación interinstitucional.
Los delegados aportaron para una seria y constructiva agenda que se implementará de inmediato abarcando temas como la organización interna, los acuerdos con ISOC HQ, la base de datos de los asociados a los capítulos y las acciones y experiencias más importantes para mantener el crecimiento constante de los mismos.
Los capítulos mostraron su predisposición a la cooperación y motivaron a que próximamente se designe un coordinador de los capítulos regionales.
ISOC Argentina será el coordinador para el mes de Agosto de las acciones acordadas.
Finalmente los miembros del staff de ISOC y los del Board recibieron el reconocimiento de los capítulos por el aporte y esfuerzo al crecimiento y consolidación de acciones en la región y comprometieron su apoyo permanente para lograr que ISOC siga cosechando logros.
Chapter update: Malaysia
Contributed by Jagdish Singh
The Internet Society Malaysia Chapter participated in “Internet Society Malaysia’s InterNetWorks Research Seminar” which was held on the 24th. July 2010 at University Utara Malaysia College of Arts and Sciences, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia.
The Seminar, which was attended by about 70 researchers, started out with a welcoming speech by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suhaidi Hassan, Head InterNetWorks Research Group, followed by presentations by researchers in various fields as listed below;
- Evalvid-RASV++: Towards Getting TFRC Transmission Rate for the Rate Adaptive Video Coding System by Ahmad Suki A. Arif
- Video Transfer over Simulated Wireless Network using ns2 Evalvid Framework by Ahmad Hanis Shabli
- Rogue Access Points (RAPe) by Amran Ahmad
- Genetic Algorithm : From Theory to Practice by Yaser Miaji
- A Dynamic Replication Model for Data Grid Environment by Mohammed Madi
- Performance Enhancement of DCCPTCP-like Through Reduction of Congestion Window Drop by Shahrudin Awang Nor
- Reducing Contention Techniques for TCP in Mobile AdHoc Network by Adib Habbal
- Enhancing The Performance of Dynamic Source Routing in MANET by Naseer Ali Husieen
- Deep Packet Inspection by Farid Taib
- Sensing for White Spaces by Mohd Hasbullah Omar
- Divert Failure Route Protocol Based on AODV by Sayid Mohd Abdule
Two workshops were also conducted discussing the topic “Using Gnuplot in Network Research” by Dr. Mohammed M. Kadhum and “Network Simulation Using OPNET” by Yaser Miaji.
The seminar ended with all researchers approving that such events should be held on a regular basis for the dissemination of research ideas as well as gaining valuable feedback on their respective research papers.
Chapter update: US Colorado
Contributed by Chris Grundemann
After a month long vote, open to all members, the Internet Society Chapter of Colorado has officially adopted a mission statement [1]: “The Internet Society Chapter of Colorado seeks to harness the great resources of this region in order to perpetuate the open evolution of the Internet for the advancement of human knowledge and communication, here in Colorado and around the world.”
The statement received support from just over 80% of the respondents.
The Internet Society Chapter of Colorado is now a certified ICANN At-Large Structure [2]. We believe that this is a great step forward in supporting our newly adopted mission statement. By becoming an ICANN ALS we can now better support the participation of individual Internet users in our region in all
relevant ICANN efforts.
[1] – http://www.coisoc.org/index.php/2010/mission-statement-adopted/
[2] – http://www.coisoc.org/index.php/2010/co-isoc-now-icann-at-large-structure/
Chapter update: Kolkata
Contributed by Niel Hirjee
The Internet Society India Kolkata Chapter was invited to speak at a Cloud Computing Workshop organized by the Computer Society of India at their premises on 31 July 2010. ISOC brochures were distributed before the start of the workshop. Chapter Chair Anupam Agarwal introduced ISOC to the participants via a Powerpoint presentation, fielded questions and invited all to sign up as members. Vice Chair Niel Hirjee followed with a live demonstration of cloud computing where issues related to IPv6 were also discussed. Other speakers included Dr. Debasish Jana of Jadavpur University and Koushik Nath of Cisco.
Additionally, on 19 August 2010, Chapter Vice President (Membership), Hemant Sampat initiated a discussion with Khokan Mukherjee, Chief Mentor, Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the oldest such Chamber east of the Suez. As a result of this discussion BCC has invited the Internet Society India Kolkata Chapter to give a presentation on the Internet Society during its next Technical Committee Meeting, which is seventy members strong. BCC also indicated that the Internet Society was welcome to use its resources for conducting events and activities of mutual interest which are sustainable. Since BCC’s calendar is already full until November 2010, joint events and activities can be planned after that date.
Plans are also being formulated to celebrate One Web Day.
Second Internet Exchange Point Launched in Kenya
New facility in Mombasa expected to accelerate and promote Internet development in the region
August 13, MOMBASA, Kenya – The Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) today announced the creation of an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Mombasa. The new IXP will ensure that all the region’s traffic is exchanged locally, which will improve Internet performance for end users, save operators the expense of backhauling regional traffic via Nairobi, and reduce the costs associated with traffic exchange between Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Commenting on the launch, Tejpal Bedi, Chairman of TESPOK said: “This new IXP in Mombasa is a great indication that Internet growth and development have matured in the region since the first Kenyan exchange point was launched in Nairobi in 2001. We welcome this opportunity to see the local Mombasa economy flourish now local providers can exchange traffic locally. The opportunities for both local and international investment that this new facility presents are also likely to have a positive effect on the region.” The running of the Nairobi KIXP has over the years greatly benefited the industry and Internet end users. It is in line with TESPOK’s key objective of addressing challenges faced by Telecommunications stakeholders and providing guidance as well as potential solution where applicable. TESPOK has strived to manage the Kenya Internet Exchange Point in line with internationally accepted best practices. This has been made possible by the establishment of strategic partnerships with entities that support similar initiatives. The Internet Society (ISOC) is one such organisation.
The establishment of the Mombasa IXP was facilitated in part by the Internet Society’s African Interconnection and IXP Programme, an initiative to promote more robust Internet connections within, and between countries in Africa. The programme combines technical training, IXP deployment assistance, development of value added services at existing IXPs, and the establishment of regional communities to promote information exchange and joint problem solving. Internet Society donated time, training, and equipment to assist the launch of the IXP in Mombasa.
By enabling more efficient and cost-effective Internet traffic flow, it is expected that the IXP will help stimulate the region’s information technology sector hence encouraging the development of local content, web hosting, and related services. Located over 500kms from the country’s first IXP in Nairobi, Mombasa is the landing point for all undersea fibre cables to Kenya and other landlocked countries in East Africa, making it an attractive location for international carriers to interconnect with the region.
“The Internet Society is committed to the establishment of IXPs in Africa as they provide immediate and significant benefits to Internet users and the local Internet industry,” said Michuki Mwangi, Regional Development Manager for Africa at the Internet Society. “In any given country, the growth potential of local traffic and content remains largely untapped, including emails and local web searches. Switching the traffic locally provides substantial cost savings which can be passed on to customers.’
The Internet Society’s Interconnection and IXP Programme is supported by the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX); the Deutscher Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), the German Internet exchange; and Netnod, the Swedish Internet exchange provider. Additionally, the Internet Society’s donation of equipment for the Mombasa IXP was made possible by Cisco Systems.
About TESPOK
Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) is a professional, non-profit organisation representing the interests of telecommunication service providers in Kenya. Established in 1999, the strength of the Association rests on its ability to be truly representative of the Kenyan industry as a whole. Through the print, television and radio media, the association has brought the issues affecting its members into the limelight, and this has created awareness among policy makers and the general public as well as producing several concrete outcomes. TESPOK’s mission is to be “An Industry voice in Telecommunications, Providing Policy and Direction within the Industry and Government”
About the Internet Society’s African Interconnection and IXP Programme
The Internet Society is currently working with six African countries at various stages of IXP development and recently established and hosted the creation of the African Peering and Interconnection Forum, to address the key Interconnection opportunities and challenges in the region. For more information:http://www.isoc.org/educpillar/resources/ixp.shtml
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