GULF-IX Saleem Al-Balooshi ETISALAT

IP Traffic Between GCC Most of The IP traffic between GCC is exchanged via US or EU. –Except partial traffic between: AE,OM and KW which transits via EMIX.

ISSUES!! Performance/Availability TTLHOB’sComments AE-SA>300ms15 AE-QA>500ms12 AE-BH>500ms12 h AE-KW<70ms8 AE-OM>300ms14 om

ISSUES!! Cost: –Monthly Charge for an STM-1 link From Gulf region to US with the IP port is Approximatly $250K/Month. –Traffic Exchanged between GCC is using this expensive Link.

ISSUES!! Security/Privacy: –Traffic between ISP’s in the GCC is exchanged via 3 rd parties ISP’s (US/EU).

Cable Infrastructure between GCC FOG (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE) Saudi-UAE cable Oman UAE Cable Saudi-Kuwait Cable Saudi-Bahrain Cable Saudi-Qatar Cable.

Proposal Establish Gulf-IX –Public Peering Point for the ISP’s in the GCC countries. Establish full mesh between the ISP’s and the exchange points in the GCC. –High cost !!

Advantages of Gulf-IX Improve the performance/Availability for the IP traffic between the GCC ISP’s, Reduces Operational cost. Improves the security level. Encourages the development of local contents. A start point for the Joint activities i.e IPV6, ENUM, Arabization of DNS, Internet Roaming …etc.

Requirements Two Layer 2 switches ($5K). 1 Cabinet in an Internet Data Center Environment Each ISP to co-locate their router at the IDC.(Min equivalent to cisco 2600) ISP’s to arrange for a back hole capacity form Gulf-IX to their Backbone. Establish full mesh BGP with all the participants.