Africa IXP

Outline / Overview

Connectivity in Africa 400’000’000

Fiber optic links are few and expensive

Reliant on satellites High satellite latency, slow speeds and high prices Growth of Internet business inhibited ISP 1ISP 2ISP BISP A ms 5-15 ms

Internet Exchange Points IXP – Internet Exchange Point Interconnection points of the Internet Place where ISPs come to interconnect Keep local traffic local

Solution with IXP Latency and costs are greatly reduced Encourages growth of Internet business ISP 1ISP 2ISP BISP A ms 5-15 ms IXP 5-15 ms

Current IXPs in Africa 2 large IXPs 8 small IXPs 4 IXPs in progrss 14 out of 53 countries

Africa IXP Primary goal: Setting up IXPs in the three African countres: Malawi Burundi Zambia Secondary goal: Research on and suggest a roadmap for NREN in these countries Burundi Zambia Malawi

Working methodology

IXP architecture Layer 3 Simple solution Controllability Expensive High capacity router is required

IXP architecture Layer 2 Scalability No “bottle-neck” Cheap

IXP architecture Layer 2 with router reflector Minimum configurations for ISPs Load balancing and redundancy Equipment

IXP services WEB server Primary or/and secondary DNS Network statistics Network tools

IXP services

Communication Challenges  Inefficiency in communication with local stakeholders  Absence of face-to- face communication Use of Technology

1 Project; 3 Different Countries  Making 3 of everything - 3 design documents - 3 procurement orders - and so on…… Making use of team size - Delegation - Subteams

Stakeholders’ Hesitation to Join IXP  Need for a minimum number of participants in IXP  Absence of knowledge on IXPs Organize workshops Increase awareness about IXPs

Budget Challenges  Limited budget amount  Delayed approval of budget Low-cost but high- quality design -Reduce redundancy solutions -Use refurbished equipment

Procurement & Shipping Challenges  Procurement - Lengthy and hard Start as soon as possible  Shipping - Excessive weight - Custom issues Use local vendors Make use of local participants

Achievements Technical design of IXPs Training of project members: BGP training IXP services IXP simulation Convince ISPs Policy document

Next Step Implementation phase –Finish procurement –Deploy IXP and testing –Training for local administrators –Policy document –Prepare road map document for NREN –Conclusion phase Documentation Lessons learned

Questions