Africa IXP

Outline / Overview

Connectivity in Africa

400’000’000

Connectivity in Africa

•Fiber optic links are few and expensive

Reliant on satellites

•High satellite latency, slow speeds and high prices

•Growth of Internet business inhibited

ISP 1

ISP 2

ISP B

ISP A

200-900ms

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 1

ISP 2

ISP B

ISP A

200-900ms

5-15

ms

IXP

5-15 ms

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