DNS WomenNG, ISOC collabo for Girls in ICT day'24 - ITREALMS

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The Domain Name System Women (DNS WomenNG) Foundation in Nigeria, and the country chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-NG) at the weekend collaborated in commemoration of  this year’s International Girls in ICT Day, reports ITREALMS.

The commemoration which took place virtually had members of DNS WomenNG well in attendance as they were led by their President, Mrs. Nkem Nweke.

Internet Society partners Facebook to expand IXPs in Africa - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

An international non-profit organization dedicated to the open development, evolution and use of the Internet, the Internet Society has revealed its partnership with Facebook to develop more Internet Exchange Points (IXP) in Africa, reports ITREALMS.

An Internet Exchange Point is where multiple local and international networks, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers interconnect their networks together to efficiently exchange Internet traffic through an arrangement commonly referred to as Peering.

ITREALMS gathered that currently, 42 per cent of countries in Africa lack IXPs, which means that most of their domestic Internet traffic is exchanged through points outside their respective country, usually through satellite or submarine fiber across multiple international hubs to reach their destination.

This, experts say result in poor end-user experiences and discourages hosting content locally, which are some of the key factors towards the development of the local Internet ecosystem.

Peering at IXPs helps keep domestic Internet traffic local by offloading traffic from relatively expensive international links onto more affordable local links. As a result, ISPs are able to offer improved Internet experiences for end-users and spur interest in hosting content locally.

The Internet Society and Facebook will collaborate in promoting IXP infrastructure development, training and community engagement with the objective of increasing the number of IXPs and supporting the expansion of existing IXPs to meet the growing demand in Africa. Studies have shown that Internet users throughout Africa benefit from peering as it enables faster, more affordable and reliable access to content.

“The Internet community adopted the goal of having at least 80 per cent of the Internet traffic consumed in Africa being locally accessible, and only 20 per cent sourced outside the continent by the year 2020,”explains Dawit Bekele, Africa Regional Bureau Director for the Internet Society, stressing Africa is getting closer to that target thanks to the many activities that promote interconnection and hosting in Africa and to partnerships such as this one with Facebook.

According to the Africa IXP Association (Af-IX), there are approximately 44 active IXPs located across 32 countries in Africa. This has resulted in a 275 per cent growth of locally exchanged Internet traffic over the last 10 years, just as there were 16 IXPs in 2008. During the same period, traffic exchanged at the African IXPs increased from 0.16Gbps to 412Gbps with over 800 networks now connected at these IXPs.

“We admire the Internet Society's important work to improve connectivity in Africa by supporting IXPs,” said Kojo Boakye, Head, Connectivity and Access, Africa at Facebook. “Our partnership with the Internet Society will help develop Africa's IXP ecosystem by deploying resources like training and equipment to the areas where they are most urgently needed.”

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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ISOC, IXPN collaborate on enhancing Internet Exchange Points

ITRealms:

The Internet Society (ISOC) and Internet eXchange Point in Nigeria (IXPN) recently collaborated on a workshop with focus on enhancing Internet Exchange Points in the country, reports ITRealms.

Disclosing this to ITRealms, the chief executive officer of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman said the five-day workshop is in line with the Internet Society (ISOC) Internet Exchange, Access, and Infrastructure System Project.

The workshop with the theme “Internet Routing Technologies and IXP interconnection” he said was held between November 16 and 20, 2015 to increase local technical capacity and use of the Internet exchange points (IXPs) in the country.

He also said the workshop is a follow-up to the Internet Society’s access, connectivity and infrastructure work to support the growth of IXPs across Africa. 

ISOC objectives for Africa, he said in a press statement signed by Betel Hailu, are to work with local Internet partners to realize Africa’s potential to deliver locally 80 per cent of the continents Internet content.  

“In partnership with local stakeholders, we support capacity building efforts and extend technical assistance to facilitate IXP development, domestic and cross-border interconnection in Africa. As countries establish and utilize their IXPs, both domestic and cross-border Internet traffic will be routed locally, creating downward pressure on costs, increasing quality of service, and as a result stimulating economic growth and distribution of local Internet content,” Hailu said.

ITRealms gathered that over 24 network engineers from the telecom companies, academics, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) attended the workshop, designed to teach the technical skills needed to maximize their benefits from domestic and cross-border interconnections at IXPs. 

Equally, it is expected that participants will increase requisite local technical expertise to support interconnections at the IXP. Hence the workshop incorporated hands-on training for the participants to familiarize themselves with interconnection technologies and techniques that increase the efficiency of network interconnections and traffic exchanged at the IXP.  

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA  

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ISOC survey on Internet Governance attracts 800 participants

ITRealms:

 
An estimated 800 people participated in the Internet Society (ISOC) recently conducted online survey on Internet Governance (IG), reports ITRealms.
 

ISOC affirmed to ITRealms that in excess of 800 persons took a few minutes of their time to participate in a survey on Internet governance which held last February 2015. 

Senior Director, Global Internet Policy at ISOC, Constance Bommelaer, told ITRealms the objective of the survey was to primarily ask the Internet community “how we can strengthen mechanisms of the Internet governance ecosystem to better address policy challenges in 2015.”

ITRealms gathered that the survey was also designed to help ISOC contribute to current discussions on the evolution of the ecosystem.

Bommelaer pointed out that some of the issues included the preparations for World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+10; the future of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF); the appropriate role of new platforms like the NETmundial Initiative (NMI); and enabling a successful Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) stewardship transition.  

The results of the survey, Bommelaer said, are now available online, as well as a summary of the main takeaways. 

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) @IANA @ICANN +Leni Nazare
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ISOC Hall of Fame nomination ends in 7 days

 

The Internet Society (ISOC) has said that its call for nomination of choices for the Internet Hall Of Fame, will expire within the next seven days.

The latest issue of ISOC made newsletter made available to ITREALMS says "There's only 1 week left to send in nomination for the 2013 Internet Hall of Fame," urging members of the global internet community not to miss the chance to have their say.

The Internet Hall of Fame is an annual awards programme that has been established by the Internet Society to publicly recognize a distinguished and select group of visionaries, leaders and luminaries who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the global Internet.

Inaugural inductees were announced on April 23, 2012 at the Internet Society’s Global INET conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Internet Society CEO Lynn St. Amour says "There are some extraordinary people who have helped make the Internet an unparalleled platform for innovation and communication, an engine for economic development and social progress that goes well beyond what we could have ever imagined. This program honors individuals who have pushed the boundaries to bring the Internet to life and made it an essential resource used by billions.”

Nomination is expected fro three core categories namely the pioneers circle, innovators, and global connectors, while the process involves that Internet enthusiasts from across the world submit applications for nominees of their choice.

Equally,the nominees' applications are reviewed and screened by the Internet Society to ensure they meet the nomination criteria and eligibility; the Internet Hall of Fame Advisory Board and a select group of past inductees are responsible for the final selection of inductees. For details, visi http://www.internethalloffame.org/nominations


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11 fellows to attend IETF meeting on ISOC

The Internet Society has announced it has awarded new and returning fellowships to 11 fellows to attend the Internet Engineering Task Force Meeting in Vancouver, meeting held 29 July – 3 August in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The Internet Society awards fellowships to enable technologists from developing countries to participate in the IETF meetings. First-time fellows are paired with an experienced mentor and are given the opportunity to make a positive contribution to IETF work. The IETF, the Internet’s premier standards-making body, represents an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture.

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Vancouver’12: ISOC gives fellowship to 11 techies for IETF

A total of 11 fellowships have been awarded by the Internet Society (ISOC) for selected technologists to attend the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) on-going meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

This group, ISOC said includes new awardees and returning fellowships to the internet engineers’ gathering holding between July 29 and 3 August, 2012.

ISOC explains that the fellowships were to enable technologists from developing countries to participate in the IETF meetings.

First-time fellows, officials said, are paired with an experienced mentor and are given the opportunity to make a positive contribution to IETF work.

Recalling that the IETF, the Internet’s premier standards-making body, represents an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture.

“The Internet Society has a long-standing commitment to encourage and support next–generation technical leaders from around the globe,” said Toral Cowieson, Senior Director of Internet Leadership at the Internet Society.

Toral also said that this round of IETF fellowships garnered more than 250 impressive applications from 65 countries, hence, ISOC was excited to help accelerate the careers of these professionals and to provide an opportunity for them to participate in and contribute to the important work of the IETF.

The first-time Internet Society IETF Fellows for the IETF 84 meeting include; Shabbir Ahmed (Bangladesh); Raitme Citterio (Venezuela); Xiaohong Deng (China); Omar Diaz (Venezuela); Paul Muchene (Kenya); Nomsa Muswai (Zimbabwe); Saurabh Srivastava (India);

The Returning Fellows for the 84th IETF meeting consist of Burmaa Baasansuren (Mongolia), Fernando Gont (Argentina), Vinayak Hegde (India), Dorcas Muthoni (Kenya).

The Internet Society Fellowships to the IETF in 2012 are made possible by donations from Internet Society Organization members Afilias, Google, Microsoft, SIDN, and Verisign. Since its inception in 2006, this programme has made 125 awards to technologists from more than 40 developing countries to participate in IETF meetings.

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Internet-Hall-of-fame: Inne expresses optimism on future African Internet innovators

In the next 20 years the future is bright for African internet innovators, says the African Relations Manager for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Ms Anne-Rachel Inne.

Reacting to the 2012 Internet Hall of Fame organized by the Internet Society as part of its Global INET 2012 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Ms Inne commended the Internet Society (ISOC) for the initiative.

She told ITRealms Online exclusively that it’s a welcome development to honour those who fashioned the concept known today as the Internet.

The Internet Hall of Fame saw to the award of honour to some 33 Internet pioneers and luminaries from around the world who were inducted into the fame as part of the event marking Internet Society’s 20th anniversary.

She was optimistic that whatever forms the Internet takes by 2032; Africans should future prominently in its innovation.

“I can only hope that more future innovations to the medium come from our continent (Africa), as more people get connected and become ambitious for the Internet or whatever it looks like in 20 more years,” she said.

The Internet Hall of Fame, she said, is a way of showing how ideals and ideas could go a long way in uniting people in practical terms.

“We have all embraced this tool, the Internet that the inductees all helped to make available to us,” she asserted.

Anne-Rachel Inne, reiterated the need for the future Internet innovators to have footprint from Africa, especially in the next twenty years.

ITRealms Online recalls that the Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. With its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations.

Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone.

Remmy Nweke
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