AfPIF2015

Africa Records Major Increase in Domestic Bandwidth Production

By Rebecca Wanjiku

African Internet Exchange Points have recorded a big increase in domestic bandwidth production, as a result of growth in sharing of Google cache, e-government services, local hosting infrastructure and services.

According to Packet Clearing House (PCH), Africa’s domestic bandwidth production grew by 145 percent, from 113Gigabits in April last year to 277 Gigabits in April this year. The number of IXPs also grew from 25 last year to 37 this year, a 48 percent increase.

“There is a general observation of significant traffic increase at IXPs where members have mutually agreed to share Google Cache and other CDN cache traffic; there is also considerable traffic being generated from e-government services, growth of local hosting services supported by the availability of local hosting infrastructure,” said Michuki Mwangi,

One of the fastest growing IXPs in Sub-Sahara Africa is NAPAfrica. It has three locations in South Africa; Johannesburg  (Est. 2012), Cape Town (Est. 2012) and Durban (Est. 2014). NAP Africa Johannesburg records 20Gbps peak traffic, Cape Town has 5Gbps, while Durban has 100Mbps peaks traffic. Two NAPAfrica IXPs have recorded significant growth within a very short period. On the other hand, the INX operated by the South Africa ISP Association (ISPA) and also hosted in data centers in Johannesburg (JINX est. 1996), Cape Town (CINX est. 2009) and Durban (DINX est. 2012) have equally high traffic at JINX (14Gbps peak) and CINX (3.8Gbps peak) by the regions levels. However, it is of interest to observe that NAPAfrica’s two facilities have achieved higher traffic levels over a shorter time compared to the INX in similar locations.

“NAPAfrica is an IXP located in one of the few carrier neutral data center facilities in Africa operated by Teraco. As a result, NAPAfrica is in a prime location to attract membership from a diverse range of businesses collocated inside the carrier neutral facility. I believe that, the carrier neutral data-center factor has played a significant role in the impressive growth seen at NAPAfrica over a short period,” added Mwangi.

Considering that most carrier neutral DC’s are often served by major operators. It is likely that NAPAfrica’s growth is buoyed by its ability to easily connect and cross connect providers within the data centre and at high speed, without the need for procuring additional links with infrastructure operators.

According to preliminary data from research being conducted by Africa IXP Association (AF-IX), 35 percent of the IXPs charge port fees (monthly/annual), which are considered a global best practice to ensure sustainability of the IXP operation. This position is enforced by the fact that 35% of the IXPs that do not charge are planning to implement fees in the future. If this would be considered it would be safe to say that soon, at least 70% of all the IXPs in region would be self-sustainable and capable of establishing themselves as regional hubs.

The survey also highlighted that majority of the IXPs (55%) have small networks and content friendly peering policies. These policies appear to be in line with the current level of development where most of the IXP members are small networks and are looking to attract content providers. Fifteen percent of the IXPs have bilateral peering which is friendly to large networks that prefer to have the choice of whom they interconnect with at the IXP. The remaining 30% of the respondent IXPs have less favorable peering policies that enforce peering for all IXP participants. The mandatory peering policies are often favored by startup IXPs to develop the peering culture. These policies tend to be reviewed as the IXP grows and members have a better understanding of the benefits of peering.

AF-IX was formed in 2013, to provide an enabling environment for IXP operators and to help IXPs maximize their value, to improve connectivity within the region and increase Internet’s value for all.

Even though the research shows growth and stability in terms of power back up and security in the IXP facilities, many IXPs are struggling to grow the number of networks peering and the capacity exchanged locally.

“To grow their capacity, the African IXP operators need to consider expanding the target market of the IXP membership to include a diverse range of non-traditional members such as banks, government networks, media, academia, research and education networks,” said Mwangi.

With the massive investments in ICT infrastructure, Mwangi says IXPs need to develop strategic partnerships with terrestrial infrastructure and submarine cable operators to provide suitable packages for connectivity to the IXP facility. This will serve as an incentive to connect the new diverse range of (local and cross-border) businesses to the IXP and with higher capacity.

Mwangi concluded that the notable growth in traffic exchanged at IXPs is a clear indication of the regions potential and future growth potential is dependent on the stakeholders ability to nature and leverage on the relationships formed within the IXP’s ecosystem.

AfPIF2015

African Union Project Helps Set Up IXPs in Six African countries

By Rebecca Wanjiku

Six African countries have set up Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), after two years of the African Union’s African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project, managed by the Internet Society.

Under the project, the Internet Society was to provide technical training to AU member countries. The initial engagement involved building a local stakeholder driven process to start the dialogue for countries without IXPs with an end goal of establishing a national IXP based on global best practices. The second part involved initiating a regional process to support the growth of existing national IXPs and ISPs to become Regional IXPs (RIXPs) and Regional Internet carriers (RICs) respectively. Technical training was held in 28 countries, attracting more than 500 participants.

“This is the first major initiative in Africa that has utilized the multi-stakeholder approach towards the implementation of IXPs. Governments have played a facilitative role towards the establishment of IXPs in five countries launched in 2014 and are actively involved in the 3 preparing to be launched in 2015. As a result, there has been more IXPs launched in the last 12 months than in the 5 years before,” said Michuki Mwangi, Internet Society’s Senior Development Manager for Africa.

The new IXPs are in Namibia, Burundi, Swaziland, Gambia, Gabon and Seychelles. Africa currently has 37 IXPs and according to Packet Clearing House (PCH), Africa’s domestic bandwidth production grew by 145 percent, from 113Gigabits in April last year to 277 Gigabits in April this year.

The engagement in countries involved bringing together government representatives, ISPs, content, research and education network operators, amongst others likely to be peering at the exchange. The countries also received, technical trainings that involved assessment of technical preparedness for networks expected to interconnect, discussions on benefits of setting up an IXP and benefits of getting Internet resources IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) from AFRINIC.

“The five workshops at the regional level achieved their goal, which was to enhance interconnectivity within the region, encourage local content development and data localization by promoting investments in data hosting infrastructures and data centers as well as cost- savings through peering and content distribution mechanisms,” said the final report forwarded to the AU.

In terms of availability of technical experts in the area of IXPs, Africa is still considered lower than other regions, which means AXIS training has produced a high number of experts.

“The number of people trained and countries covered in the project was more than in the entire history of Africa and IXPs,” said Michuki Mwangi. “Through the project we have developed a pool of subject matter experts in the African region. In addition, the process has enabled us to attach regional and international experts, to continue supporting the respective countries through their efforts to establish the IXP.”

Uncategorized

Registration for AfPIF 2015 is Open!

Join us in Maputo, Mozambique for the 6th AfPIF Conference 25-27th August 2015. Don’t miss the premier peering event in Africa.

AfPIF attracts ISP’s, content providers, governments an IXP’s for three days of learning, sharing and building business in Africa.

Why should you attend AfPIF-2015? Have a look through AfPIF-2014 report that contains briefs of presentations, emerging discussions, speakers and sponsors.

Interested in giving a presentation or participating in any of our discussion panels – submit your proposal to the program committee based on the AfPIf-2015 Theme and agenda.

Sponsorship opportunities are available to promote your business to these key audiences – find out sponsoring AfPIF here.

Register now to secure your place – and remember to check your visa requirements for travel to Mozambique.

AfPIF2015

AfPIF 2015: Where Business in Africa Starts

The sixth African Peering and Interconnection Forum opened today. Sixth!

It’s a conference I’ve seen grow and change over the past six years into somewhat of a landmark event for those in Africa and working with Africa who focus on building the Internet in Africa.

So – while many technical experts, businesses leaders, content creators, and regional experts gather together for a sixth year – it strikes me as a great time really see how this conference – which started as a simple idea – has grown to become a pivotal backbone to the African economy and development.

A faster and cheaper Internet is key to African businesses

There are dozens of reports outlining the Internet’s potential for Africa and, thanks to some recent studies – there’s a clear progression in terms of how to do it.

But what needs to be said about all of this is one thing:

For Africa to profit from the Internet the Internet actually needs to be there, it needs to work, and it needs to work well.

The people who come to AfPIF are the ones who are making that happen.

Building Africa’s Business Backbone: It’s About People

What’s magic about AfPIF – truly magic – is what happens here between people. In comparison to much of the developed world – meeting one another, sharing ideas and building contacts isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are not many African forums where people can meet in an affordable environment. Many conferences are too expensive for most African professionals to attend. Travel isn’t always economically or practically feasible. In many ways working professionals exist in their own world without even knowing what is happening in the country next door.

This is why we started AfPIF:

  • Through fellowships we help key African Internet players overcome some key travel hurdles.
  • By broadcasting AfPIF over LiveStream (link). Anyone can take part from anywhere.
  • By moving the conference around to each of Africa’s regions we’re able to bring the conference TO the people who are trying to get there, and,
  • By keeping it open we remove a lot of the costly entrance fees that can be a barrier to so many.

Why Does It Work? It Wasn’t an Empty Promise

Just like the Internet we’re building – we kept AfPIF open. This means you don’t have to pay anything, you don’t need to know anyone, and you don’t need to wait for a long sought after invite to show up on your desk.

You just need to either be here in person, watch it online, share your ideas, and network. Just be a part of it.

The result is amazing. Imagine a room full of people with this amazing desire to learn – matched with an incredible desire to share. AfPIF’s camaraderie is unmatched.

We told people this was our vision, we delivered, and we kept it that way – after six years.

And, we see the impact. There are more IXPs in Africa, and more local traffic in Africa each year.

What’s the Result: Great Business Outcomes For Africa

In simple terms, “peering” is when Internet service providers (ISPs) connect with each other directly or at a central location (an IXP) to avoid sending traffic through expensive international Internet connections to connect with each other. This means ISPs can provide better performance using fewer resources. And, the rest of us have the potential to have faster and cheaper Internet.

But, when most peering relationships start with a handshake – we need a place to do that.

At AfPIF we gather together technical people, business leaders, and content providers, to build the personal relationships needed to make peering happen. Together, the plan is build, and change the African economy – one relationship at a time.

AfPIF2015

The Internet Society brings African interconnection conference to Mozambique

[Maputo, Mozambique- 27 February 2015] The Internet Society has partnered with the Eduardo Mondlane University Computing Centre (CIUEM) to bring the sixth annual Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) to Maputo, Mozambique from 25-27 August 2015. Designed to address the key challenges and opportunities in interconnection, peering and traffic exchange on the continent, the conference provides a platform to help grow Internet infrastructure and services across Africa.

Over the past five years, AfPIF has positively impacted the Internet interconnection and traffic exchange landscape in Africa through experience sharing, capacity building and business linkages. During this period, there has been a notable increase in investments and initiatives that have led to improvements in the extent and quality of national and regional interconnection.

“The Southern African region has demonstrated leadership in establishing national interconnection with over 70% of the countries in the region having an operational Internet Exchange Point (IXP) and I believe it has a lot of experience to share with the rest of Africa. For this reason, we are pleased to partner with CIUEM to organize the AfPIF-2015 event in Mozambique,” said Dawit Bekele, the Internet Society’s Regional Director for Africa.

“The establishment of the Mozambique Internet Exchange (MozIX) in 2002 was a result of a long and painful process, whereby some of the local ISPs were reluctant to join the initiative promoted by CIUEM, allegedly due to lack of trust. Today, we are glad to see that 16 major operators are already connected to the MozIX. Therefore, by hosting the AfPIF-2015 event in Mozambique, we’re also celebrating these small but meaningful steps in the history of the Internet in our Country,” said Francisco Mabila, the CIUEM Director.

AfPIF has previously been held in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Morocco and Senegal, with each event attracting more than 150 participants from more than 30 countries.

The Internet Society aims to advance the African interconnection agenda at AfPIF-2015, in line with the vision to achieve 80% local and 20% international Internet traffic by the year 2020.  The event welcomes sponsors as well as past attendees and new participants to the main peering and interconnection forum for Africa, promising more than just a forum – AfPIF provides an opportunity to advance peering and interconnection arrangements and to make a positive contribution to Africa’s Internet resources.

Read about last year’s event: AfPIF 2014 Report

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. It is also the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). 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.

Media Contact: Betel Hailu, hailu@isoc.org

About the Eduardo Mondlane University Computing Centre (CIUEM)

The Eduardo Mondlane University Computing Centre (CIUEM) was established in 1981, as a small technical unit, designed primarily for the provision of ICT related services and support, as well as, for advising and assisting the University management in ICT policies and strategies formulation and implementation. However, with the fast growing demand on IT services in the country, the Centre was soon challenged to also provide services to other entities outside the University.

In 1992, CIUEM has pioneered the first Internet connection in Mozambique, acting soon as the only ISP in the country until 1996. During the following years, it was involved in a number of initiatives, aiming at promoting awareness among the Government and civil society about the importance of ICT in general and the Internet in particular. As a result of those awareness campaigns, the Government approved the national ICT Policy and the Implementation strategy in 2000 and 2002 respectively, whereby CIUEM was involved in providing technical expertise and advice.

CIUEM is the “mz” top level domain administrator and since 2002 is running the Mozambique Internet Exchange (MozIX).

For more information, visit www.ciuem.mz

Media contact: Avelino Mondlane, mondlane@uem.mz

AfPIF2014

Africa Internet Operators Explore ways of Interconnecting Better

By Rebecca Wanjiku

African Internet Service Providers, content distribution networks, infrastructure providers, government network managers and regulators are meeting in Dakar, Senegal, to explore ways to interconnect and share content within the region.

Africa has invested in infrastructure over the last eight years but most of the content accessed locally is hosted abroad. The Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) is an initiative by the Internet Society, which seeks to foster interconnection and sharing of content to further reduce the connectivity costs.

“In 2011 an OECD report highlighted that over 99.5 percent of interconnections are formed using “hand-shake” agreements at peering events; AfPIF is one such key event, created to foster a community of practice on issues related to peering and interconnection,” said Sofie Maddens, Senior Director of Global Services at the Internet Society.

Mathieu Paonessa from Jaguar Networks gave the keynote speech on the future of content hosting in Africa. He compared some of the policy and cross border issues in Africa with places like Europe where operations within the region are seamless.

“One of the major obstacles of hosting is the requirements by governments that investors must set up companies in each country they want to offer services; the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville have been unable to cross connect and share infrastructure, yet the capital cities are separated by a river,” said Paonessa.

Policy issues are hampered by slow pace of amendments to existing laws and the fact that some countries ICT sectors have developed at a faster rate than others. For instance, Nigeria’s “Nollywood” is the third largest film producer globally, after the US and India. Most of the infrastructure available in the continent can not meet the demands of the online users meaning most of the content is hosted abroad.

“Local content is essential to local industry and jobs, and ultimately boosts the resiliency of the economy; the topics discussed at AfPIF are critical to creating an environment that supports the ongoing development of the Internet in the region,” added Maddens.

During the meetings, networks are encouraged to approach each other and set up meetings to explore ways to share content locally. The meeting has been considered a success over the years.

“During last year’s AfPIF meeting, we met with the team from Liquid Telecom and explained the challenges the gaming community had in Uganda; they agreed to host our servers and now the community has grown and set up other businesses related to gaming,” said Kyle Spencer, the Director of Uganda Internet Exchange and one of the founders of gamersnights.com.

With the support from Liquid Telecom, the multi-player gaming community was able to attract players from Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, among other countries. The reduced latencies have encouraged players to explore ways to improve and tweak the games to suit their local settings.

In the next two days, discussions will delve into details of how to set up bilateral agreements, how to attract more networks to the Internet Exchange Point and how to measure and analyze traffic coming from the region.

AfPIF2014

Africa getting attention from global network operators, CDNs

By Rebecca Wanjiku

After five years of investing in internet infrastructure, growing the level of local content generation and increasing the number of internet users, Africa seems to be getting the attention of major global network operators and Content Distribution Networks.

In 2010, about 60 infrastructure providers, Internet Service Providers, and experts from the tech industry met in Nairobi to discuss ways to interconnect more within the continent and exchange more content.

At that time, only Google was in the room, had started operations in Africa, and was willing to explore ways to help the continent maximize its infrastructure and in the process lower connectivity costs. This year, Akamai, Cloudflare, Interxion and Jaguar Networks are present at the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum and have expressed their interest to grow services in the region.

Africa is the continent with the highest growth of Internet penetration and has one of the fastest growing economies; with over 15 percent of the population in Africa with access to the Internet, then it is indeed time for Internet business in Africa,” said Sofie Maddens, Senior Director of Global Services at the Internet Society.

Maddens added that a 15 percent internet penetration rate provides a valid business case for a win-win situation for both local and global content providers and network operators through lower costs and lower latencies.

Google probably carries most of the content accessed in the region and its decision to enter the market was driven by the desire to raise the number of internet users as well as grow its business. Usually, if there are many users, Google can set up a server farm, a Point of Presence (POP) or set up the global cache. Apart from a stable internet, Google usually requires stable dedicated power and a stable economic climate, in order for them to set up a data center in any country.

“Given the stringent requirements from Google, I doubt any African country can qualify for the set up of a data center but we continue to grow the POPs and global cache in the region,” said Thomas Volmer, Senior manager with the Google Global Cache team in Europe.

Volmer was presenting on the requirements that a country must fulfill before getting Google infrastructure. The requirements are similar to what Akamai or any other CDN asks for.

While making their presentations, Cloudflare, Jaguar and Interxion made it clear that there is need for the region to grow its content before global players come into the market, but the interest is growing.

“We are looking for more partners in Africa, we are setting up POPs in Johannesburg, Mombasa and Cairo,” said Jerome Fleury,  a network engineer at Cloudflare.

Just as infrastructure investment is important, regulatory development is equally important to global players. Most of them want the situation they have in Europe where the law allows them to operate in many countries as long as they have a license from one country.

“No company wants to keep investing in licenses from one country to the other; it makes work easier if the law recognizes some of these developments, the infrastructure is open and there is competition,” said Kai Wulff, Project Lead for the Google fiber optic project in Uganda.

Some countries in the region enjoy a more vibrant regulatory atmosphere that allows more international companies to set up shop, but others are still stuck in the 1990s and laws have not yet changed.

The development of Internet Exchange Points is said to be one of the key ways to grow internet infrastructure and a current project between the African Union and the Internet Society has started processes in30 countries, that are aimed at setting up IXPs.

Most of the CDNs start by setting up infrastructure in South Africa, considered the most developed in the region, then move to the other countries like Kenya and Nigeria.

AfPIF2014

Ethiopia workshop on Internet Exchange Point concludes successfully

The African Union commission, in collaboration with the Internet Society, conducted best Practices Capacity Building workshop from 24-25 June 2014 at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop was attended by participants from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

The Opening Ceremony which was attended by twenty nine participants was officiated by the acting head of information society division, Mr. Adil Suleiman, African Union Commission and Dr. Dawit Bekele, Director, Internet Society-Africa Bureau.

The workshop was part of the African Union (AU) and African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project to support the establishment of IXPs across Africa. The AXIS project aims at keeping Africa’s local Internet traffic local to the continent by providing capacity building and technical assistance to facilitate the establishment of IXPs in Africa.

Mr. Kayihura Mabano conducted the workshop and aired his desire to see countries establish their own IXPs. He pointed out the benefits the countries will experience; local Internet traffic will be routed locally rather through exchange point, there will be downward pressure on costs and the economy of the countries will grow and distribution of local Internet content will multiply.

Theforum also provided participants with the required knowledge to enhance better understanding of the benefits of IXPs and plans to establish IXPs in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen which was invited as an observer.

During the workshop, participants decided to form a taskforce to enhance the establishment and management of Internet Exchange points (IXPs) in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. The stakeholders of the respective Countries were urged to establish IXP and the African Union in collaboration with the Internet Society will offer a five day technical aspect workshop to impart technical and administrative skills needed to set-up, operate and administer an IXP.

Other participants at the workshop include representatives from Djibouti Telecom, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Ethiopia, Ethio-Telecom, Addis Ababa University Institute of Technology, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Somalia, Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal services of South Sudan, MTN- South Sudan, RCS –Communication South Sudan, Zain- South Sudan, Bilpam Telecommunication-South Sudan, ISOC Yemen Chapter, Yemen Telecom, and Tele Yemen ISP.

AfPIF2014

Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa

Global and regional health authorities have confirmed an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

To date, no outbreak has been reported in Dakar or Senegal, nor are there any active travel advisories against travel to Senegal where the AfPIF event is taking place.

We would like to assure you the Internet Society is closely monitoring the situation and will provide updated information on this website if the situation evolves.

For information about the outbreak, the disease and precautions, we provide the following websites for your review:

AfPIF2014

Five years… AfPIF still going strong

Five years ago, a few of Africa’s ISPs, network providers and content carriers met for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya. The discussions held mainly focused on infrastructure and lowering the cost of connection, today, the discussions are how to interconnect and negotiate agreements between countries.

The Africa Peering Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) has grown exponentially in the last five years from an initial two-day event to three days, attracting more than 200 participants and 16 international, regional and local sponsors.

“The original objective of AfPIF was to bring together the main beneficiaries and members of IXPs in order to provide them with a platform where they can learn and understand the benefits of peering. This objective was driven by the fact that most of the African IXPs were experiencing problems in growing critical mass of members at their respective IXPs,” said Michuki Mwangi, Michuki Mwangi, senior development manager at the Internet Society.

The first meeting was calculated to be a forum for providing the awareness and training to enable the network operators, content providers and infrastructure providers to explore the full benefits from their local IXPs. As a result the IXPs would see the existing opportunities to grow their membership and both local and regional interconnection would take place.

Today, the number of IXPs in the continent has increased, at the same time the content exchanged has also grown and providers now understand the benefits of exchanging content locally. As part of the annual AfPIF meeting, participants have asked for dedicated bilateral peering meeting sessions.

“The request for the peering bilateral sessions by the community was a pleasant surprise; it indicates a faster than anticipated growth of the community to levels observed at other more mature peering regions such as Europe, Asia and North America,” added Mwangi.

“Reports show that Internet access through various broadband technologies is advancing at a higher rate compared to the rest of the world. Therefore with over 15 percent of the population in Africa with access to the Internet, then it is indeed time for Internet business Africa,” said Mwangi.

Mwangi says that the 15 percent Internet penetration rate provides a valid business case for a win-win situation for both local and global content providers and network operators alike. There is an opportunity to lower the cost of access through more in region peering with content providers, which will drive the demand for more investment in broadband access beyond the urban centres.

This can be validated with the observations made in the last two years. The AfPIF event has recorded a growing interest in both participation and sponsorship from large global content carriers and networks such as Akamai, Google, Hurricane Electric, Microsoft, Cloudflare amongst others proving that the region is becoming more attractive to global operators. The event continues to receive invaluable support from European IXPs such as AMSIX, DE-CIX, France-IX, LINX and Netnod. Event more encouraging is to see the growing involvement and support from African operators such as Liquid Telecom, Internet Solutions, MainOne, Seacom amongst others.

In all, it has been an enlightening 4 events full of learning, business, networking opportunities. The Interactive sessions such as the peering game, peering introductions, peering socials and dinners have made the AfPIF a must attend event. Indeed we are all eager to see what the fifth event will have in store for us. Come join us in Dakar, Senegal from the 26 – 28 August and celebrate 5 years of AfPIF the peering way.