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: Ashil Oogarah; 20 July 2016; Hits: 9815

Spotlight: The African IXP Association (AF-IX)

Zambia AIS Photo 2013 Cropped small At the AIS'16 in June 2016, the African IXP Association (AF-IX) organised a Meeting. We met with Michuki Mwangi, Senior Development Manager for Africa Internet Society and CTO of the Kenya Internet Exchange Point, who talked to us about how the meeting went and the key objectives and challenges of the AF-IX.

AF-IX is a platform for IXPs to share their experiences, find means to grow their membership and traffic and to address some of the challenges they are facing. One of the key objectives of AF-IX is to support the community in growing their exchange points, especially in countries that have already established IXPs. According to Michuki, the biggest challenge that arises is how IXPs achieve membership growth.

: Ashil Oogarah; 12 July 2016; Hits: 7750

June Updates

hall We share with you AFRINIC's news highlights for the month of June.

From 29 May to 10 June, AFRINIC organised in collaboration with AIS partners and local host BOCRA the AIS'16 Meeting in Gaborone Botswana. The Meeting gathered over 360 participants who attended the numerous training and conference sessions.

IXP helped foster government industry cooperation in Kenya

Zambia AIS Photo 2013 Cropped small When a group of Kenyan Internet service providers gathered in Nairobi to establish an Internet exchange point (IXP) late in 2000, little did they know that their actions would lay the foundation to one of the world’s most commended reciprocal relationships between government and the ICT industry.

Initially set up as a cost saving exercise to avoid using expensive international links primarily controlled by the incumbent monopoly telecom operator at the time, Telekom Kenya, KIXP quickly caused headlines for all the wrong reasons recalls Michuki Mwangi, KIXP’s chief technology officer and one of the original technicians involved in the setup of the IXP all those years ago.

“A week after we had set it up, the incumbent [Telkom Kenya] requested that the regulator [Communications Commission of Kenya, now known as Communications Authority] to shut it down, as we were operating illegally,” says Michuki. “This was even though we had an informal agreement with CCK.”

: Ashil Oogarah; 01 July 2016; Hits: 11589

Women in ICT in Tunisia

afrinic anissa During AIS’16 in Botswana, we caught up with several women who work diligently in the ICT sector in many parts of Africa as they shared with us their stories, passion and struggles.

We talked to Anissa BHAR, AIS’16 fellow who teaches at the university ISET Charguia in Tunisia and her colleague Afifa HARIZ FRIKHA from the IPv6 team at the university.

• Anissa BHAR: Where and what did you study at university?

I studied at the « High Institute of Management » with specialisation in Computing Management (Informatique de gestion) for four years and had my MSc in IT Management, then at the National School for Computer Science, for two years and had my Certificate of specialised studies in Computer Science, after I had my Aggregation in Computer Science.

IPv4 Exhaustion and the Internet of Things Market

AFRINIC's Logan Velvindron shares his views on the impact of IPv4 exhaustion on the Internet of Things (IoT) market in Mauritius during a half day workshop on the Mauritius National Innovation Framework.

Mauritius National Innovation Framework

I was sitting in the audience during the national innovation framework, which was a half-day on Thursday. I listened carefully to the framework, and the plan for the coming years.