Africa Interconnection Overview & Terminologies By Michuki Mwangi (ISOC) Zimbabwe IXP Growth Best Practices Workshop 25 26 November 2015 What is the Internet Society? The Internet Society (ISOC) is a cause-based organization that works with governments, industries, and others to ensure the technologies and policies that helped develop and evolve the Internet will continue into the future. Our programs cultivate an Internet that is open to everyone, everywhere and aim to ensure that it will continue to be a tool for creativity, innovation, and economic growth. MISSION: To promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world. VISION: The Internet is for everyone Global Presence 100+ Chapters Worldwide 65,000+ Members and Supporters 145+ Organization Members 6 Regional Bureaus 18 Countries with ISOC Offices NORTH AMERICA LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN EUROPE AFRICA THE MIDDLE EAST ASIA OCTOBER 2013 Chapters Agenda Background on Africa Interconnection Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Interconnection Ecosystem: The Players and Actors Interconnection Economics: Peering Relationships Background on Africa Interconnection: 2008 Fiber infrastructure Against IXPs in Africa 17 IXPs in 15 African Countries 12 were considered responsive based on a survey conducted in 2008 Average number of years across all IXPs was 4.1yrs 10 of 12 IXPs provided traffic stats Highest had 200Mbps and lowest was 300Kbps 1/3 of the IXPs had an open membership policy. Remaining 2/3s were subject to regulatory or membership set criteria 75% of the respondents had a Mandatory Multilateral peering policy Copper and wireless connectivity was predominant over fiber 41% of the IXPs did not charge fees and the highest fees were $9,000 and lowest was $50 75% were ran by ISPA. Others by NREN, Govt. and by a not-for-profit (non-ISPA) 1993 2001: SAT2 Total Capacity 560Mbps 2001 2008: SAT3 Total Capacity 340Gbps : SAFE Total Capacity 440Gbps 2000 2005: SEA-ME-WE-3 Total Capacity 480Gbps 2008: Traffic distribution across10 African IXPs What we observed from 2008 Survey Positive There was a seemingly good linkage between IXPs and the ccTLD IXPs had relatively good connectivity The role of Governments in IXPs was seemingly progressive IXP Models were ideal at that stage Negative The Mandatory Multi- Lateral peering policy was a dominant obstacle to IXP growth Membership policies were not progressive IXP sustainability was an area of concern. More value added services need to be implemented at the IXPs Gaps identified There was a lack of general knowledge on IXP best practices to enable them grow There was no platform for sharing experiences or learning amongst the IXPs and operators Cross-border interconnection between networks was almost non-existent 30% of the known IXPs were unresponsive for unknown reasons Central, North and West Africa were lagging behind in IXP deployment Africa has a large Internet Transit Deficit in comparison to other regions. Impact on Africas Interconnection Scene Conducted 15 workshops in 15 Africa countries on Technical and policy issues related to IXP development Workshops trained over 300 engineers and policy makers Established and organized 6 AfPIF events Supported the establishment and activities of the Africa IXP association (Af-IX) Provided technical assistance, equipment support to at least 10 IXPs Created awareness with key policy stakeholders i.e UNECA, African Union, Regional Regulatory Associations, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) Overall growth of the African peering ecosystem Work lead to award to implement African Union AXIS project AXIS Project African Union awarded Internet Society two (2) contracts to implement AXIS project between 2012 2014 Project focused on Capacity building and technical assistance in establishing IXPs Overall, phase 1 of the AXIS project trained over 1,200 people from 28 African Countries over the 2 year period AXIS Best practice workshops covered 28 African countries and trained over 700 people in English, French and Portuguese AXIS Technical Aspects workshops covered 28 African countries and trained over 500 engineers in interconnection technologies in English, French and Portuguese Phase 2 of AXIS conducted 5 workshops across the 5 geographic regions of Africa (Central, East, North, South and West Africa) Engaged over 350 experts from relevant public and private sector to discuss regional interconnection issues in in English and French AXIS Outcomes Phase 1 Outcomes 8 new IXPs have been established as a result of the AXIS project Most successful IXP project in the region and raised importance of IXPs across the board Established new partnerships to enable deliver workshops in different languages (French & Portuguese) In the process, we also developed regional francophone IXP expertise with support of partners Phase 2 Outcomes At least 2 IXPs per region will receive financial assistance to enable them evolve and grow to become regional IXPs Project will provide technical assistance to ISPs to enable them evolve and become regional carriers Project established and supported work of 5 regional task-forces to review policy and regulatory barriers that inhibit national and cross- border interconnection in their respective regions. 33 IXPs in 25 Countries or 17% increase since 2008 Total Traffic exchanged at African IXPs >160Gbps More IXPs in West & Central Africa Data shows more cross-border interconnection/peering in East and Southern Africa Cross-border: Percentage of ASNs (origin ASNs) by country assignment in routes collected All ASNsOrigin ASNs IXP: CAIX (EG) Source: Roderick Fanou Presentation at AfPIF-2015 Cross-Border: Percentage of ASNs (origin ASNs) by country assignment in routes collected All ASNsOrigin ASNs IXP: JINX (ZA) Source: Roderick Fanou Presentation at AfPIF-2015 Cross-Border: Percentage of ASNs (origin ASNs) by country assignment in routes collected All ASNsOrigin ASNs IXP: KIXP (KE) Cross-border: Percentage of ASNs (origin ASNs) by country assignment in routes collected All ASNsOrigin ASNs IXP: MIX (MZ) Source: Roderick Fanou Presentation at AfPIF-2015 Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Peer A network with whom you exchange traffic. Peering The act of exchanging traffic with a peer. Often your network and customers traffic. Peering Coordinator An individual within an organization that handles all peering-related matters for that network. Private Peering a.k.a Private Network Interconnect (PNI) Peering that does not typically involve any public exchange points, i.e., back-to-back agreements Public Peering Peering typically done across a public exchange point Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Transit A service where a network pays another for access to the global Internet. Settlement-based Peering One of the networks pays the other for the exchange of traffic Transit-free A situation where a network does not purchase any Transit from any other network, and yet usually has a full view of the global Internet. Paid Peering Similar to Transit where one network pays another for access to its backbone, but here, the network being paid provides connectivity only to its customers, and not the whole Internet. Settlement-free Peering aka SFI Neither party pays the other for the exchange of traffic. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Mandatory Peering A situation where members at an IXP are forced to peer with one another Multilateral Peering A situation where members at an IXP are required but not obliged to peer with all other networks present at the IXP. Its implementation is simplified with the presence of a Route-Server Bilateral Peering A situation where peering at an IXP is setup directly between two consenting networks Hybrid Peering A situation where an IXP supports both Multilateral and Bilateral peering for its members. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Route-Server A centralized router at a public peering exchange point that is able to serve all member routes via a multi- lateral peering strategy. Looking glass: A device/resource that permits anybody that is interested to analyze a networks view of the Internet Route registry: A centralized database that contains routing information, e.g., prefixes, AS_PATHs, ASNs, e.t.c. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Peering Policy A set of guidelines by which network operators will peer with external networks. Open Peering Policy A network implementing this general policy is happy to peer with any other network without restriction (excluding its customers) Selective Peering Policy A network implementing this general policy is normally happy to peer provided a minimum set of criteria are met Restrictive Peering Policy A network implementing this general policy is normally not interested in peering with any other networks especially in their service region. They may peer outside their service region but this is often rare No Peering Policy A network implementing this general policy means that there is no intention for the entity to ever peer. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies DFZ Default Free Zone A situation where networks run their routers with the full Internet BGP routing table and no default route. Downstreams Typically a networks customers Upstreams Typically networks to whom you hand-off traffic and pay a fee, e.g., Transit providers Eyeballs End-users of a network that are typically requesting content off online resources. De-peer A situation where a network terminates a peering relationship with another Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Traffic Ratio The balance between how much traffic a network sends to its peers vs. what it receives from them. Hot Potato Routing The ability of a network to hand traffic off to other networks at earliest possible moment Cold Potato Routing A situation where a network retains traffic on its network for as long as possible Off-net traffic Traffic that is handed off to another network at some point in its flight. On-net traffic Traffic under the control of the same network, i.e., the origination and termination of traffic remains on the same network. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies PoI (Point of Interconnect): A location, mutually agreed on by peering parties, where peering will occur. Facility: May be synonymous with a data centre or co-lo site where networks house their infrastructure. Data Centre: A purpose-built facility that provides space, power, cooling and network facilities to customers. MMR (Meet Me Room): A centralized passive, cable switching panel in a data centre where interconnects between networks occur. Demarc (Demarcation): Typically information about a co-lo customer, e.g., rack number, patch panel and port numbers, e.t.c. Interconnect charges (cross-connect): Monies paid by peering parties to a data center for them to interconnect, e.g., cost of cabling. Peering and Interconnection Terminologies Lit Fibre: Fibre pairs owned by network operator who has attached equipment at either end to generate bandwidth from them Dark Fibre: Fibre pairs offered by the owner, without any equipment at each end of it to activate it IPLC: International Private Leased Circuit a leased line that spans two or more countries. IRU: Indefeasible Rights of Use Advance purchase of dark fiber (Terrestrial or Submarine cable) for a defined period (often long term 15 20 yrs ). IRU are subject to monthly payments of the shared operational and maintenance costs of the cable. Dark Fibre Lease: This provides option to access dark fibre for a defined (often short term