Connecting Africa Coast to CoastUbuntunet Alliance

For research Education NetworkingDare Salam, Tanzania, 28-29 July 2015

Pascal Hoba, PHD

CEO, Ubuntunet Alliance

OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION

INTRODUCTION

Evolution of National and Regional Research Education Networks in Africa

What’s Ubuntunet Allaince & Services to its members

Metrics and impactsRecommendations for: Nrens; Internet providers,

Regulators, policymakers WAY FORWARD: Africa Connect2

INTRODUCTION

Feb, 2005 AAU General Conference

1 2 3 4 5

BACKGROUND Association of African Universities’s

Mandate

RESEACH ACTIVITIES

AND PUBLICATIO

NS

IDRC & Carnegie Launching of

Ubuntunet Alliance at WISIS summit

Nov 2005

Ubuntunet Alliance

establised as RREN

Critical role of TENET & KENET

Evolution of African NRENs

Eastern and Southern Africa & variety of NRENs

West and central Africa & Emerging NRENs

Northern Africa & EUROMED project

• The regional Research and Education Network of ESA region

• NRENs from 15 countries Eb@le, DRC EthERNet, Ethiopia iRENALA, Madagascar KENET, Kenya MAREN, Malawi MoRENet, Mozambique XNet, Namibia RwEdNet, Rwanda SomaliREN, Somalia SudREN, Sudan TENET, South Africa TERNET, Tanzania RENU, Uganda ZAMREN, Zambia BERNET, Burundi

WHAT IS UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE ?

WHERE ARE WE NOW? - CURRENT NETWORK

• 10 POPs in total 8 in Alliance region 2 in Europe (London and Amsterdam)

• Backbone covering 7 countries in ESA region• 2.18Gbps capacity between Africa PoPs and European PoPs

2 links along the west coast 2 links on the eastern coast

• Some NRENs connecting directly to our European PoPs KENET(Kenya) – (approx. 4 Gbps) TENET(South Africa) – 2 x 10Gbps MoRENet (Mozambique) – 1xSTM-1 TERNET (Tanzania) – 1xSTM-1

WHERE ARE WE NOW? CURRENT NETWORK

• 6 NRENs connected to PoPs in Africa RENU (Uganda), connected to Kampala PoP – 622Mbps

KENET (Kenya), connected to Nairobi PoP – 155Mbps

ZAMREN(Zambia), connected through Lusaka PoP – 622 Mbps

MoRENet (Mozambique), connected through Maputo PoP– 155 Mbps

TENET(South Africa), connected through Mtunzini and Cape Town PoPs – 155Mbps

RwEdNet (Rwanda) connected through the Kigali PoP

WHERE ARE WE NOW? CURRENT NETWORK

• Peering with GÉANT in London and Amsterdam Transit to Research and Education community world-wide

Peering at London Internet exchange (LINX) Peering at Amsterdam Internet Exchange and (AMS-IX) Peering at NAPAfrica (Johannesburg) Transit to Internet at LINX and AMS-IX

WHERE ARE WE NOW? CURRENT NETWORK

Background A partnership between Ubuntunet Alliance,

AfricaConnect, NSRC and INASp

To train Network Engineers at campus and NREN

level

Mode:

Training workshops (NSRC, AfNOG, NREN

engineers)

Secondment of expert personnel from advanced

NRENs and similar organizations to assist with

specific phases of NREN network development

Attachment of Engineers from Alliance NRENs to

Advanced NRENs

CAPACITY BUILDING: BACKGROUND

CAPACITY BUILDING:AREAS COVERED

Campus Network Design Switching and routingNetwork monitoring IPv4 and IPv6 addressingNetwork Security

Advanced Routing for RENs workshophow to build a scalable routing infrastructure

internal routing, inter-domain peering and traffic etc Instruction methodologies on above subject areas,

including lesson planning and presentation strategies

Plans- mid term to long-term

Training labs Both virtual and using real hardware Multi-platform ( Cisco, Juniper etc) To be hosted by NRENs with a training program

Curriculum development Responsive to changing needs of NRENs and Universities Hands on collaboration with interested universities/tertiary institutions

CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRESS

Metrics and impacts

Actual connectivity status in the region

Reduction of the price Research collaborationNRENs business model

recommendations

For NRENsFor Internet Providers RegulatorsFor Policymakers at National levelFor Policy makers at regional levelFor African development agencies

THANK YOU

CEO@UBUNTUNET.NET