Internet infrastructure as an enabler to the digital economy. Gael Hernandez African IGF 2017, 5 December 2017 Sharm El Sheik, Egypt

Transcription

1 Internet infrastructure as an enabler to the digital economy Gael Hernandez African IGF 2017, 5 December 2017 Sharm El Sheik, Egypt

2 Digital economy ecosystem Digital Enabled Services Consumer E-commerce Digital Media Communication Transportation Business SaaS Self-provided Other Enabling CDN providers Payment providers Advertising Other Internet infrastructure Housing and Hosting Internet Access Core Internet Housing Hosting Internet Exchanges Dedicated hosting ISP Transit Providers Colocation Shared hosting Domain Name System IaaS DSL Access Networks Coax Fiber Mobile Networks Backbone Networks Devices

3 Dutch example The economic value of the Online Services sector is 10 times the value of the Digital Infrastructure sector

4 Internet infrastructure Internet service providers (ISPs): offer end users (consumers and enterprises) access to the Internet via different types of networks (mobile, fibre, coax and DSL) Internet exchanges (IXPs): facilitate networks to interconnect with each other and exchange Internet traffic mutually (peering). Typically, networks see an equivalent value and there s no financial settlement involved. Internet infrastructure Internet Access ISP Core Internet Internet Exchanges Transit Providers Domain Name System Transit providers: networks that aggregate traffic in the core of the Internet and connect smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) to the larger Internet. Domain Name System: decentralised database that translates domain names ( to IP addresses ( ).

5 Why are they enablers? Internet Service Providers Internet Exchange Points - Provide last-mile connectivity access to citizens, governments and business. - Decrease network operational costs (peering); improve network performance (shortest path) and make networks more redundant (multiple routes) - Develop a peering culture and community in the country Transit Providers - Transport long-distance traffic from A to B. Domain Name System - One unique namespace for the Internet. - We can use human readable domain names instead machine readable IP addresses

6 Why are they enablers? As the IXP becomes attractive, transit providers become interested in joining and providing services, creating African routes Critical DNS services hosted in the country become available through the IXP Service providers agree to build an IXP on a neutral location to reduce their costs and run their networks more efficiently Service providers need to interconnect their users with content and the rest of the world Without an Internet exchange, all traffic will use current routes and could be routed to hubs overseas DNS queries leaving the country can make the translation of domains to IP addresses unstable, slow and unreliable

7 Overview of active Internet exchanges worldwide 44 Internet exchange points active in the African continent

8 Active Internet exchanges in Africa All African countries have active IXPs except a few countries mostly in the North and Central Africa regions. Community involvement in the governance of the exchange is a key success factor as it increases openness, neutrality and trust among participants of the IXP. Major hubs in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria.

9 Domestic traffic growth is real Public peering traffic at RINEX, Gbps Sep 2012 Dec 2012 Feb 2013 May 2013 Aug 2013 Oct 2013 Dec 2013 Jan 2014 Mar 2014 May 2014 Aug 2014 Sep 2014 Nov 2014 Jan 2015 Mar 2015 Apr 2015 Jun 2015 Aug 2015 Oct 2015 Nov 2015 Jan 2016 Mar 2016 May 2016 Jun 2016 Aug 2016 Oct 2016 Dec 2016 Jan 2017 Mar 2017

10 Transit Providers are expanding Increased choice of transit providers to deliver traffic between major cities in Africa, particularly East and Southern Africa. Traffic still leaves the region/ continent, but less often than a few years ago. Some transit providers prefer submarine cables over terrestrial introducing long hops to London or Paris.

11 Stability and reliability of the Domain Name System Every webpage can require up to ~25 DNS lookups Dependent on the availability of critical DNS elements hosted and operated in-country. The minimum set of domain name services recommended for local name resolution are: root servers country-code TLDs some generic TLDs (such as COM, NET, ORG, etc.)

12 DNS Root servers More than 15 countries don t host instances of DNS root servers within their territories Country Rootservers Cities Angola D, E, F, J Luanda Benin D Cotonou Botswana D Gaborone Cote d Ivoire D, L Abidjan, Bouake Djibouti J, E, F Djibouti city DRC D Kinshasa Egypt D, E, F, J Cairo Gabon D Libreville Gambia D Serrekunda Ghana D, E Accra Kenya D, E, J, F Nairobi, Mombasa Liberia D Monrovia Madagascar D Antananarivo Malawi D, L Blantyre Mauritius D, E, L St Louis Country Root-servers Cities Morocco L Rabat Mozambique D, E Maputo Namibia D Windhoek Nigeria D, J Lagos Rwanda D, J, I Kigali Senegal L Dakar South Africa D, E, F, I, J, K, L Sudan D Khartoum Johannesburg, Durban, Capetown Tanzania D,E, L, J Dar es Salaam, Arusha Tunisia D, L Tunis, Enfindha Uganda D Kampala

13 Conclusions The value of the digital economy can be several times the value of the digital infrastructure. Internet exchange points reduce operational costs of networks by facilitating network interconnection. Community involvement and support of the IXP is key. Critical DNS services should be located in-country to increase stability, security and reliability of name resolution. IXPs often host such services to all its participants. Transit providers are using IXPs to route more traffic within the continent instead of going overseas.