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IGF 2023 Launch / Award Event #8 ISIF Asia 2023 Awards

Time
Monday, 9th October, 2023 (06:15 UTC) - Monday, 9th October, 2023 (07:15 UTC)
Room
WS 6 – Room E
Subtheme

Avoiding Internet Fragmentation

Theme
Avoiding Internet Fragmentation

APNIC Foundation
Ellisha Heppner, APNIC Foundation, Technical Community, WEOG Dave Dawson, APNIC Foundation, Technical Community, WEOG

Organization's Website
https://apnic.foundation/
Speakers

Award winners will be the speakers and are to be confirmed.

Onsite Moderator
Ellisha Heppner
Online Moderator
Dave Dawson
Rapporteur
Dave Dawson
SDGs

 


Targets:

 

Format

Presentation - Awards Ceremony

Duration (minutes)
60
Language
English
Description

The ISIF Asia Awards were first introduced in 2011 to celebrate the outstanding organizations and individuals supporting community needs through innovative uses of Internet technologies. The two 2023 Awardees will receive USD 5,000 and support to attend the Internet Governance Forum in Japan. The 2023 awards will recognize two exceptional contributions to Internet development working to advance Internet Exchange Points in the Asia Pacific region.

We would like to webcast the event online if possible. The moderator will introduce the award winners and allow them to discuss their project and share any short videos of their work. We prepare award speakers prior to the event, and we prepare any visual materials that will be displayed on the screens.

Key Takeaways (* deadline at the end of the session day)
Technical staff working in Internet development face geopolitical barriers in their efforts to bring down Internet speeds. Giving an example in Pakistan, the submarine cables all link to the Southern part of the country and are not linked to neighbouring countries. Staff working in political areas should help and work with technical staff to improve the situation for technical staff.
Internet exchange points (IXPs) link content providers (like social media companies) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Without content providers participating, they can’t get the connections with ISPs, and without ISPs they can’t get the content providers. But content providers are large companies and getting their participation can be challenging for IXPs trying to improve Internet conditions. Finding ways to bring them to the table would h
Call to Action (* deadline at the end of the session day)
Governments and organizations with significant policy influence should assist Internet Exchange Points and small operators to negotiate with governments and discuss issues related to Internet traffic.
It can be difficult for Internet Exchange Points to negotiate with large content providers, so government should assist in negotiations with content providers to be hosted locally. Content providers such as social media companies should also proactively reach out to fledging Internet Exchange Points to help them improve Internet speeds in their countries.
Session Report (* deadline 9 January) - click on the ? symbol for instructions

The ISIF Asia awards recognized the contributions of organizations supporting the development of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). These IXPs play an important role in directing web traffic around the world.

There were three awardees:

The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) for their work on software-defined IXPs – the award was accepted by project lead Zartash Afzal Uzmi.

The Myanmar Internet Exchange (MMIX) for their work on supporting networks in Myanmar – the award was accepted by project lead Thein Myint Khine.

The University of Malaya, for the design, development and operation of an SDN-based Internet eXchange playground for Networkers – the award was accepted by project lead Dr Ling Teck Chaw.

The video of the session is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC6p73CvtyI

The awardees raised some key themes:

  • There are a lot of challenges around negotiations between content providers (such as large social media companies) and the ISPs who peer at the IXP. One will not join without the other side being there. So how do they start?
  • If there can be a way to bring larger institutional players in like the content providers and governments to help encourage the content providers to peer there, it would be of assistance to these IXPs. This makes a difference in Internet speeds for these countries

The ISIF Asia awards are presented by the APNIC Foundation, and they recognize the use of innovative technologies to support Internet development in the Asia Pacific.

The individual videos for each of the three awardees can be seen here:
https://apnic.foundation/announcing-the-isif-asia-awards-2023/