IXPN Moves to Improve Internet Ecosystem, Engages Stakeholders

Emma Okonji
The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), last week in Kano, engaged stakeholders from various sectors on the benefits and impact of connecting to the internet exchange point.
The two-day workshop was attended by various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Kano State, representatives from the Nigerian Communications Commission, Vice-Chancellors, Provosts, Permanent Secretary of the Kano State Ministry of Science and Technology, Executive Secretary from Kano State Library, among others.

Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Mr. Rudman Muhammed, explained that connecting to the exchange point would have a huge role to play in the country’s ICT ecosystem and, ultimately, the digital economy agenda.

According to Rudman, the role of the internet and easy access to information by students in today’s world cannot be emphased, adding that IXPN is at the forefront of advocating for the localisation of educational research contents and other content in-country, with such content easily accessible through the increasingly robust IXPN infrastructure across Nigeria. This will significantly reduce capital flight, improve latency, reduce the risk of such traffic being hijacked, and improve resiliency.

“We believe that the fast-depleting IPV4 resources at AfriNIC underline the need for Higher Educational Institutions to acquire their IP resources and peer with the eXchange point, thereby providing access to their students to contents currently available through the IXPN,” Rudman said.
He also assured that the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria would provide the necessary support to any educational institution that wishes to acquire Internet Protocol (IP) resources and connect to the eXchange point.

The workshop in Kano is coming weeks after IXPN engaged 21 participants from nine network operators in Lagos in what it described as value-added service to its members through capacity building.

Rudman, at the two-day training programme held at the IXPN Academy located at its corporate headquarters in Lagos, explained the rudiments of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to her members, saying that BGP is a gateway protocol that enables the internet to exchange routing information between autonomous systems (AS).

“The idea of today’s training is to empower members of the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) with the rudiments and workings of Border Gateway Protocol, which is important to us as a one-stop peering point for service and content providers,” Rudman said.

The Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) announced earlier this year that it would begin capacity building for its members across the country, to empower them on current technology trends and best practices, particularly as it relates to connectivity to the eXchange Point.