Belize Builds Its Digital Dreams

HAVANA, Cuba—Errol Cattouse is a man on a mission.

He’s the Chief Operating Officer of Centaur Cable and the newly appointed chairman of Belize’s internet exchange point. Launched in Belize City on April 27, the exchange point is seen as a key component in the country’s growing technology sector.

For Cattouse and others in the Caribbean, IXPs also hold the promise of better network performance and greater options to innovate in the delivery of services to local consumers. But Cattouse already knows he can’t do it on his own. So he’s on a mission to develop the human resource capacity needed to bring the dream home. And he’s not alone.

Around the region, the investments being made in critical Internet infrastructure are creating a demand for expertise that seemingly outstrips current domestic supply. The growing Caribbean technology revolution can’t be completed until the region can raise up a generation of open minds and able hands ready to seize the opportunities and deliver on technology’s elusive promise. That’s what brought Cattouse and other Internet service providers from across the region to Cuba in May.

The capital city of Havana played host to the twenty-fifth meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Registry (LACNIC) from May 2 to 6.

“I’m here because in Belize, with our newly formed Internet Exchange, we’re looking forward to LACNIC helping us with a lot of technical support,” he told me, when I caught up with him between sessions. “We don’t have access to a lot of technical education and capacity in Belize, and we’ve benefitted of programs from the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) to help build our local capacity. This LACNIC meeting is part of our ongoing efforts to continue making connections with the regional technical community.”

He cited the Domain Name System (DNS) and Border Gateway Patrol routing (BGP) as two areas for which technical training is needed in Belize to get the most out of the new IXP.

The good news? Global, non-profit organisations like LACNIC, the Internet Society, Packet Clearing House, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers are eager to work alongside Belize and others in the Caribbean to grow and strengthen the region’s internet.

“LACNIC is quite focused on building out training opportunities for the region,” said Kevon Swift, LACNIC’s Head of Strategic Relations and Integration, in an interview at LACNIC 25. “We offer workshops that cover everything from the basics of IPv6 to Address Planning and BGP Routing because we recognise that this level of knowledge or expertise may not always  reside in every territory at this time.”

LACNIC’s online campus already offers MOOC-style, self-paced courses, said Laura Kaplan, LACNIC’s Cooperation and Development Officer, adding that there is a plan to expand the curriculum to cover the kinds of topics that Cattouse and others are looking for, and to make it more friendly to English-speaking participants.

“What we offer is not just information but the opportunity to join mailing lists, make new contacts and  build relationships with other people who are also working in the same field,” Kaplan said.

Bill Woodcock, research director at Packet Clearing House, highlighted the work his San Francisco-based organisation has been doing in the region.

“PCH has been working closely with the CTU, CaribNOG and others in the region to support the proliferation of Internet exchange points and to help strengthen the region’s internet infrastructure.”

Woodcock and his PCH team helped set up the Belize IXP and are now actively planning with Cattouse to facilitate a series technical training workshops for Belize, over the second half of the year.

That is likely to reassure those, like Cattouse, on a mission to help the Caribbean move from the land of Internet promises, and into the Internet promised land.

Building The Caribbean Internet Through Relationships: CarPIF Connects The People Behind The Region’s Networks

It seems the region’s tech community is on to something that has eluded our politicians. Human networks are key to our development. And there is an unique group dedicated to getting the right people in the same place at the same time, so that the right deals and partnerships can help strengthen and expand the Internet in the Caribbean. Computer network engineers use the term Peering to describe the arrangement between two or more networks that exchange Internet traffic between their networks without cost, typically at an Internet exchange point. But peering is also an apt term to describe the human connections that make these arrangements possible.

Around the world, Peering Forums are held to promote regional Internet development and grow the global Internet economy. The Caribbean held its first Peering Forum, dubbed CarPIF, in May 2015 in Barbados.

Last week, more than 100 key decision makers from the Caribbean, Latin America, USA and Europe gathered in Curaçao for the second edition of this unique regional forum. The event was held at the Renaissance Resort in the capital, Willemstad, from June 7 to 10.

Participants included senior officials from regional governments, Internet organisations, service providers, exchange points operators and telecommunications regulators—along with  international content providers from companies like Facebook, Google and Akamai.

One of the things that makes CarPIF unique in the growing pantheon of Caribbean tech events is the opportunity it provides regional and international stakeholders to meet each other in an environment specifically designed for building relationship and raising awareness of development opportunities. That’s a big draw, and the two-day event did not disappoint.

Short sessions were punctuated by long breaks filled with coffee-fueled conversation among participants eager to shake hands, share knowledge and broker deals.

“CarPIF is much more than just great technical presentations. It’s about the interactions, human relationships and the shared experiences that help national, regional and international participants shape the future of development of the Internet in the Caribbean in a tangible and meaningful way,” said Bevil Wooding, CarPIF founder and Caribbean Outreach Manager for the US-based non-profit Packet Clearing House (PCH).

CarPIF is an initiative of PCH and the Internet Society (ISOC), with the support of the Caribbean Network Operators Group and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, an inter-governmental Caribbean organisation.

“Given the growth of Internet usage and the increasing importance of Internet infrastructure to every facet of development today, the Caribbean has come to the point where a forum specifically to address issues of Peering and Interconnection is critical to the long-term growth and resilience of the region’s telecommunication networks. And so, the purpose of CarPIF is to facilitate those kinds of interactions and the human relationships that underpin them,” Wooding said.

Shernon Osepa, ISOC manager of Regional Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean, agreed, describing CarPIF as “a testament to the growth and maturity that continues to take place in the Caribbean Internet landscape.”

The organisers received support from the Amsterdam Internet Exchange, the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Registry, the American Registry of Internet Numbers, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and other organisations that have been working to increase awareness of what is required to grow the region’s Internet ecosystem.

The big lesson from CarPIF: behind every good Internet connection is a good human relationship. In that sense, the real work of building the Caribbean internet is not technical but human. And that is key to a better connected Caribbean.

PCH, Internet Society To Hold Third Peering Forum In Caribbean

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao—A number of regional and global Internet organisations have one important date circled for 2017.

The third Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum will be held in Sint Maarten on June 7, 2017 and the Internet community is already looking forward to it.

Referred to as CarPIF, the annual Forum is two days of meetings and deal-making specifically to promote regional Internet development. The first CarPIF meeting was held in May 2015, Barbados, the second in June 2016 in Curaçao.

Major global players look forward to these Peering Forums, or PIFs, because they provide a perfect setting for brokering new business deals in the various regional markets around the world. And the significance of the opportunity is hardly lost on Caribbean internet stakeholders.

This year, more than 100 key decision makers from across the region—including officials from internet organisations, telecommunications regulators and governments—gathered in Willemstad for the opportunity to meet with exchange point operators, Internet service providers and well-known international content providers, including Facebook, Google and Akamai.

“CarPIF 3 builds upon the success of the past two regional fora. The relationships between content providers, exchange point managers, telecom regulators and network operators are a critical to determining network performance, content delivery costs and, ultimately, the quality of service consumers receive,” said Bevil Wooding, Caribbean Outreach Manager for the US-based non-profit Packet Clearing House (PCH) and co-founder of CarPIF.

He announced the dates for the third CarPIF on the closing day of the second CarPIF event.

“We expect that the next CarPIF event will give Caribbean and international stakeholders a greater forum to forge relationships that will lead to a more robust Internet ecosystem in the Caribbean,” said Shernon Osepa, ISOC manager of Regional Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean.

CarPIF is an initiative of PCH and the Internet Society (ISOC), with the support of the Caribbean Network Operators Group and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), an inter-governmental Caribbean organisation.