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

ISIF Asia

ISIF Asia and APNIC Foundation are two organizations that play a crucial role in promoting internet development and innovation in the Asia-Pacific region. ISIF Asia specifically focuses on providing grants and awards to projects that contribute to internet development, with a particular emphasis on infrastructure, inclusion, and knowledge. Their ultimate goal is to achieve meaningful and equitable internet access for all individuals. On the other hand, the APNIC Foundation is committed to supporting and recognizing entrepreneurs and innovators in the internet field, with the aim of fostering the expansion and improvement of internet access and usage.

Both ISIF Asia and the APNIC Foundation align their efforts with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. These goals serve as a framework for their work in making significant contributions towards the development and enhancement of internet-related initiatives in the region.

While ISIF Asia has dedicated substantial resources to supporting projects and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, they acknowledge that the current funding falls short of the needs of researchers and practitioners. In response, they actively seek contributions and support from like-minded organizations, partners, and donors who are willing to collaborate and participate in their work.

Both ISIF Asia and the APNIC Foundation recognize the importance of monitoring and evaluating the impact of their interventions. ISIF Asia is in the process of developing a monitoring and evaluation framework to better understand their impact and calculate their contributions within a broader ecosystem, rather than claiming full attribution for project outcomes. This approach reflects their commitment to a multi-stakeholder, community-based approach to internet development, wherein they actively build networks and collaborate with various regional and national organizations to maximize their impact.

Overall, the contributions of ISIF Asia and the APNIC Foundation are valuable in driving internet development and innovation in the Asia-Pacific region. Their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, collaborative approach, and efforts towards monitoring and evaluation demonstrate their dedication to creating meaningful and equitable internet access for all individuals.

University of Malaya

The University of Malaya in Malaysia has been recognized for their work on an SDN-based internet exchange playground, receiving the prestigious ISF-Asia 2023 award. This project aims to enhance the training of technical operators and bolster the routing security of internet exchange points (IXPs). One important aspect of their work is the team’s focus on engaging women in this field, with the aim of promoting gender diversity. Additionally, the project introduces the use of RPKI (Resource Public Key Infrastructure) in the BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) to enhance security.

The ISF-Asia 2023 award comes with a £5,000 grant for research costs and a travel grant to the Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto, Japan. This recognition highlights the significance of the University of Malaya’s work and their contribution to the advancement of the internet industry.

The University of Malaya is optimistic about the possibilities of further international collaboration on their SDN-based internet exchange playground project. Dr. Ling Tak Chow, a representative from the university, expressed the hope that more countries and collaborators would join their efforts. The project has been designed in a way that allows for connection to more nodes, thereby enabling the training of a larger number of networkers. Furthermore, the project aims to create a more distributed environment for IXPs, facilitating network operations on a wider scale.

Providing easy access to a learning environment for young networkers is another key aspect emphasized in this summary. Access to such an environment may be particularly challenging in developing or least developed countries. The goal, therefore, is to create a learning environment that closely resembles real-world scenarios. This enables young networkers to gain practical experience and skills necessary for their professional development.

The summary also highlights future areas of development in internet network operations, including the exploration of AI-assisted IXP environments and the continuous improvement of internet exchange security. These advancements are expected to enhance the efficiency and reliability of internet networks, contributing to the further development of the industry.

In terms of technological advancements, the summary points out the University of Malaya’s use of advanced technologies like SDN (Software-Defined Networking) and BGP routers. They have secured funding to deploy these machines in various countries, allowing users to set up their own path between routers. This technological approach creates a more flexible and customizable network infrastructure, encouraging innovative solutions and greater user autonomy.

The University of Malaya has also received grants and appreciates the support and collaboration they have received. They express gratitude towards their institution and collaborators, particularly mentioning Dr. Chua Pangwei, Dr. Aris Redianto, and project admin Satish Kumar for their valuable contributions.

Overall, the University of Malaya’s work on the SDN-based internet exchange playground project is lauded for its significant impact on the industry. While the number of publications may be an important measure of success, Dr. Ling emphasizes the importance of the project’s practical implications and the training it offers.

The expanded summary highlights the University of Malaya’s achievements, aspirations for further collaboration, focus on gender diversity, commitment to practical learning environments, and exploration of advanced technologies. Their dedication to advancing the field of internet network operations is commendable, and their work has the potential to shape the future of the industry.

Keywords: University of Malaya, Malaysia, ISF-Asia 2023 awards, SDN-based internet exchange playground, networkers, routing security, IXPs, gender diversity, RPKI, BGP, Internet Governance Forum, practical learning environment, international collaboration, developing countries, least developed countries, AI-assisted IXP environments, internet exchange security, Software-Defined Networking, BGP routers, flexible network infrastructure, grants, appreciation, industry impact.

Audience

Technical projects aimed at improving Internet efficiency and reducing latency have a dual impact, both on a technical level and on the economic front. In particular, projects such as Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) play a crucial role in driving not only technical advancements but also economic progression. These initiatives require funds to be implemented, and although the investment may seem significant, the practical and economic benefits they bring tend to far exceed the initial funding. One specific example of this is a project that used $9.4 million, where the speaker believes the impact on the economy was far greater than the amount invested.

The economic impact of such projects is as vital to consider as the technical advancements they bring. It is crucial for stakeholders, especially governments, to be convinced about the benefits and impacts of these technical projects. One suggestion for achieving this is to present quantifiable data and statistics that demonstrate the economic impact. By providing tangible evidence, such as measurable results in terms of economic benefits, stakeholders can better understand the value and potential of these projects. In particular, the speaker, Dr. Zartash, has highlighted the challenge of convincing government and other key stakeholders about the significance of these initiatives. The use of quantifiable data and statistics could prove to be a more effective method of persuasion, appealing to stakeholders’ preference for concrete numbers.

Looking towards the future, it is essential to develop plans that can further demonstrate the economic impact of technical projects like IXPs. This is key to gaining continued support and persuasion from relevant stakeholders. In particular, quantifiable results can serve as a persuasive tool to build a case for more projects like IXPs in regions such as Pakistan. By providing evidence of the positive economic impact and potential future benefits, stakeholders can be encouraged to support and invest in such initiatives.

In conclusion, technical projects aimed at improving Internet efficiency and reducing latency not only have a technical impact but also a significant economic impact. The practical and economic benefits of these projects generally surpass the initial funding, making them valuable investment areas. However, convincing the government and other stakeholders about the importance and value of these projects can be a challenge. Utilising quantifiable data and statistics to demonstrate the economic impact can play a crucial role in persuading stakeholders. Future plans should be devised to provide further evidence of the economic impact and to gain continued support and persuasion from stakeholders.

Ellisha Heppner

Ellisha Heppner holds the position of Grants Management Lead for the APNIC Foundation, where she oversees the distribution and management of grants. Her role highlights her commitment to effectively managing grants within the organization. She actively supports the advancement of the Internet for development, recognizing its potential to drive innovation and infrastructure growth.

One notable example of Heppner’s support is her encouragement of the LUMS team’s efforts. The team received the ISF-Asia awards in 2023 for their outstanding work in the development and implementation of software-defined networking (SDN) applications for internet exchange points (IXPs). Their innovative approach enabled the successful deployment of IXPs in Karachi and Lahore, leading to reduced operating costs through automation. Heppner played a crucial role in presenting the award to Sartaj Avzal-Uzmi, the leader of the LUMS team, expressing her hope that the recognition would further assist their future innovative initiatives.

Furthermore, the APNIC Foundation celebrates the remarkable contributions of three grantees from the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) Asia. These grantees have made exceptional strides in the development of internet exchange points, which play a vital role in industry, innovation, and infrastructure growth. The recognition they receive highlights the importance of promoting internet exchange points and their impact on advancing connectivity and collaboration.

However, challenges remain in convincing service providers to fully utilize the newly established internet exchange points. Although physical connectivity has been established, there is room for improvement in optimizing their usage. While there are potential cost benefits for service providers in utilizing these exchanges, increased persuasion is needed to ensure their widespread adoption.

The accomplishments of the ISF-Asia 2023 awards extend beyond LUMS. MNIX, the organization behind Myanmar’s first internet exchange point, is recognized for their exceptional work in this field. MNIX operates as a non-profit, community-led exchange that provides IP peering facilities. With two IXPs and three points of presence (POPs), their plans to extend their network reach to a data center further contribute to the development of internet infrastructure in Myanmar. Heppner commends the notable work done by Thien Nguyen Kim and the team at MNIX.

Additionally, the University of Malaya, Malaysia, is acknowledged for their work on designing, developing, and operating an SDN-based internet exchange. Led by Dr. Ling Tak Chow, this project holds significant implications for the advancement of industry, innovation, and infrastructure. The University’s efforts to foster gender equality in the field through online training, tutorials, and seminars specifically targeting women are also recognized.

Overall, Heppner expresses gratitude towards the meeting attendees and appreciates the support provided by the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust and APNIC. She recognizes their essential role in enabling the work of awardees and their commitment to furthering the development of the internet. Through her support and encouragement, Heppner demonstrates her dedication to advancing internet connectivity and collaboration in pursuit of sustainable development goals.

University of Management Sciences or LUMS

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is actively working on the development of software-defined Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Pakistan. The LUMS team has successfully deployed IXPs in both Karachi and Lahore. This achievement is the result of collaboration with government organizations such as the Higher Education Commission and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. These collaborations were essential for identifying suitable locations and hosting the IXPs.

Despite the successful deployment, the utilization of the IXPs remains a challenge. Efforts are being made to incentivize service providers to exchange their traffic through the IXPs by encouraging the presence of large content providers in Pakistan. By doing so, it is hoped that the overall utilization of the Internet Exchange Points will increase.

One of the significant hurdles in this project was the absence of IXPs in Pakistan. The LUMS team had to secure funding and develop a research team to address this issue. The first challenge was to identify the problem and seek funding to solve it. However, despite these initial obstacles, LUMS was able to overcome them and successfully deploy the IXPs in Karachi and Lahore.

In terms of challenges faced by Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, the limited connectivity and expensive access are noteworthy. Pakistan’s connectivity is only through the southern part of the country, which brings about inefficiencies and renders access to the internet quite expensive for ordinary users. This highlights the importance of improving internet affordability and making it accessible for the masses.

Another noteworthy observation is the need for the neutralization of geopolitical scenarios for efficient international connectivity. Currently, Pakistan is not connected to any neighboring countries for internet exchange, resulting in inefficiencies. It is crucial to have better international connectivity to enhance internet exchange practices.

Overall, the successful deployment of the IXPs by LUMS is a significant step towards improving Pakistan’s internet infrastructure. Collaboration with government organizations, efforts to incentivize service providers, and addressing issues of limited connectivity and expensive access are all crucial aspects of this project. By focusing on these areas, it is hoped that Pakistan’s internet exchange system will be more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible to a wider population.

Myanmar Internet Exchange

The Myanmar Internet Exchange (MNIX) has been recognised for its achievement in developing Myanmar’s first internet exchange point (IXP), winning the ISF-Asia Awards 2023. MNIX has successfully expanded its operations to include two IXPs and three points of presence (POPs), with 26 peer ASNs. This not-for-profit, community-led exchange provides IP peering facilities for its members, promoting collaboration and connectivity within the country.

However, MNIX faces challenges in several areas. Cooperation between local internet service providers (ISPs) and contemporary providers proves to be a hurdle. The emigration of engineers further compounds this issue, exacerbating the shortage of local staff and hindering the growth and development of the exchange.

Nonetheless, MNIX has notable achievements to its credit. It established the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) system earlier than other regions, ensuring security and authenticity in the exchange of internet routing information. Additionally, MNIX places significant emphasis on the training of IXP members, fostering knowledge sharing and collective experiences.

Looking to the future, MNIX has plans for expansion. This includes extending its network reach to a data centre, setting up another IXP in a different city, and establishing small POPs in other cities. These steps towards expansion aim to strengthen internet infrastructure and enhance connectivity across the country.

One of the main challenges faced by MNIX and other internet exchange points in Myanmar is securing the engagement of large network operators. Negotiations with these entities often prove difficult, as they show little interest in participating in IXPs. However, an increase in the content connected to the IXP may generate interest from these larger network operators, leading to increased collaboration and connectivity.

The community, particularly content providers, play a crucial role in supporting the establishment and operation of IXPs. By joining the IXP, content providers contribute to reduced latency and increased connectivity, benefiting all stakeholders involved. This highlights the importance of partnerships and community involvement in driving the success of internet exchange points in Myanmar.

In a separate development, the Myanmar Internet Exchange (MMIX) has expanded its network beyond Yangon by establishing another IXP in Mandalay. MMIX aims to focus on small and medium ISPs and plans to set up more locations in remote areas of Myanmar if there is demand.

However, challenges exist, particularly with the government network in Naypyidaw. Currently, it is not yet connected to MMIX, despite most of the networks in the city being government-operated. Connectivity between MMIX and the government network in Naypyidaw could enhance collaboration and extend the benefits of the internet exchange point.

MMIX recognises that establishing content for the network is crucial for attracting ISPs. To this end, they have been approaching content delivery network (CDN) providers to acquire content. Without a diverse range of content, ISPs are unlikely to connect to their network, underscoring the significance of content provision in driving the success of internet exchange points.

In conclusion, the recognition of MNIX for developing Myanmar’s first IXP highlights its significant contribution to the country’s internet infrastructure. Despite challenges in cooperation, staff shortage, and engaging large network operators, MNIX has achieved notable successes with the RPKI system and IXP member training. Plans for expansion and the vital role of the community and content providers emphasise the importance of collaboration and involvement in advancing internet exchange points in Myanmar. Additionally, MMIX’s expansion beyond Yangon and focus on content provision demonstrate a commitment to improving connectivity and access to remote areas.

(Note: I have retained the same level of detail as the original text, while correcting grammatical errors, sentence formation issues, typos, and using UK spelling and grammar where required.)

Ellisha Heppner:
My name is Alicia Hepner, and I am the Grants Management Lead for the APNIC Foundation, and I’ll be your emcee. I just want to thank you all for your support here today and the commitment to advance the Internet for development. We are here to celebrate the work of three fantastic grantees of the Information Society Innovation Fund, ISIF, Asia, for their outstanding contributions towards the development of Internet exchange points. We have a short video to introduce the ISIF Asia for those who may not be familiar with it. Could we please play the video?

ISIF Asia:
In 2016, the United Nations declared Internet access a human right. But today, more than a quarter of the Asia-Pacific is still disconnected, leaving many of the most vulnerable people without access to this essential resource. The Information Society Innovation Fund, ISIF Asia, supports communities in the Asia-Pacific region to research, design, and implement Internet-based solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. ISIF Asia achieves its goals through grants and awards to projects that contribute to Internet development from a technical and operational perspective in three key areas – infrastructure, inclusion, knowledge. The infrastructure program aims to increase Internet speed, reduce maintenance and operational costs, improve reliability and or security. ISIF Asia infrastructure projects have ranged from innovative satellite connection research through to smart villages and the establishment of networks to serve remote communities. The inclusion program pursues the goal of meaningful and equitable access to the Internet for all. It focuses on availability, bringing the Internet to places with limited or no access. Affordability, helping bring down the costs of Internet access for disadvantaged areas. Accessibility, boosting the adoption of standards and technologies to help people with disabilities online. Diversity, increasing representation in the Internet industry among women, LGBTQI plus people and other underrepresented groups. The knowledge program supports training and research projects that develop technical capacity and or research around Internet network operations. ISIF Asia knowledge projects have ranged from cyber security research through to training in technical best practice. ISIF Asia is run by APNIC Foundation thanks to generous support from the Asia-Pacific Network Information Center and the Asia-Pacific Internet Development Trust, as well as other generous donors. To get in touch, contact the foundation at info at isif.asia. And now I’d like to introduce the foundation’s acting CEO, Sylvia Cadena, to speak. Thank you, Alicia. Thank you. If I can have my slides. Thank you. My apologies for my croaky voice. I am trying to be quick in this presentation, but it’s my great honor to introduce to you the work of the foundation in this edition of the ISIF Asia Awards. The foundation was established as the fundraising arm of APNIC. For those of you that are not aware of what APNIC is, APNIC is the Asia-Pacific Network Information Center, and we allocate the IP addresses and ASN numbers that all network operators require to connect their customers to the Internet, and we cover all the Asia-Pacific region with a big focus on developing capacity, both human and infrastructure, and produce insightful research and actively participate in multi-stakeholder model of Internet cooperation and governance, which gathered us here today at the Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto. The APNIC Foundation, the map that you can see in front of you, are showing only the projects and initiatives that were supported just last year. The map for the years of operation of the foundation was established in 2016. It’s a little bit bigger to fit in one screen, so you can scan the QR code to have a look at our last year annual report. The mission of the foundation is to increase investment in this area and to support dialogue and collaboration that leads to the development of these projects, like the ones that you are going to learn about today. As mentioned in the video, the foundation has three programs, infrastructure, inclusion, and knowledge, and all our funding is allocated around those three, which includes grants and awards from ECF Asia and other funding mechanisms that the foundation has, with a big focus on building capacity, both human and operational, for a global, open, affordable, accessible, stable, and secure Internet. We target most of our funding and our support to network engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and Internet governance specialists, as we understand that the needs of the people that build the Internet are not very well addressed. A lot of the funding that exists goes into projects that are more focused on end users, so the role of the foundation is to support those that build the Internet and maintain it and make it what it is today. I’m not going to repeat what we saw in the video about what the infrastructure, inclusion, and knowledge programs cover, but the photos that you saw on the screen and some of the information in the video are all about projects that we have supported in our years of operation, and we encourage you to take advantage of the reports that we normally publish on our website to see what resources are available. In terms of other areas of investment from the foundation, you can see on the screen the projects that the foundation is currently investing on. They are all ranging from technical training and capacity building in different modalities, some with a stronger emphasis on, for example, gender and diversity, others with a stronger emphasis on new or students that are just graduating from engineering that are looking at how can we engage them in the future development of the Internet, like the School on Internet Asia in their API project, and you also can see a couple of our research projects that are research on Internet measurement and also on cybersecurity. Those projects are all the same as with the three programs that I mentioned before. They are all aligned with the programs of the foundation and all looking at the support for the network engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and Internet governance specialists that make the Internet work. The foundation has three main public or community funding tools or mechanisms to provide support. ECF Asia is the one that gathers us here today, but we also have the foundation community assistance and the trust discretionary funding that allows organizations that are working in Asia-Pacific or globally to be able to receive much-needed support for really core operations that they are doing. So in the photo, for example, on the right hand of my screen on the trust discretionary fund square is Shadow Server that allows information that are produced by people that are using different cybersecurity mechanisms like honey pots and honey nets to share threat analysis at a global level, and that dashboard allows for organizations to learn about those cybersecurity threats. The photo in the middle is about training provided that has allowed organizations in the Pacific to continue the support for computer emergency response teams. And the last photo on ECF Asia is from one of the deployments in the Solomon Islands. So ECF Asia was established in 2008. So far we have allocated $9.4 million to 145 projects and 33 awards, covering 32 of the economies that APNIC service region. The technical reports from all of these organizations are published on a creative commons license that allows, we only publish the final report, but that allows organizations that are looking into replicating some of the issues that they are targeting to be able to find some of the information and the lessons learned that these organizations have discovered in the process. These reports are very raw, are very, is the lessons learned, is their first goal of what they learn and what they share is not academic papers, they are not trying to impress anyone, it’s just about sharing really what happened and encourage dialogue and participation. And we really encourage you to have a look at those reports because I think that’s one of the main differences between ECF and any other grants program in the region or globally. The majority of grants programs will never disclose the reports that guarantees provide to them and that is a valuable source of information for the community. ECF was awarded as an ECF champion back in 2018 and 2019 and so far we have received thousands of proposals. So we, although you know those numbers might be big in terms of you know almost 10 million dollars over 15 years, the needs of researchers and practitioners in the region are way bigger than that. So we are always looking for contributions and support from well-minded organizations, partners and donors that are willing to participate in our work. We are aligned with mostly SDG 9 and SDG 17, SDG 9 on innovation and internet infrastructure development and SDG 17 as we are partners for the goals. But a lot of the individual projects are aligned with different SDGs and in our maps, in our website, you will be able to identify which SDGs our projects or the projects that we have supported are aligned with. At the moment for this year we had 23 selection committee members that were actively serving in five selection committees. They were all well-recognized experts in the region. We received 135 applications this year, a 12% increase from last year across the different categories as you can see on the read on the screen. And at the moment we are tracking 68 active projects between the last three years of operation as we have projects that expand over 18 months implementation periods. So there is some that the final projects reports are not yet published but they will be at some point in the future and we encourage you to find them in our new website that was very recently launched. These are all our social media handlers and we really hope that you can follow us, especially the one for LinkedIn and YouTube as we are hoping to get our vanity links. So if we get more people to subscribe we get closer to that number. So please if you have a chance to have a look at more of our work we really welcome your input and your support to the work that the foundation does and of course to the growth of the funding mechanisms that we have available. We are just an email away and I will get back to Alicia so that we can continue with the most important part which is acknowledging the outstanding contributions of these remarkable people we have here today. Thank you Alicia.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you Sylvia. So now what we’re going to do is look to celebrate the success and award our nominees. We will look to play a short video and then I’ll ask to come up and present award face the front to our beautiful online audience and just get a quick snapshot before sitting down and I’ll introduce the next. So first awardee is the Lahore University of Management and Sciences or LUMS and the project was led by Zatash Uzmai. They are receiving the award for their work on software defined internet exchange points and we have a short video to show on the project. Could we play the project?

University of Management Sciences or LUMS:
The ISF-Asia 2023 awards include five thousand dollars for research costs and a travel grant to the internet governance forum in Kyoto, Japan. A winner of the ISF-Asia awards 2023 is the Lahore University of Management Sciences LUMS for their work on software defined internet exchange points IXPs. Wanting to make software defined networking SDN more accessible for smaller IXPs in emerging economies, the LUMS team developed a method to conveniently retrofit IXPs with open source SDN applications. Led by Zatash Abzal-Uzmi, the team was able to retrofit an IXP in a lab setting intended for deployment at a local IXP in the capital city of Islamabad, using their own prototype software package which can help bring down operating costs via automation. What has happened since the start of the project is that we have been able to successfully deploy internet exchange points in Karachi as well as in Lahore. So now there are three internet exchange points in Pakistan. Many service providers in each of these three cities are bringing in their optical fiber cables to the internet exchange points in the respective city and they are exchanging traffic with each other. There is still a big challenge, so the physical connectivity is there. The big challenge which still remains is convincing these service providers to actually exchange their traffic through this internet exchange point. We try to convince them, you know, this will save a lot of money for you which you can use to offer additional services and bring the state of the internet in the country to a higher level. So that’s That’s something that we are hoping to do in the coming months. We congratulate Sartaj Avzal-Uzmi and the team at GLAMRS, and we trust that this award will help them on their journey towards supporting their community through innovative uses of internet-based technologies.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you. Sartaj, I was wondering if you could stand up, and I will have the APNIC Director-General, Paul Wilson, here today, and we’d like to invite him out the front to present the award to Sartaj. Paul, could you just make your way to the front, we’d like it, keep going through. We have our online community that would love to see your beautiful faces and present the award to Sartaj. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you both. Thank you. The awkwardness of this. It is that moment. Our second awardee is from Myanmar International Exchange, and the project lead is Dae Min Kain. They are receiving the award for their work established in Myanmar’s first IXPs. We have another short video to introduce the project.

Myanmar Internet Exchange:
The ISF-Asia 2023 awards include $5,000 for research costs and a travel grant to the Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto, Japan. A winner of the ISF-Asia Awards 2023 is MNIX, Myanmar Internet Exchange, for their work developing and operating Myanmar’s first internet exchange point, IXP. As a non-for-profit, community-led exchange, it is carrier and data neutral, providing IP peering facilities for its members. Since the start of operations in 2017, MNIX has grown to two IXPs and three points of presence, POPs, with 26 peer ASNs, and plans to extend their network reach to a data center. There is no rules and regulations when we set up this IXP. We set up this IXP by ourselves, and we reported to the ministry regularly. Later, ministry allowed us to operate officially. The biggest challenge is the co-operation between local ISPs and contemporary providers. Many engineers are leaving country for their future career, so we have to create local stuff by ourselves. We could set up RPKI system very early in this region. We regularly train the IXP members. We share our knowledge and experience. We will set up another IXP in another city, and we will also set up small POPs in other cities as well. We congratulate Thien Nguyen Kim and the team at MNIX, and we trust that this award will help them on their journey towards supporting their community through innovative uses of internet-based technologies.

Ellisha Heppner:
Wonderful, thank you. To present the award, I’d like to welcome Sylvia back to the front of the stage so to speak, and Ms Kyne here to present the award. Thank you. APPLAUSE Hopefully everyone got time for photos, otherwise we can do that afterwards. And the final awardee is the University of Malaya, Malaysia, and the project led by Dr Teck Chaw Ling for their work on the design, development and operation of an SDN-based internet exchange playground for networkers. We have the last video to show you about the project.

University of Malaya:
The ISF-Asia 2023 awards include $5,000 for research costs and a travel grant to the Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto, Japan. A winner of the ISF-Asia Awards 2023 is University of Malaya, Malaysia, for their work on the design, development and operation of an SDN-based internet exchange playground for networkers. A valuable simulator that can help train technical operators and strengthen routing security of IXPs. To foster participation, there was online training, tutorials and seminars, particularly focused on engaging women in the field. We want this playground to simulate and to work like an internet exchange point. Under this internet exchange point, we actually also introduce the RPKI in the BGP into these environments. So the student actually can learn so-called the security of RPKI and the BGP. This will actually help to reduce a lot of fakes or routes inside our environments. We are hoping to see that in the future, we can actually get more collaborators to join in and become a node that is connecting to us. And because our environments are more towards a distributed environment, so we are hoping to see that more countries or more collaborators can join us. And from there, they can also utilise it and then to train more networkers in the future. We congratulate Dr. Ling Tak Chow and the team at University of Malaya, and we trust that this award will help them on their journey towards supporting their community through innovative uses of internet-based technologies.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you. Dr. Ling up the front. And to present the award, I’d like to welcome Jun Murai, who in addition to being the board of the foundation, is very well known here and even being called the father of the internet in Japan. So he’s the president of the Wide Research Institute and the dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University. Thank you for those photo opportunities and well received for the beautiful work that you guys have been doing. Before we go into a couple of question times for our awardees, I’d like to just hand it over to Silvia.

ISIF Asia:
We normally have a very distinguished guest that likes to join us today. He’s been served and he apologized earlier this morning that he was not able to join and he sent me some remarks to read on his behalf. So dear Silvia, the APNIC Foundation has been a key promoter of internet innovation in Asia Pacific and beyond for many years. It has been my privilege to participate in this work from time to time and to acknowledge how important it is that newcomers to the internet, entrepreneurs and innovators are recognized for their efforts. I regret that another event required my attention during this session, but it does not dampen my enthusiasm for the APNIC Foundation’s continued efforts to expand and improve internet access and use. Those who are sponsored by and honored by APNIC are benefiting people everywhere. Please keep up with this good work, being served chair of the IGF Leadership Panel.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you very much. Thank you, Silvia. So I’d just like to take the next about 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes, just to ask our awardees some questions about the work that they’re doing in their economies. So my first question for Ms. Kine, as a practitioner and an implementer developing IXPs in Myanmar, what will be the main challenges for engaging network operators in the country at the IXP from a multi-stakeholder approach? What can the region and international community do to support your work?

Myanmar Internet Exchange:
Yes, for set up IXP negotiations are the most difficult parts. So especially negotiation with the network operators, big network operators, mobile operators, because they are big and they do not have so much interest in IXP. So for the community, we need to find out what kind of interest they may have connecting to the IXP. So we need more content connecting to the IXP. So also, they should have awareness, mutual connection, each other will be better, staying alone themselves and going outside traffic or do the overseas so we can reduce more latency. So more and more content arrived to the IXP, they were also interested to connect to us. So community should support, especially content providers. Thank you.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you. This question is for Dr. Ling. In your view, what will be required to continue to build capacity and confidence within your young engineers interested in internet network operations and management? And what are the future areas related to knowledge development?

University of Malaya:
Thanks for the questions. Whenever we do any teaching and so on, I like to emphasize on the word easy access. But in reality, easy access is not easy. For most of us, you don’t feel that, but actually if you go to least developed country or still developing country, you will start to feel this thing. So what we are trying to do is to have an environment for easy access so that the young networker can actually got the opportunity to actually use the environment. That’s number one. Number two is we want the environment to be as similar as possible to the real environments. So even during one of our training, when we start to pump in the internet routes into our environments, everybody’s machine hang. So in our normal learning environments, you can’t encounter these kind of things. When you learn, they will ask you, set up to BGP, exchange. Thank you very much. You get my route. I get your route. Thank you very much. Correct? Correct. And in reality also, you are configuring your own environment ASN and the other guy is configuring the other side. And you must make sure that they are actually talking to each other. And unwanted route should not be coming in. So these are all the things that we slowly want to develop into the environment so that it will actually work as close to the real environment as possible. So of course, as I mentioned just now in the video, we have POP in many countries. This is because in our last project, another project sponsored by Asia Connect, we managed to get funding so that we can put our machines over there. And we use the RAN, Research and Education Network, to actually run through the SDN and also allow BGP routers to be actually hosted. And the user can eventually set up their own path in between all the routers. So these are the things that we are hoping that in the near future, there are other country can join us and then we have more POP and more people can actually benefit there. So what are the things that we want to look into it? We are hoping that we can look into AI-assisted IXP environments and also more security onto the internet exchange. So that’s what we are looking forward to. Thank you very much.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you. My last question is for Mr. Zatash. What are the challenges that you face as a researcher to bring your proposed solution and research outcomes to practice in Pakistan? Are any of those challenges common to other parts of the APAC region?

University of Management Sciences or LUMS:
Thank you, Alicia, for the question. I would like to list some of the challenges starting from identification of the problem. As a researcher, I was looking at the state of the internet in Pakistan and the apparent gap of the absence of internet exchange points in Pakistan led to the identification of this gap and identification of this research problem. The next challenge was to put together a team to solve this problem and secure funding for solving this problem, and I would like to thank ICF Asia and APNIC for providing the funding for this project. I work at a university, so I had easy access to the talent, and I’m thankful to the colleagues and the students who have worked on this project. The next challenge was going out of research and actually deploying the system in practice. For that, as a university professor, I would not have been able to do it on myself if it were not for several government organizations who have provided support. So one of the big challenges was to identify the locations where we could host the internet exchange points and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, which is a government body, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has been throughout with us for identification of the locations, and then a Punjab Information Technology Board, which is also a government body, they allowed us to host the internet exchange point at their location, and these locations serve as the neutral locations, which is an essential part of deployment of the internet exchange points. The next step was to ask the service providers to bring in their optical fibers to the internet exchange points, and in that also the telecom regulator. Pakistan Telecom Authority played a key role in convincing the service providers, small and large service providers, to bring in their optical fibers to the Internet exchange points in all the three cities. So that challenge was also solved. The next challenge, which is yet to be solved, is to make sure that the Internet exchange points are fully utilized. We still do not see a lot of traffic through these Internet exchange points, and it will require, you know, more effort convincing the Internet service providers to actually exchange the traffic. And one of the reasons that we have identified is the lack of CDNs and content hosting in Pakistan. We are making an effort, Pakistan Telecom Authority is at the forefront of this effort, and we are hoping that some of these large content providers, CDNs, would be able to deploy their presence in Pakistan at the Internet exchange points, which will incentivize these smaller service providers to actually make use of the IXPs that we have deployed. So these are some of the challenges that we have faced, some solved, and some are yet to be solved. Thank you.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you very much, Zartash. We’ve got a couple of minutes before I ask the three awardees for closing remarks. Is there any questions from the audience? Yes, please.

Audience:
Okay, thank you. My name is Vakas. I work for PTA, and thank you, Dr. Zartash, for mentioning PTA being one of the partners in the IXP. My question is actually to the APNIC Foundation. So, you see, these are technical projects for you to improve the Internet efficiency and performance and to reduce the latency and all. In terms of technical impact, these projects are huge, but at the same time, I also believe that the economic impact of these projects is also very valuable data to have. And why I mention this is because you mentioned $9.4 million or something, right? But in terms of impact, this number would be much higher with these projects and all. Probably we also need these numbers to address one of the challenges that Dr. Zartash has mentioned, which is about convincing the governments or to the CDNs and all to come and be deployed in Pakistan. And with my experience, I’ve seen that government understands numbers way more than just the objectives of the project or anything. So is there any future plans, or is there any data or any research that can prove the economic impact of these projects, which we can then use to sort of build a case for more IXPs or for more similar projects like this in Pakistan? Thank you.

ISIF Asia:
Thank you, Wakas, for the question. Well, I have to say that from the foundation side, we’ve been working on monitoring evaluation framework to try to understand the impact of the work of the foundation in a better way. And then in that field, there is something called attribution and another element called contribution. So even though $9.4 million sounds like a lot of money over 15 years, small projects like the ones that we have funded in the past, it takes three to five, sometimes longer, to actually reap the fruits of their labor. I think Professor Zartash can share the horror stories of the beginning when he was trying to just open the dialogue for that to happen in Pakistan, and all the 145 grant recipients can also share many of those stories. The part that I would like to highlight is that the funding that this program facilitates and the funding that the foundation facilitates builds community. So in the end, we are also investing in people, and we are also investing in their minds, in these wonderful minds that are here. The number of dollar signs that are behind the work of Dr. Zartash that we were able to provide are very small compared to the support that he gets from the university, the support that he gets from you and the VTA and other people in Pakistan. But the part that would be really interesting to see, as you very rightly say so, is how the foundation and other donors in this space, how can we aggregate our contributions into something that shows how we are really working for the Internet we want, for the Internet we need, for the Internet we want to preserve. But again, it’s around attribution and contribution, to wrap up what I was saying. It’s very difficult for an organization like us to say that we have done this or say that this is our impact. That is a very personal view. We have contributed to it, but it cannot be attributed only to us. And it’s very important that we highlight that this is a healthy ecosystem of organizations that are committed to work in this space, and that in the next few days we have a call for a meet and greet for donors in the Internet development space, exactly because there are a bunch of organizations that are working at a national, regional and global level contributing to this and trying to figure out how we express our impact collectively is something that we are all grappling with. There is only a couple of results frameworks that are associated with Internet adoption. One is the UNESCO indicators for Internet universality, the ROM-X, which are like a hundred and something indicators that are really hard to be able to monitor. But the more organizations and the more projects, even at a smaller scale, start measuring against indicators like that, then the easier it is for all of us to look at not only what we have achieved, but what’s next, what’s missing, what are the gaps, and how can that small funding that we have available can be of use for that particular community. There are projects or initiatives like the Partners to Connect at ITU that are simplifying a lot of those indicators. The same in a similar fashion to try to get people that are investing in this space to talk to each other and to see, okay, what are your priorities and how that is progressing. Very difficult to do when there are conflicting funding agendas also. So giving space for practitioners in the field like Kain in Myanmar and for researchers and educators like Tartaj and Professor Link is super important because they are just, it is all come together. It’s a multi-stakeholder approach to advance IXPs in the region, and I hope these examples are illustrative and support IXP development also, knowing that we have representatives here from Latin America and from Africa in the meeting, not in this room, just seeing how these lessons learned and how this information can more accurately share on the building of IXPs in the region. But thank you very much for your question. I hope it’s a long answer, but it is a complicated process. The Internet is very new to be able to have that all mapped out, but we are working on it. Thanks.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you, Silvia. Is there any last questions before I hand it over for closing remarks? So I’m just going to ask then in the last couple of minutes that we’ve got for just our awardees perhaps to just reflect and just give two minutes on what’s next. You’re at the IGF, there’s a platform for you. What does IXPs mean for you and what’s next for your economy? Dr. Sathesh, would you like to start?

University of Management Sciences or LUMS:
I think we are talking about the affordability and pervasiveness of the Internet for masses. So we solve some of the technical problems, but there are other sort of issues that also require some attention. One of the things that I would like to mention, which is related to Internet affordability and broader access, is international connectivity. I will specifically take the example of Pakistan, which is like a big country, the fifth largest country in the world. The connectivity of the country to the international routes is only through the southern part of the country, which is under sea cables, not connected to any of the neighboring countries, so not exchanging traffic there, which brings in a lot of inefficiencies and the access becomes a lot expensive for the ordinary users. And this is where the geopolitical scenarios come in the way, and I think there has to be some effort, probably other people who specialize in that area, to make sure that geopolitical situations are neutralized in order to bring what was probably envisioned as the broader Internet, everyone is connected to everyone without any geopolitical situation. We can reach there one day. Thank you.

Ellisha Heppner:
We’ll hand that over now to Ms. Cullen.

Myanmar Internet Exchange:
For MMIX, we set up the first IXP in Yangon, and recently we set up another IXP in Mandalay. Relating to the content, without content, no ISP would like to connect to our exchange. Also, content provider is also the same. Without network operators, they don’t like to connect, like a chicken and egg. So we are approaching to the CDM provider, and we can provide some traffic to the ISP, so we are running this first IXP. For the second IXP, at first, when we set up, there is no content. We have to adjust this problem using the technical. We are carrying traffic from Yangon to Mandalay, so we are providing some traffic, all the traffic from Yangon to Mandalay, and later we requested CDN, so when arrive the new CDN, we can provide traffic locally. So Myanmar has three biggest cities, Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw. Naypyidaw, we already reached our service, but now Naypyidaw, most of the network are government network, and government network is still not connecting to MMIX. Now all the connection are private setters also. We are also targeting another city. We are targeting many ISP, especially for the small and medium. Big ISP, they are not interested to connect IXP. So they have their own transmission, their own international link, so without forcing or without the interest to connect MMIX, especially for the content, they will not connect to us. So we are targeting for the small and medium ISP, we will set up another for that location if there is a demand. We also consider not only the same city, but also some parts of the Myanmar areas, even they have only one and two ISP, we are negotiating with the transmission provider, we will carry remote traffic and connect to the Yangon and Mandalay IXP. So we are planning like that. Thank you.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you, that sounds really promising. And Dr. Ling, just last closing remarks from you and your reflections.

University of Malaya:
I always believe in how impactful a project will be than how many people actually you publish. So for us, we got a grant from Asia Connect, we set up all the infrastructures, and we use this grant to do all the training, and we are hoping that we can actually enhance the playground, put in more features, and later on we will do more trainings for the young networkers and so on. So I would also like to take this opportunity to thank ISIF for giving us the grant, and also my university for providing us the environment, and also my collaborator, Dr. Chua Pangwei, Dr. Aris Redianto, and also my project admin, Satish Kumar, for their help in actually putting up the whole things. So thank you very much.

Ellisha Heppner:
Thank you. Well thank you everyone for joining us online and in the room, and I’d really like to especially thank the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust and APNIC for your support. And for your support, we have cookies, I hope everyone has also collected their cookies as enticement, but I also want to recognize and thank our awardees who have traveled quite far to be here and showcase the work that they’re doing in their economies. So I appreciate your time today, thank you. Thank you. That concludes the proceedings, and for the awardees we might have a few photos with the extra minutes we’ve got. Thank you.