PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme - UTM

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5. 5. Esta Establishment Esta lishment of of Ne Nepal Ne pal Inter Internet Inter net Exchange Exchange Project Budget Grant Awarded: US$ 9,000 Supplementary <strong>Grants</strong> The implementing organization and other local organization contributed US$ 17,218 and Packet Clearing House contributed US$ 3,590. Project Purpose Establish a Layer 2 switching exchange in Ekantakuna area, in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, to address problems associated with traffic routing within the country. Hardware & Software Ethernet switch Router Host for data collection Personal computer UPS Accessories, wiring and telephone lines Internet Exchange Project Objectives Research, train, and assist in traffic management including the migration to dynamic routing and separation of international and local traffic. Preserve bandwidth and save cost while providing faster and free downloads for local content. Document the procedures and process of the establishment and operation of an Internet Exchange. Impact With the introduction of NPIX project, ISPs have been able to separate international traffic and local traffic, and the formation of the local Internet Exchange facilitates the exchange of local traffic. The exchange also provided “looking glass” facility for research to ascertain the size of Internet infrastructure in Nepal. Routing Workshop at SANOG 4 hosted by NPIX in July, 2004 in Kathmandu (Photo by GRU/NPIX) Target Audience The local Internet industry benefits through the fostering of a close knit technology group that exchanges information and know-how on a regular basis. Users also benefit, because now the connections are faster and much more reliable. The government also benefits from the project, because the Internet Exchange is a platform which can host the content generated for e-governance and government portals. The Project Team Gaurab Raj Upadhaya is the instigator of NPIX and serves as its Technical Chair and voluntary CEO. He has been involved in the formation and smooth operation of NPIX from the very beginning. In his team, Rupesh Shrestha acts as the chairman of NPIX, in charge of banking and other administrative procedures. Other leaders in the project include Ritesh Raj Joshi, Binay Bohra, and Rishi Raj Dahal. Contact Address E-Mail: info@npix.net.np Website: http://www.npix.net.np www.npix.net.np 24
Ad Addr Ad dr dressing dr essing Local Local Inter Internet Inter net Traf af affic af ic Routing outing Pr Prob Pr ob oblems ob lems Members attend the 2nd NPIX General Meeting, July, 2005 (Photo by GRU/NPIX) Project Background In Nepal, Internet services started in 1994. At present, there are more than 15 companies providing commercial Internet services in Kathmandu alone. Of these, more than half have their own international gateways. Some of these service providers also have presence outside Kathmandu Valley. Moreover, there are organizations like the Institute of Engineering, UN House, Kathmandu University, and RONAST that have their own international connections through satellite links. Each service provider set up its own independent satellite connection to the Global Network. This large number of independent connections creates extra expenditure and slower Internet access. Almost all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nepal were using static routing in their respective IP networks. This created serious constraints in network management as route additions and modifications had to be entered manually on all routers starting from the gateway router to the destination router. This was a time consuming task and not practical on large IP networks. Also, static routing does not provide automatic switchover if the network link goes down. The unavailability of local Internet traffic routing facilities in Nepal has hindered broadband deployment and that in turn slows down development. To enable the exchange of local traffic locally between the ISPs, content providers and network operators in Nepal, the Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX) was founded in August 2002. Since then, NPIX has operated successfully with two switch locations and recently aggregate traffic levels have hit 10 Mbps. Project Method The projectstarted when Gaurab Raj Upadhaya requested information about the IP addresses of the ISPs in Nepal. His request was sent to a group of people and it was followed by informal talks with ISPs to get acceptance for collaboration in principle, and a presentation on the Internet Exchange at Infocom. By 22 August 2002, the ISP Association of Nepal approved the NPIX recommendations. Effective July 2003, NPIX was fully functional. The project followed the London Internet Exchange standards. The project team established a Layer 2 switching exchange in Ekantakuna, Kathmandu Valley. And the team trained local ISPs in routing technologies and also supported the operations of the Internet Exchange for the initial year. Using questionnaires, statistical analysis and interviews the project team collected data from the ISPs and peering partners and evaluated the significance of the IX. This data was collected every three months. Research using this data were documented enabling data exchange facility and growth in data traffic. The project team also researched Internet usage patterns and data flow directions through data collected at the IX and in co-operation with the ISPs. Questionnaires, statistical analysis as well as interviews were used to reach results. The ISPs had to complete a simple form before joining the Internet Exchange facility. Later, they also completed the form again once every three months. The project team also collected data from the Internet Exchange using the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and tools like a Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG). The aggregated data on the total traffic flowing through the IXP is always available online. MRTG data shows the increase or decrease in local Internet traffic. This data, combined with the information provided by ISPs, explains the fluctuations in total traffic on the IXP. This SNMP collects this data, and publishes 25 Internet Exchange
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Page 45 and 46: How to apply for grants Information
Page 47: Published for the PanAsia ICT R&D G

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