Grant Amount: US$ 9,000

Keywords: INTERNET EXCHANGE, INTERNET SERVER PROVIDER, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, NEPAL

Geographic coverage: Nepal

Objective

The objective of this project is to address the problems associated with local Internet traffic routing within Nepal.

Research context

Many Internet service providers (ISPs) in Nepal have their own international gateway. Because there is no way to separate local from international traffic, local traffic must traverse the global Internet backbone before reaching the ISP in the next block. The formation of a local Internet Exchange (IX) facilitates the exchange of local traffic while reducing the load on global gateways. The research importance of the Nepal Internet Exchange (NpIX) continues to increase as the size of the Internet community in Nepal grows. A joint NpIX working group, with participation from all stakeholders did much of the preliminary work and a sustainable operational modality for the NpIX was established. An NpIX board with representation from all relevant bodies oversaw the entire project, including development of appropriate procedures and processes for the operation of the Internet Exchange.

Target beneficiaries

The project beneficiaries are ISPs and users who benefit through preservation of bandwidth and Internet access. The NpIX also provides a "looking glass" facility for researchers to ascertain the size of the Internet infrastructure in Nepal.

Outputs

The project documented the procedures and processes required for the establishment and operation of an IX. Other countries can study the results as they consider establishing their respective IX.

Research results and outcomes

At the time the project was implemented there were about 15 companies providing commercial Internet services in Kathmandu, some of which also had a presence outside the Kathmandu Valley. More than half of these had their own international gateways and several had international connections through satellite links. As there was no way to separate international traffic and local traffic, all traffic would have to pass through the international gateways before reaching the ISP next door, resulting in extra expenditure, slower Internet access and hindering broadband deployment. Additionally, almost all ISPs in Nepal were using static routing in their respective Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This created constraints in network management and did not provide automatic switchover if the network link went down.

The NpIX was established following the London Internet Exchange standards. Its goal was to enable the exchange of local traffic between the ISPs, content providers and network operators in Nepal. To evaluate the significance of the IX the project team collected data from the ISPs and peering partners using statistical analysis, questionnaires and interviews. Internet use patterns and data flow directions was established through data collected at the IX and in cooperation with the ISPs. This research enabled the establishment of an online data exchange facility that provided aggregated data on the total traffic flowing through the Internet Exchange Points (IXP). A detailed analysis based on information provided by the ISPs was published every three months.

The project held training workshops every three months to provide ISPs with the necessary skills to use the IX. Training focused on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) peering technology. All the ISPs successfully upgraded to dynamic routing with Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and BGP. The IX is now stable, so if one of the peers or the IX fails, all the peer traffic is now automatically routed through the Internet gateways of the respective ISPs.

With the introduction of the NpIX, ISPs are now able to separate international traffic and local traffic. The IX facilitates the exchange of local traffic. This has benefited the ISPs directly through preservation of bandwidth and a ten percent increase in cost effectiveness. The NpIX project also provides a “looking glass” facility for researchers to ascertain the size of Internet infrastructure in Nepal. The government has benefited as the IX is the platform that hosts the government portal, including the content generated under its e-government programme. Finally, users experience faster and more reliable connections. The results from NpIX provide a convincing set of economic reasons for policy makers in developing countries to form an IX.

The project team achieved their objectives and are actively working to improve and expand the exchange facility by enrolling more ISPs, universities, educational institutes and corporate networks. NpIX is conducting continuous research, for as the Internet infrastructure grows such research will continue to help solve IP issues, routing and other problems.

The establishment of an IX in any country or region helps foster the growth of the local information technology and Internet industry. However, the project team notes that an IX can only be successful with the full cooperation of the ISPs. Educating the ISPs about how to set up the networks is more valuable in the long run than having experts do it for them. In addition, the core team must consist of people who possess a good understanding of the Internet routing system and have the trust of all the local participants. Based on the findings of the project, the team recommends giving the participants in the IX full control over their network routing infrastructure.

Duration

Start Date: January 2003
End Date: October 2003
Total Duration: 10 Months

Contact information

Rupesh Shresta
Computer Association of Nepal
235/39 Dhobidhara Marg, Kumari Galli, Kathmandu, Nepal
Telephone: +977 1 432 700, +977 1 434 836
Fax: +977 1 424 043
Email: shrestha@info.com.np

Website: http://www.npix.net.np