Overview of Interexchange Developments in other Regions and Relevance to the Caribbean

1. Overview of Interexchange Developments in other Regions and Relevance to the Caribbean Max A. FigueroaVice President InternationalTerremark Worldwide, Inc.+305 807 4861mfigueroa@terremark.com

2. What is a NAP? A great center for access and distribution of Internet traffic and services where everyone is connected at a distance of zero. An operator neutral transit medium that enables a high speed connection at a low cost given the massive concentration of telecommunications and Internet operators. Facilitates the interconnection of telecom operators, Internet Service Providers, Content Providers, large corporations and small/medium businesses.

3. History of NAPs/IXs • Started in the Mid-90s as a National Science Foundation initiative to commercialize the Internet Backbone. • Four initial NAPs were located in in New York, Chicago, Washington, DC and California. • Initially, the NAPs provided interconnection services within operator locations. • Soon thereafter, IXs emerged around the world to concentrate capacity for connection of each region to the Internet backbone. • IXs typically provide the interconnection fabric and rely on third parties for the collocation offering. • Managed services are normally not provided by the IX, relying on third parties or the members themselves for ancillary services. • Operator-neutral NAPs/IX appeared in the early 2000s to provide more services to a wider customer base. • The NAP of the Americas opened in 2000 as the first operator-neutral NAP in the southern corridor aimed at facilitating interconnection between US and Latin America. • The NAP of the Americas combined a state of the art data center with the necessary switching platforms and the managed service to create an attractive total package for its users.

4. Key Requirements for a NAP

5. The Network As The Enabler Massive aggregation of fiber and satellite networks Provides access to business critical infrastructure through any medium Herndon Culpeper Madrid Brussels Santa Clara Business Applications Santo Domingo Bogotá Managed Services Managed Services Corporate Data Centers Data Center Infrastructure Data Center Infrastructure Amsterdam Sao Paulo Personal Computers Exchange Point Platform Exchange Point Platform Miami PDAs Public Internet Network Transport Mobile Phones Enterprise Customers

6. Example of the Impact of a NAP on Internet Traffic • In Miami, the NAP of the Americas has had an enormous impact on the Internet traffic volume between the US and Latin America. • A similar effect occurred after the opening of the NAP do Brasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

7. Example of Impact of a NAP on Connectivity Costs Source: Telegeography Global Bandwidth Research Service Average Annual Price Reduction – 78%

8. Impact of Connectivity on a Country’s Economic Development – Western Africa Source: Centro de Estudios Económicos Tomillo, 2007

9. Impact of Reduction of 20% in Connectivity Costs in Western Africa An increase of 1,6% in connectivity would result in the long term (5-10 years) in an improvement of 5-6% of the per capita GDP in the region. Fuente: Centro de Estudios Económicos Tomillo, 2007

10. What About the Caribbean Region? • Internet traffic is on the rise around the world, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. • Internet traffic capacity in the Caribbean is only 1% of the total regional capacity despite extensive connectivity. • The region needs a NAP to complement the existing infrastructure.

11. Caribbean Regional Connectivity EMERGIA Global Crossing TO: Hollywood, FL Grupo Hostos St. Croix ARCOS Antillas-1 TCS-1

12. NAP del Caribe Project Objectives • Build and Operate a NAP in the Dominican Republic to provide to the Caribbean: • Carrier Neutral Connectivity • Lower Connectivity Costs • Highly Secure and Reliable Infrastructure for Collocation of Mission Critical Equipment. • Professional and Managed Services • Traffic Aggregation and Distribution of Regional Traffic Geographically situated as the connectivity center for Africa, Europe and the Americas. Geographically situated to be An African Gateway to Geographically Situated to be the Gateway Europe and the Americas Of the Caribbean To Become the Premier Interconnection Point for the Caribbean

13. NAP del Caribe Design • Total construction volume of 10.000 m2 • 4.000 m² in collocation space • Designed to resist earthquakes and Category 5 hurricanes. • Electrical infrastructure design for high availability of 100% and autonomous operation during 14 days. • Phase 1 in Operation; Phase 2 to begin operations in 2H 09.

14. NAP del Caribe will be Connected to Our Global Virtual Marketplace

15. Benefits to the Region • The NAP del Caribe will provide the Caribbean region with a highly reliable and secure lnternet platform to house web-based solutions necessary to move the region towards the global information economy. • Individual countries can connect to the NAP del Caribe via submarine fiber cable networks to enable a true distributed NAP infrastructure for the region. • The NAP del Caribe is positioned to help promote economic development and contribute to the reduction of the digital divide.

16. Conclusion • The concept of the NAP/IX has evolved to become a full service center to house mission critical applications. • A NAP is a necessary piece of infrastructure for the Caribbean to join the global economy and can bring economical and social benefits to the region. • The NAP del Caribe can be the first step towards the development of this critical infrastructure in the region.