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Keeping Traffic Local – Not as easy as it seems

Keeping Traffic Local – Not as easy as it seems. Tuesday 23rd April 2014. Introduction . Andrew Alston Liquid Telecom Group – Head of IP Strategy

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Keeping Traffic Local – Not as easy as it seems

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  1. Keeping Traffic Local – Not as easy as it seems Tuesday 23rd April 2014
  2. Introduction Andrew Alston Liquid Telecom Group – Head of IP Strategy We all talk about wanting to keep African traffic in Africa, so in this presentation, I’ll talk about what’s been happening and the challenges in making this a reality, and hopefully provide some possible solutions.
  3. Introduction – Liquid Telecom Building Africa's Digital Future Liquid Telecom started building its African network in 2002. In 2010 we launched high speed cross border fiber network linking Southern Africa to the rest of the world. Long time curve from ideas to the beginning of true reality We have since grown to owning over 17,000 km of fiber built in Africa and currently running live traffic with further construction projects underway making it Africa’s largest international fiber network. Liquid Telecom is present in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Southern DRC, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa. We are present at Internet exchanges in South Africa (2), Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, London and Amsterdam We have in excess of 800 total peers globally In general, we follow an open peering policy which we aggressively pursue.
  4. Foundations – Robust and Reliable Network Infrastructure – Economy of Scale Largest terrestrial cross border fiber network in Africa Connections at more Africa exchanges than any other single player Future Proof Technology One Seamless Network Route Diversity, protection, Disaster recovery Shared resources and skills Connected Data centres Connection to multiple sub sea systems Fully IPv6 enabled – to the edge
  5. Current Status Quo Latency to Johannesburg based hosts from Kampala down to 62ms. Latency to Johannesburg based hosts from Mombasa down to 48ms. Latency to Zambia from Rwanda – Probably the longest path – 88ms. Majority of major ISPs in Sub-Saharan Africa monitored on a 24/7 basis for latency metrics
  6. Latency Monitoring
  7. The challenges in keeping traffic local Reverse paths are never guaranteed Route de-aggregation as a means of traffic control is a major problem ISP’s at multiple exchanges doing things they shouldn’t be! At so many exchanges? The filters can become a major operational headache! Local preference and route metrics can provide serious challenges.
  8. Local content provision – an example nightmare
  9. Why do ISP’s typically NOT keep traffic local Peering is still an economic issue – often the cost of reaching an exchange exceeds the perceived benefit. The cost of terrestrial cross border circuits is high – it’s often cheaper to source traffic in Europe, even if its African traffic Certain operators believe that not peering provides them a sales advantage – a bizarre perspective. A lack of understanding on the benefits of low latency can be a major contributing factor Many African ISPs that operate in multiple countries only announce in-country routes at the countries ISP
  10. Some tips and tricks
  11. Reasons for keeping traffic local Local traffic means lower latencies Lower latencies Improve user experience (particularly with interactive content) Overcome the challenges of bandwidth delay product Result in a net increase in consumed content Results in increased sales and increased revenue
  12. Building the business case Know your traffic patterns Know your customers Know your objectives Explore the options available to localize your traffic Which exchanges will give you the most benefit based on the peers available in comparison to your traffic levels Is peering economically viable or is it a better option to buy full or even partial transit to achieve the objectives
  13. The potential options Get to the exchange points and start peering If entities don’t want to peer, target your content base. If the traffic is sufficient and a third party isn’t present at an exchange, explore the possibility of a private network interconnect Demand hot potato routing where possible Look at your transit providers – are they providing you sufficient local coverage.
  14. Some further thoughts In the peering world relationships are critical Be prepared to work with your competition to achieve common goals and mutual benefit. Watch your own configurations – in particular, is your own local preferencingsane Be careful with your IGP metrics when expanding your network Adopt a philosophy that makes sense
  15. The Liquid philosophy Announce ALL Liquid routes at ALL IXP’s where there is presence Be geographically agnostic in our IP Transit Provision Encourage the use of interactive services through low latency If you build it, someone will come!
  16. Thank you
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