Global Internet Community Comes to Tehran

Tehran - 18 November 2014, The RIPE NCC teamed up with IRNIC, the Iranian ccTLD registry, for the first-ever RIPE NCC Regional Meeting in Tehran. RIPE NCC is pleased to have had this opportunity to engage with nearly 160 Iranian member organisations and the local Internet community.

The day's agenda attracted RIPE NCC members, and key players from the local and regional Internet community. Among the topics explored were IPv6 deployment strategies, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), and Domain Name System (DNS) issues.

IPv6 is the next-generation Internet numbering protocol. Since the exhaustion of IPv4 in many parts of the world (including the RIPE NCC service region), networks that don't adopt IPv6 will encounter increased pressure as they grow in size. This issue could be even more pressing in Iran, where currently only around 3.72% of networks are announcing IPv6 prefixes into the global Internet. This is compared to an average of 21.09% for the wider RIPE NCC service region, and 9.86% for the Middle East.

IXPs are another relevant topic for the Middle East today, as they make it easier for network operators to exchange Internet traffic between their networks (known as “peering”). Without these exchanges, traffic between networks within a single country or region often has to cross expensive international transit cables (usually to Europe), which results in added latency and cost.

Paul Rendek, Director of External Relations at RIPE NCC, is convinced of the positive impact meetings such as this one can have: “In over 20 years as secretariat to the RIPE community, the RIPE NCC has gained a lot of experience in bringing people together to share their experiences. Building communities at local and regional levels is incredibly valuable to network operators, which is why we are continuously expanding our efforts to cater to members in the Middle East region.”

In addition to the regional meetings organised in the Middle East region, the RIPE NCC supports the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG), which is held twice yearly in the region. The next MENOG meeting will take place on 1 & 2 April 2015 in Dubai.

-ENDS-

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Chafic Chaya, Regional Communications Manager (middle East)

Email: cchaya@ripe.net

Phone: + 971 55 27 07 007

Email: RIPE_NCC@Nelsonbostock.com

Phone: +44 (0) 207 229 4400