Hi all,
It's a pleasure to join this list. I was so excited to hear from ISOC about
the fact that we are well on the way to (finally) having a local chapter. I
have waited many years for this! As I read through the archives I saw the
thread about Kenyan Internet history and would like to contribute the
following.
- First commercial ISP FormNet - connected to the Internet in 1996 - I was
technical manager and set up the link which was a 64k International Private
Leased Circuit (IPLC) to Pipex, UK
- I initiated discussions with all the ISPs about KIXP in 1999 and after
several months got agreement. Enaged Cisco to donate the initial kit for
the core of the IXP, engaged UNESCO so that we could receive the equipment
duty free by Cisco shipping it to them and then them 'donating' it to us
ISPs. KIXP then went live in October, 2000 after we arranged for Barry
Greene of Cisco to come over and assist us with getting peering sessions up
between the first four ISPs that agreed to connect. It was shut down by CCK
after about 1 week of operation due to objections from Telkom Kenya and
suggestions that it was a 'threat to National security'. It took about 1
year of lobbying, advocacy, negotiation and myth-busting with CCK, govt,
Telkom and NSIS before a face-saving way of getting KIXP back up was
identified and KIXP became the first IXP to need a license to operate ;)
the IXP was then restored operationally and formally launched in 2002.
Best regards,
Brian
--
Brian Munyao Longwe
e-mail: blongwe(a)gmail.com
cell: +254715964281
blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com
meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com
"Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand
for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything."
Dear all,
For those interested and who might not be aware, you can register for the upcoming AfriNIC 16 meeting in Gambia at https://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-16/?q=user/register
Regards and many thanks,
Davis M Onsakia
'The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.' - Maureen Dowd
