Thanks for the response. My comments follow:

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 1:14 PM, Fiona Asonga <tespok@tespok.co.ke> wrote:

Hallo Brian,

As you can see in the previous communication the technical community on skunkworks said it was something that could be resolved. It is basically a question of contacting Safaricom and access kenya teams responsible and asking them to announce all routes at KIXP, which was done.

Point taken. It's just that in every organisation technical actions and decisions are driven by policy, which is an outcome of governance/leadership - which is why I shifted the focus of the discussion slightly.

On governance issues at KIXP:(Allow me to copy and paste information from our website)
Currently the following are KIXP Peering members
1. MTN Business
2. Safaricom Ltd.
3. Airtel
4. Orange Kenya
5. Wananchi Online
6. Internet Solutions
7. Kenyaweb.Com
8. Swift Golab
9. Nairobinet
10. Access Kenya
11. KENIC
12. KENET
13. Sahannet
14. MYISP
15. Flashcom
16. Jamii Telecommunications
17. Kenya Data Networks
18. Xtranet Communications
19. National Bank of Kenya
20. Kenya Revenue Authority
21. Government Information Services (GIS)
22. Government Internet Exchange Point
23. Iway Africa / Africa Online
24. Gateway Communications
25. Tangerine
26. United Nations Offices Nairobi
27. Simba Coast Ltd
28. Bandwidth and Clouding Services
29. Frontier Optical Networks
30. Converged Information Services

Then there are value add service being shared by the community that have been put in place over time such as
1. Versign Root servers
2. Inertent Society Consortium Root servers
3. Packet Clearing House Root servers
4. Network Time Server
5. Team Cymru - online security system
6. Google local cache
7. Akamai local cache (testing on going)
8. Ripe NCC - GPS Node
9. AFRINIC - IPV6 regional back -up (Tinga Tinga)

The CISCO equipment that Brian Longwe set up was turned off in 2008 and that switch have since been replace with two BIG IRON 15000 switches.

Very glad to see the exchange growing in leaps and strides and keen to ensure that it continues to do so.

KIXP has since 2005 been developing alongside the LINX and AMSIX models are community membership based. https://www.linx.net/about/history-of-linx.html and http://www.ams-ix.net/history-background/

With one small difference. KIXP and TESPOK are two separate entities with different membership criteria - in effect KIXP is owned and controlled by TESPOK. My question has been and will always be - is this healthy? While LINX and AMSIX where set up by the service provider community, the ISPs saw wisdom in allowing them both to develop their own identity independently and have self-governance.

I am not aware of any communication from you to TESPOK/KIXP on any governance concerns or enquiries so kindly feel free to forward those specific concerns directly to me as you have my contact information and they will be addressed.

If TESPOK minute-taking and record-keeping is as good as it was when I stepped down in 2005 then all of my input referenced previously is on official record.

There have been several strategy evaluation and formation workshops since the last one you attended. As TESPOK has a rotating board every year we get new blood on the board that has additional input that has enabled KIXP reach greater heights. So TESPOK considers input from previous strategy discussions relevant in enabling us chat the way forward and we have continued to do that. The TESPOK Board is not tied tooth and nail to past strategies otherwise it would be a reflection of an organization that is not reviewing it's strategy in line with the environment in which we are operating.

That is very good for TESPOK - what about KIXP? As a company limited by guarantee, KIXP Ltd has (or should have) a separate existence. Instead KIXP Ltd is like the rich heiress kept chained in the cellar as the wicked stepmother and her daughters enjoy the usurped inheritance. (I love these analogies!)

Since you (Brian) are so stuck in the past and what you did may be we should move our discussion to the next level. Lest we forget, Brain what happened to the OSI funding for AfrISPA when you were general Manager (some US $?0,000)? Didn't the AfrISPA board approve an organisational assessment of AfrISPA that carried out by Claire Sibthorpe of Maple Consulting (UK) that you were unable to implement, instead you run AfrISPA down causing it to finally get de-registered last year(2011). You talk of setting up several exchange points in Africa, it would be good to know which are these? Other organizations on the other hand has a long list of exchange points they have set up, that are running and they are supporting. The point here is; there are many individuals and organizations that contributed to setting up KIXP and have continued to support the growth and governance of KIXP but do not rub it in the faces of community members. No one individual has the rights to claim set up of KIXP, without the backing of the industry operators it would be an idea still waiting for it's time.

Wow, I didn't see that coming! LoL.... I can only take responsibility for AfrISPA matters prior to December 2009 when I stepped down as GM. Nevertheless the above outburst puts several things into perspective for me. I refrain from talking about AfrISPA as this is not the time or the place, but there are governance lessons to be learnt there as well.

It is good that you are keen on sharing historical views, however some have been overtaken by time. There are clear structures with a CEO appointed in 2008. Staff roles are separate from Board functions as opposed to what it was before. The Board rotates every year and YES as separate company as KIXP that has two shares owned by TESPOK and TESPOK was set up at the inception of KIXP. This is public information available from the registrar of companies. So TESPOK and TESPOK have taken the Board seats on KIXP limited and the way you did the paper work if you are the one who prepared the papers KIXP will only have those two Board seats until the two (TESPOK & TESPOK) decide otherwise. For this reason, in order to open up the management of KIXP it is run as a service of TESPOK and the TESPOK board that is all inclusive run the IXP through the Team at TESPOK. Today the TESPOK Board consists of:
1. Tom Omariba (MTN Business)- Chairman

2. Chris Senanu (Access Kenya)– Vice Chairman

3. Kenneth Munyi (Iway Africa)- Treasurer

4. Michuki Mwangi (Internet Society) – Chief Technical Officer

5. Tejpal Bedi (Chair,Kenya IT and Outsourcing Society)- Director

6. Michael Terik (Kenyaweb.Com)- Director

7. Beatrice Mudhune (Internet Solutions)- Director

8. Abduaziz Osman (Sahannet Ltd.)- Director

9. Laurnet Giraud (Orange Kenya)– Director

This is the crux of the matter. Anyone familiar with company law knows that the directors and shareholders of the company can elect at any time to amend the articles and memorandum (within the confines of the Company Act). If TESPOK really wanted KIXP Ltd to be independent they would have taken this action ages ago. Which brings me back to my original point - KIXP Ltd is captive to TESPOK whims. It might be difficult to unentangle the two now that their fortunes have been so closely mixed up. All of KIXPs income is paid into TESPOK accounts, and thereby subject to discretionary use by TESPOK. Is there a governance problem here? I think so... for years the dust has been swept under the carpet, can we grow up and make sure that our institutions, especially those as critical as KIXP have the right structures in place?

Staff have grown from the initial two with a vibrant internship program and the Industry Computer Security Incident Response Team (I-CSIRT).

To the best of my knowledge Safaricom has been very supportive in ensuring KIXP functions as expected and did participate in a recent study on the value of KIXP to be shared soon.

Let us focus on the positive being done by the current players. When the Technical teams say they can resolve an issue then it is only fair we give them chance to resolve in and not jump into conclusions that blow an issue out of proportion. To the Technical staff of Safaricom, Access Kenya nad KIXP who worked to resolve the problem; Kudos for the good work done and keep it up.

Yes, good work has and is being done. The technical community are amazing and I pray and hope that we can continue to see excellence in this regard.

Brian

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Munyao Longwe" <blongwe@gmail.com>

To: tespok@tespok.co.ke
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Sunday, April 8, 2012 7:47:53 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] Even Safaricom these days thinks KIXP is non-existent!

Well Peter,

As mentioned, about 7 or 8 years ago, when I was still on the board of directors of TESPOK, I suggested a governance structure that gave KIXP independence from TESPOK, it's 'mother' institution. The main rationale here was to ensure that KIXP maintains a separate, independent existence, regardless of what happened to TESPOK.

This was during a TESPOK strategy meeting where the key message was "The African ISP is dead, long live the African ISP" based on a paper by Russell Southwood of Balancing Act Africa. The essence of which was that with the onslaught of mobile operators going into internet access provision, the only way that ISPs would survive would be through consolidation via mergers/acquisition or a complete redefinition of business focus and strategy. What was evident to me (but seemingly not to others) was that as the ISP industry transformed, there would be fewer players, and thus, less democracy - especially with regards to governance issues.

At the same time, KIXP was attracting plenty of interest from non-ISPs and already had non-ISP members such as KENIC, KRA and others - it was evident that the interest would continue, especially as the sector evolved with greater participation from content creators, hosting companies, data-centres etc... KIXP would become the de-facto facility for providing industry actors with data interconnection and interchange.

For those of you unfamiliar with KIXP's history - we had to register a company KIXP Ltd, and file for an IXP license from CCK, in order to become operational after the forced closure of the IXP in 2000. My proposal was that KIXP be given full autonomy, have a board of directors appointed by members in full standing, and be run as a business, similar to LINX in the UK, and other successful IXPs around the world. As part of my proposals I shared the attached diagram (which I have just found in my archives). The Board would identify and appoint a CEO, who would then identify suitable staff to meet organisational growth. Being a business, some implied issues were self-sustainability, a business plan with clear growth, and social or financial returns for the 'shareholders'.

My proposals fell upon deaf ears and it is sad for me now to see a frail and seemingly weak KIXP that cannot seem to consistently engage newcomers to the industry with the benefits of local traffic exchange.

A simple question - how many of the TEAMs/SEACOM/EASSY bandwidth-holders are peering at KIXP? As mentioned by someone else, some of our traffic is being exchanged in exotic places like Mumbai, London etc...

So, I continue shaking my head...

Brian

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 6:33 PM, Peter Karunyu < pkarunyu@gmail.com > wrote:

@Brian, would you mind sharing these recommendations? It doesn't hurt to know :-)

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 4:32 PM, Brian Munyao Longwe < blongwe@gmail.com > wrote:

I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago with some folk about the governance of KIXP. I made some recommendations about 8yrs ago regarding the setup of a structure that would allow for the unfettered growth and resilience of the exchange. It is sad that individuals at that time who wanted to control the exchange resisted these. Now, when we are faced with these, and other symptoms of the root cause, some of us can only shake our heads. (Yes, I am doing a lot of that lately)

Pole kwetu,

Mblayo

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 1:31 PM, Kinuthia Ngugi < kinuthia.ngugi@gmail.com > wrote:

I think this is problem is recent and serious! all this easter weekend i've been having timeouts while browsing local sites, yet sites outside .ke are loading normally....

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Odhiambo Washington < odhiambo@gmail.com > wrote:

Okay. In the same breath, would you be able to fix the routing of the 197.x.x.x towards 196.200.26.x, please??

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 19:49, John Gitau < jgitau@gmail.com > wrote:

I think we can easily fix this.

Sent from my iPad

On 7 Apr 2012, at 18:41, Brian Ngure < brian@pixie.co.ke > wrote:

I think I mentioned this some time ago. Kenyan ISPs don't know KIXP exists.

Or maybe they get more $$ by not using KIXP somehow?

Regard's

Brian Ngure

On 7 Apr 2012 14:14, "Odhiambo Washington" < odhiambo@gmail.com > wrote:

WAN
Configuration Type

Connection Type 3G/UMTS

Login Status Connected

Signal Status -40 DBm

Connection Uptime 17:19:48

IP Address 41.81.20.209

Subnet Mask 255.255.255.255

Gateway 10.64.64.64

DNS 1 196.201.208.2

DNS 2 209.244.0.3

DNS 3

C:\Users\Washington>tracert 196.200.26.114

Tracing route to 196.200.26.114.accesskenya.com [196.200.26.114]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms 2 ms DD-WRT [192.168.1.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 66 ms 78 ms 68 ms 196.201.217.2
4 66 ms 78 ms 108 ms 196.201.217.3
5 107 ms 68 ms 78 ms 192.168.161.110
6 137 ms 229 ms 138 ms 192.168.128.134
7 108 ms 70 ms 77 ms 192.168.128.5
8 145 ms 78 ms 78 ms 192.168.128.5
9 159 ms 78 ms 78 ms 192.168.153.13
10 78 ms 78 ms 78 ms 192.168.128.77
11 158 ms 158 ms 148 ms if-4-2-2.core1.MLV-Mumbai.as6453.net [209.58.105.25 ]
12 98 ms 128 ms 168 ms 196.201.208.43
13 158 ms 148 ms 148 ms TenGE-2-1-BP_CORE01.accesskenya.com [196.207.31.146]
14 210 ms 217 ms 218 ms ix-4-1-1.core1.MLV-Mumbai.as6453.net [209.58.105.142]
15 1178 ms 196 ms 158 ms 196.200.26.114.accesskenya.com [196.200.26.114]

Trace complete.

--
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121 / +254722743223
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