more on Setting history straight: So, who really did invent the Internet?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rahul Tongia <tongia () andrew cmu edu>
Date: May 4, 2005 11:15:01 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Setting history straight: So, who really  
did invent the Internet?


Dave,

I have studied African connectivity in some detail for a while, and I  
certainly agree that International connectivity is an issue, if not  
bottleneck.  However, some of the global links have African control/ 
ownership, e.g., SAFE, so it would be misleading to blame  
"outsiders."  There are also local monopolies per nation for some  
fiber landings.  In that sense, it is the incumbents [like  
everywhere!] who keep prices high.

A wild idea on how to do something about connectivity in Africa is at:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~tongia/FiberAfrica-- 
ending_a_digital_divide.pdf

Rahul

************************************************************************
Rahul Tongia, Ph.D.
Systems Scientist

School of Computer Science (ISRI) / Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
tel: 412-268-5619
fax: 412-268-2338
email: tongia () cmu edu


--On Wednesday, May 04, 2005 11:00 AM -0400 David Farber  
<dave () farber net> wrote:

>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> Let me add just one thing to this -
> True, international bandwidth is expensive, and across most  
landlocked
> parts of Africa, provided over satellite instead of fiber.
>
> However, local internet exchange points such as those in South  
Africa  and
> Kenya, help optimize local use of traffic, keeping local traffic   
local
> and
> encouraging the growth of local datacenters at ISPs that connect  
to  these
> exchanges, thus encouraging local people to host content locally   
instead
> of
> in the USA or elsewhere.  They also provide excellent places to host
> mirrors of popular content, and perhaps an Akamai cluster as well  
- all
> ways to ensure that local traffic isn't routed out through expensive
> international links.
>
> http://www.pch.net has an excellent record building ISP community
> supported
> exchange points in several developing countries in Asia and  
Africa, and
> those AFRISPA members that attended the recent AFNOG will have   
interacted
> with people from PCH, such as Gaurab Upadhaya, and attended the   
workshop
> on
> internet exchanges held there.
>
> While nobody denies that international bandwidth is expensive,  
the  cure
> for
> that is to do what I mentioned above - encourage a flourishing local
> internet community.
>
>      srs
>
>
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