[menog] RE: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

Tue Jul 31 12:38:47 GMT 2007

Hello Everyone,

May be I'm entering this discussion late, but to answer Kais question on
'peering activities among the GCC'?

-          Yes, there was an attempt to progress this particular project
under the umbrella of the GCC council, results; even though modest, but
encouraging. Initially Qtel (Qatar) and Etisalat (UAE) then Bahrain-UAE
and so on, however, don't know if anyone has peered with Saudi Arabia as
part of the scope.

-          The initial proposal, as put together by Saleem (hope he is
on this mailing list) suggested two options: Centralized Model and
Distributed or Bilateral, the above was according to the later.

-          On the centralized model, the obvious locations for an IX
are:  Dubai-UAE and Jeddah-KSA primarily due to the global FO
availability.

On the other parts of the discussion:

Unless enough contents are exchanged, the peering (via an IX -
preferably) will not be cost effective, where I feel  efforts will have
to be exerted in order to attract major contents providers to be around,
I know for sure some are already looking for an opportunity to mirror
their contents in the region. 

One more note; Abeers announcement is a great one, thank you Abeer, this
is in-line with one of the proposals that was put forward during
Menog-1, whereby not just one but multiple exchange points are set-up
which jointly form a middle-east wide Internet Backbone.

Regards

From: menog-bounces at menog.net [mailto:menog-bounces at menog.net] On Behalf
Of Abeer Kamal
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 1:18 PM
To: 'Fahad AlShirawi'; 'Timo Liuska'; menog at menog.net
Cc: 'Kais Al-Essa'
Subject: RE: [menog] RE: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

HI All, 

Just a quick note, GPX Global systems Inc - Egypt headquarters had
already launched its Middle East Internet eXchange point in Cairo Egypt.
At the moment we are contemplating establishing another IXP in a gulf
country. Still, we are in the process of gathering country information,
however, if things go according to plan, we should be able to establish,
deploy and become operational within in the 18 months. We have all the
local ISPs in Egypt already present in our facility, and are perusing
peering agreements with MENA ISPs. I will keep you all posted on how
things develop. 

On another note, it was great to have met all you guys in MENOG 1 and
looking forward to our second meeting in Qatar!

Regards,

Abeer Kamal | Business Development & Marketing Manager
GPX Egypt Ltd.| Tel (+202) 690-7490/91 | Fax (+202) 690-7493 | Mobile
(+2012) 4244982

_______________________________________________________________________ 

2 Al Shahid Ismail Fahmy - 5th Floor, Aprt# 11 - Almaza, Heliopolis
11361 - Cairo, Egypt

www.gpx.ie 

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From: menog-bounces at menog.net [mailto:menog-bounces at menog.net] On Behalf
Of Fahad AlShirawi
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:47 PM
To: 'Timo Liuska'; menog at menog.net
Cc: 'Kais Al-Essa'
Subject: [menog] RE: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

Ah! I should have read on.... Okay this is interesting and I didn't know
about it. What exactly is STC doing with MEIX other than selling transit
to GCC countries and Saudi ISPs? By default once they have GCC
countries, they have them peered anyway.

Also, that's the one in partnership with Teleglobe right? How come they
don't have enough capacity? In what regards? STC is trying to offload
capacity so that's strange.

Fahad.

From: ncc-regional-middle-east-admin at ripe.net
[mailto:ncc-regional-middle-east-admin at ripe.net] On Behalf Of Timo
Liuska
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:36 AM
To: ncc-regional-middle-east at ripe.net
Cc: Kais Al-Essa; Osama Dosary ((dosary))
Subject: Re: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

Hi again,

My answer wasn't particularly clear, thanks for correcting Mr. Osama. My
earlier response was about the plans for national IX here in KSA. STC
has indeed the MEIX -project, but at least so far they haven't been able
to provide enough capacity there to make it useful, so at least ISU is
not peering over that link currently at all. 

Best regards,

Timo

-- 

Timo Liuska <tic at isu.net.sa>

Senior Network Consultant, Nixu Middle East FZ-LLC

Network Operations Center / Internet Services Unit

King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology

On Jul 31, 2007, at 11:15 , Osama Dosary ((dosary)) wrote:

Hello,

I used to work in the Internet arm of STC, and as far as I know STC
doesn't have any plans to peer with gulf ISPs. They have already setup
what they call "Saudi Internet Exchange", but they are really selling
transit traffic to the middle-east. I believe that most of the gulf is
now connected. 

With regards to CITC, their plans don't include Gulf peering, especially
when that means that the content control for Saudi Arabia will be
bypassed.

Since the ISU function (as an International Gateway for Saudi) has now
been integrated into STC, the doors are now open for the two new
competitors to do International peering (ITC and Bayanat,) so they could
potentially peer with the gulf.

Does that answer your question?

Regards,

Osama I. Al-Dosary

________________________________

	From: ncc-regional-middle-east-admin at ripe.net
[mailto:ncc-regional-middle-east-admin at ripe.net] On Behalf Of Timo
Liuska
	Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 9:14 AM
	To: ncc-regional-middle-east at ripe.net
	Cc: Kais Al-Essa
	Subject: Re: [ncc-regional-middle-east] Peering

	Hi, 

	There has been indeed discussions about building a local
internet exchange ever since the local ISP's could select where to get
their international capacity (around last Ramadan). Before that,
KACST/ISU was effectively acting as an internet exchange in Riyadh and
Jeddah. As far as I know, CITC is one of the key parties in the decision
process who is going to build it and when. So far I haven't seen any
final decisions about it, but hopefully they'll get the decision done
quickly.

	Best regards,

	Timo

	-- 

	Timo Liuska <tic at isu.net.sa>

	Senior Network Consultant, Nixu Middle East FZ-LLC

	Network Operations Center / Internet Services Unit

	King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology

	On Jul 26, 2007, at 21:26 , Kais Al-Essa wrote:

	Hello all,

	It was interesting to attend the 1st MENOG meeting in Bahrain.
I'm looking forward to such annual meetings.

	One of the interesting topics for me as an ISP Technical Manager
is Peering Points.

	During the meeting, I didn't see any single initiative about a
peering project in the Gulf. However, I've heared about some attempts or
projects, but was unable to get anything solid.

	Therefore, I'm sending this e-mail to the group in order to
enquire if anyone knows for sure about any peering activities between
Gulf Countries for Internet traffic and if there is anything going on
with Saudi Arabia in particular. I personally heared that STC is working
on something soon, but again, nothing was solid and I was unable to
obtain clear information.

	Regards..

	Kais Al-Essa, Founder and Operations & Technical Services
Manager

	Sahara Net

_______________________________________________________________________

	<image001.jpg> <http://www.sahara.com/> 

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