1. IXP.mk – University neutral IXP initiative
Initiative for neutral IXP in Macedonia

2. About me
Programmer by heart
7 years ago was asked to be part of the HPC project on FCSE
Experience in networking for 10+ years
Started exploring the RIPE Atlas project 4 years ago
Working on creating an IXP in Macedonia for 2 years now

3. Some history Initial idea started before RIPE SEE4 (Belgrade 2015)
MATRIX project – dead in the water for 10 years.
Good cooperation with major ISP
December 2016 – FCSE starts the project “Research platform (testbed) for high availability internet connections”, - 3 year project for cooperation and research of possible ways to improve connectivity to between major ISP and University networks
December 2016 – First meeting with help from RIPE/ISOC for getting key players on board
March 2017-December 2017 – Start the initiative

4. The idea
Have a neutral entity to host/run the IXP
Start with few small/medium ISP and Universities
Education to management in order to get them interested and join the IXP
Run it as a non-profit IXP (as long as the project has resources from the Faculty) and design a model to make it self sustainable
Create a non-formal community around the project which will then become NOG.mk

5. The idea (part 2)
Improve the University Fiber network (upgrade to 10G capacity) – DONE…
Install RIPE Atlas FCSE - DONE…
Have initial plan for the infrastructure of the IXP – DONE …
Have several key players on board
2 ISPs
2 GOV systems
1 University
Sign MoU with key players in order to join the project – 2 MoU signed, 2 more in progress

8. The idea (part 3)
Install IXP manager, install 2 RS VM – test done with private AS
Get AS + IP space for IXP and start making connections – RIPE ???
Form the MK NOG as a independent legal entity (probably under the University umbrella)
Bring in the content players (Google, Facebook,...)
Bring root DNS instances (DNS service for MK users is terrible – most advanced users use Google dns or OpenDNS)
Switch from IXP initiative to a full IXP (legal procedures)

9. The future
The Faculty (FCSE) has the staff (experts, engineers) for the project
Some of us are very influential in ISP industry and can help bring more ISPs to the IXP
Big companies can see the benefit and help with donations
Cooperation with other projects: GEANT, eduroam, RIPE Atlas...
Cooperation with the industry: Big transit providers, hardware vendors, Content providers …

10. vladislav.bidikov@finki.ukim.mk @bidikov
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@bidikov