NIXA (National Internet Exchange of Afghanistan)
As the Internet grows in size, number of users, and usage, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) continue to exchange increasing amounts of data traffic. A basic underpinning of the Internet is points where inter-ISP traffic can be exchanged. These interconnection points are called Network Access Points (NAPs) or Exchange Points. To help cope with the ever increasing amount of Internet traffic, many new Exchange Points have been deployed. This trend is expected to continue as it seems to directly support the growth of the local and regional ISP industry, allowing local traffic exchange and reduced dependency on the large, established ISPs.
Internet exchange point is the most critical part of the internet’s infrastructure; it is the meeting point where ISPs connect with one another, interconnecting with other networks is the essence of the internet and ISPs must interconnect with other networks to provide internet services.
On the 26thof April ICT Directorate, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology took another initiative organizing Forum on NIXA (National Internet Exchange of Afghanistan).
In this forum all ISPs, GSM operators, ATRA, Kabul University and other ICT related entities participated, NIXA Forum started with the presentation conducted by Mr. Zmarialai Wafa from ICT directorate about the importance of Internet Exchange Point (IXP), previous challenges we faced with NIXA and its current design which is approved by Ministry of Communication & IT.
Following the presentation NIXA forum started, in this session all ISPs showed their strong contribution to this initiative, they appreciated the idea of local Internet Economy of Afghanistan which NIXA is going to create and NIXA’s role by promoting the local contents in Afghanistan. ISPs also showed their support on NIXA which covers caching the GOOGLE, YAHOO and AKAMAI servers, Digital libraries and e-Education primary/secondary curriculum of schools in Afghanistan.
At the end all ISPs confirmed their membership with NIXA, the NIXA agreement with all ISPs will be signed by the end of May 2011.
