Pacific Network Operators Group Meeting
09 Jul 2009 - 16:04:07 in Event
Recently Andy Linton, a teaching fellow at the Faculty of
Engineering, took part in the 5th conference and educational
workshop of the Pacific Network Operators Group (PacNOG). Held in
Tahiti, the 5 day conference provided an important forum for
service providers in the Pacific Network community to meet and
discuss current issues as well as receive technical training. The
workshops at the conferences are deliberately designed to strengthen
technical expertise by training people and organisations. In
return the participants are expected to return home and teach others
in their country what they have learnt at the PacNOG workshops.
As PacNOG aims to build relationships among individual and
institutional contacts in the Pacific region, a key outcome of the
organisation is the building of relationships with peers/colleagues
in the region. Andy, who is an instructor and active member of
PacNOG, has been involved in technical knowledge transfer in the
Pacific Region for the pass 12 years and views PacNOG as an
excellent opportunity for people in the Pacific region to share and
develop technical expertise - "People in New Zealand understand the
tyranny of distance, which is even more of a challenge in the South
Pacific region. Geographically these island nations cover huge
areas, which result in scattered and sparse populations. By bringing
people together they are able to identify similar experiences and
share innovative solutions."
This year's conference highlighted many of the challenges and issues
facing internet development in the Pacific region. As John Crain,
Chief Technical Officer ICANN, stated in his keynote address -
"Everyday more than a Billion people rely on the Internet to conduct
aspects of their daily life. Those who use the Internet and those of
us who operate the networks need to be more aware of the risks".
While the workshops addressed a range of challenges, this year the
conference focused on current best practices in security and the
importance of well engineered router and server infrastructure.
Relationship building is also an important aim of PacNOG and as Andy
states," it was really good to see the sharing of knowledge and the
building of relationships, which continues well after the conference
finishes. The Fijian contingent stayed for a few days after the
conference to work with their Tahitian counterparts and this working
together is what the organisation is about". PacNOG also receives
support from a number of institutions in the Pacific region.
Victoria University provided Andy's time, while InternetNZ paid for
his travel and accommodation. The next meeting this November in Fiji, will be supported by the Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org/
) and InternetNZ (http://www.internetnz.net.nz/).
For further information check out: http://www.pacnog.org/