Transcript Nimal_inet2015

DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL LEVEL
NETWORKS IN SRI LANKA
Nimal Ratnayake
Senior Lecturer/Peradeniya
Vice Chair/ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter
National Level Networks?
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LEARN – Universities, Research Organizations,
ATIs
LGN – Government Departments, Ministries,
Divisional Secretariats, Provincial & Local
Govt. entities
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SchoolNet – Secondary schools
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NODES – Distance Education
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Banks – Branches, ATMs
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Other organizations
Who built these networks?
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Many people
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My involvement highlighted below
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Lanka Education and Research Network
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Management Committee
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Technical Manager
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CEO/CTO after LEARN became a company
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1994 to 2012
Lanka Government Network
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CEO/CTO of LGII (ICTA Subsidiary)
LEARN - Before the Dawn
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In the mid/late 80's, Lankan graduate students
in the U.S./elsewhere used the Internet
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SLnet - distribution of SL news via e-mail
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soc.culture.sri-lanka (USENET newsgroup)
When they returned after their studies, they
work towards bringing Internet to Sri Lanka
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Developed LANs in their respective universities
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Inter university connectivity was still missing
The Birth of LEARN
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In 1989, a proposal was submitted to GoSL by
Dr. Abhaya Induruwa of U of Moratuwa
for the establishment of the
“Lanka Experimental Academic and Research
Network”
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based on X.25 protocols
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Decided to start with dial-up e-mail
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CINTEC provided first funding
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Rs. 15,000 for a telephone line – a rare commodity
LEARNmail
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Operational since April 1990
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Used uucp protocol
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“lkmor” relay at Moratuwa
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International Connectivity initially through
servers in the U.S.
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located at UC Davis, Stanford and Purdue
In November 1991, 644 messages totaling
627kB were transferred over international link
50 sites in Sri Lanka by 1994
Inter-University Network
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Set up in 1995
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Original X.25 proposal modified to use IP
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first IP-based WAN in the country
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funded by University Grants Commission (Rs. 1.8m)
Used 64kb leased lines from SLT
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why do subscribers need 64kb?
Connected 3 sites
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University of Moratuwa, University of Colombo,
Open University
LEARN Phase 1 Network
International Connectivity
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First on-line connection in Sri Lanka was
provided by Compuserve in early 1995
Lanka Internet on-line on 11th May 1995
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) (Nov 1995) Electroteks
(March 1996) and
LankaCom (July 1996) followed
SLT had 64kb/s connection to Internet
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to JVNC network in the U.S.
LEARN Internet connectivity through SLT
Expansion of LEARN
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More sites connected via 64kb links in 1996-98
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U. Moratuwa,
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OU
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U. Ruhuna
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U. SJP
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ACCMT via UoM
U. Colombo
U. Kelaniya
U. Peradeniya
NARESA
LEARN Phase 2
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Swedish International Development Agency
(SIDA) funded upgrade of LEARN
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8 Sites connected at 2Mb/s
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4 Sites connected at 128kb/s
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2Mb/s link between Suntel and SLT
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Internet Access Bandwidth: ~3Mbps
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Video conferencing between 4 sites
Training
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LEARN conducted a series of training
programmes at universities
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Colombo, Moratuwa, Peradeniya, Rajarata, Ruhuna,
Kelaniya, SJP, etc.
Evangelised the use of applications
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such as e-mail and the world-wide web
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Created a team of networking experts
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Built a camaraderie among the networking staff
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continues even today
LEARN Phase 3
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Phase 3 : 2005 to 2006
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IP-VPN over MPLS network [SLT]
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Servers hosted at SLTiDC
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Many sites had one/two 2Mbps links
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Others are 256kbps – 1 Mbps
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Jan 2005: Internet access BW 4.5Mbps
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Dec 2006: Internet access BW 45Mbps (LEARN
and SchoolNet)
Routing voice calls between some sites
LEARN Phase 4
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Phase 4 : 2007 - 2012
links upgraded to 10Mbps/34Mbps over optical
fiber from 2007
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3 links at 34Mbps
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20 links at 10Mbps
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Internet access BW 120Mbps (LEARN and
SchoolNet)
Status in 2012
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~ 20 sites around
Colombo
Fiber connectivity
for most remote
site also
LEARN Became a
Registered Internet
Service Provider in
Sri Lanka in 2011
Achievements
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Interconnect ALL public universities
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Ownership: LEARN project is “our project”
Benefits to members
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Lower prices for local/international bandwidth
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Value addition
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Sharing of expertise / Technical workshops
Champion of networking in Sri Lanka
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Ahead of telecom operators in technology
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IPv6, Multicasting
100% self sustaining
LEARN – Current status
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Links to universities at 500Mbps to 10Mbps over
optical fiber from 2007
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Internet access BW 1.5Gbps
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Direct International Connectivity in the works
TEIN3 Connectivity
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Major milestone in LEARN's history
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Connected to TEIN3 at 45Mbps since April 1, 2010
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Very high quality connectivity
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Bridged an international V.conf. at 4Mbps per site
Facilities/Services
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Voice routing between campus PBXs
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Multicasting
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IP version 6
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HD Video conferencing facilities at all public
universities
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Remote teaching
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Meetings
Video conferencing bridge (MCU)
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Bridged SERENE V. Conf program at 4Mbps per site
Organizational Changes
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Previously a project undertaking of the UGC
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Technical operations by UoM, UoP
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Financial operations by UCSC
Registered as an Association in 2009
15 universities and the UGC are the founding
members
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All 16 institutions nominate a rep for the BoD
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Own office from May 2010
International Visibility
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Hosted the SERENE program/workshop
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http://serene.learn.ac.lk/
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As a “provider” country
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BD, NP, BT, AF were “beneficiary” countries
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Shared our experience in building/running LEARN
APAN Community
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First APAN member in South Asia (1996)
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APAN Secretariat since Oct 2011
Lanka Government Network
(LGN)
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National Network of the Government
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Presidents Office / Prime Ministers Office /
Parliament
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Ministries / Departments
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District and Divisional Secretariats
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Provincial Councils
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Other local government entities
700+ sites as of 2014
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North and East connected in 2013
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Link speeds 2Mbps to 256kbps
Are we where we should be
after 20 years?
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Limitations in service provider offerings
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No visibility of what happens to our traffic after it
enters the service provider network
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Troubleshooting nightmare
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Performance guarantees
Leased fiber?
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Available in other countries in the region (IN, PK,
BD..)
Software Defined Networking (SDN)?
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Slice the service provider network
Are we where we should be
after 20 years? (2)
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LEARN / LGN focus only on the connectivity to
the side
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Problems in the institution networks
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Lack of trained staff
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Problems of retaining trained staff (both LEARN
and LGN)
–
Training needs to be a continuous process
–
Adjustment of salay / benefits
Do we need so many separate national
networks in the govt / education sector?
Are we where we should be
after 20 years? (3)
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Regulatory Framework
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Still focused on “voice”
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Approval to import networking equipment
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Legal issues over Voice Over IP?
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Voice of the Service providers gets heard
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What about the interests of the users?