Call for Presentations for the LACNIC Technical Forum

22/01/2019

The LACNIC Technical Forum (LTF) is preparing the program for its second edition, which will take place on 6-10 May in Punta Cana within the framework of the LACNIC 31 meeting. The call for presentations will remain open until 1st February.

Launched last year, this initiative is the result of the evolution and convergence of three consolidated regional spaces: the Latin American and Caribbean IPv6 Forum, the Regional Interconnection Forum, and the Network Security Forum.

Based on the quality of the works that are being received and analyzed, Jorge Villa, a member of the LTF Program Committee, believes that this second edition will be a very enriching experience,

Villa stressed that, despite the fact that it is still very young, the LACNIC Technical Forum is undoubtedly one of the most important spaces for sharing technical experiences and knowledge related to regional Internet development. “In my opinion, one of its greatest strengths is its human capital. While at times undervalued, the region has excellent professionals who are highly qualified and above all very collaborative, eager to help and to work, and this favors an additional advantage: anyone is welcome at the Forum, regardless of their level of knowledge and place of residence,” said Villa.

Open and dynamic. While there are other forums in various Latin American and Caribbean countries and organizations, many of them are limited in scope to issues specific to these organizations or countries. Contrary to this, the LACNIC Technical Forum is a space fully open to participation, not even limited to those working in the region. “Whether local organizations’ issues are discussed or implementations that have been used in different countries are debated, a positive balance is always achieved in terms of communication. One of the Forum’s highlights is that the regional community is debating and solving the problems by itself, and this will inevitably contribute to our development, by breaking certain mental barriers that still exist on account of the region’s history,” Villa observed.

He stressed that the region’s diversity has not hindered interaction and integration. “The region will only grow if we all join our efforts. Nobody owns the truth: we can only approach it by bringing together the knowledge of us all,” noted the Cuban engineer.

What to expect. On the agenda for Punta Cana, Villa stressed that it will be an outstanding Forum, better than the first. This edition has an improved structure and organization. “The changes,” he said, “are largely based on last year’s experience. For example, the call for presentations has been circulating for several weeks now and attempts have been made to reach other groups and organizations of interest both within and outside the region. This means that there are greater chances for people to learn about the call for proposals in time to present their work, and therefore contribute to the debate and enhance learning opportunities. Last year there were excellent presentations, yet I am sure that this time the quality will be much higher.“

He mentioned that there will be presentations on current issues and practical cases that have occurred in the region, on best practices in network operation, IPv6 deployment, network convergence, the Internet of Things, emerging technologies (such as SDN), routing protocols, resource certification, and, of course, various topics related ton of etwork security.

For more information on the call for presentations click here.