Deploying Probes to Help Measure the Internet in LAC

30/11/2021

On 3 and 16 November, the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES) ANUIES-TIC Committee along with the Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Center (RIPE NCC) organized a RIPE Atlas software probes deployathon for Mexico and Bolivia.

RIPE Atlas is one of the Internet network parameter measurement platforms with the highest global deployment levels and provides resources for performing network measurements. This project is led by the RIPE NCC, the Regional Internet Registry for Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia. LACNIC is collaborating with the project in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The deployathon is an initiative created to promote the deployment of more probes in the LAC region for the purpose of increasing coverage and obtaining better information about the Internet.

More than 90 people, including network operators, members of academia, researchers, and students interested in contributing to Internet measurement, participated in this activity, where they learned about the requirements for deploying a software probe and received training for the implementation of the RIPE Atlas device. 

Previously, probes were small devices that were distributed during in-person events. In response to the health emergency and the resulting travel restrictions, a software probe was developed to replace these physical devices. 

While software probes increase accessibility, their installation requires greater technical knowledge, which is why the deployathon included a workshop specifically on software probe implementation. 

This meeting allowed the installation of a total of 18 probes, seven of them in Bolivia, eight in Mexico, and one in Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, respectively. This translates into more information and a better understanding of the Internet in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mexico before the deployathon

Mexico after the deployathon

​​Bolivia before the event

​​Bolivia after the event

“The event was an integral learning space with extraordinary community participation,” noted Carmen Denis, coordinator of the Commission for Collaboration in Internet Development in Higher Education Institutions at ANUIS. “Participants learned about the importance of contributing to the global Internet measurement project, with special emphasis on our LAC region,” she concluded.A new deployathon is in the works for next year to continue to promote the deployment of probes across the region. To learn more about the RIPE Atlas project and what you need to do to deploy a probe, click here.