Peru IX: A Project to Decentralize the Internet

07/12/2022

The Peruvian Internet Exchange is promoting a project that seeks to decentralize the Internet in the country and support the installation of interconnection points in the cities of Cuzco and Chiclayo so that local and regional operators can peer with each other as well as with content providers. Peru IX already operates Internet exchange points in Lima and Arequipa and is now seeking to take their experience to other cities.

Peru IX CEO Salvador Bertenbreiter noted that the initiative promotes both the development of local infrastructure and training. Knowledge can then be disseminated among local operators so that they can start using BGP and receive their own ASNs and IP prefixes from LACNIC.

Bertenbreiter highlighted the support offered by the FRIDA program for the development of these two new exchange points. The Peruvian organization had previously received support from LACNIC’s +Raíces program for the installation of a root server copy in Lima.

The installation strengthened the country’s Internet infrastructure and, according to Bertenbreiter, “made it possible for all DNS queries to be local. All DNS processing is done locally (in Lima) with a latency of one millisecond, which represents a significant time saving. When the root servers are far away, queries can take 100 milliseconds.” By way of an example, this saving allows a web page to be loaded one second faster than usual.

A new stage. Regarding the new project supported by FRIDA, Bertenbreiter pointed out that one of the main difficulties for ISPs in the cities of Cuzco and Chiclayo is bandwidth scarcity and high latency, as all content and traffic exchanges with other networks occur in Lima. In To make matters worse, the price of bandwidth in those cities is high in dollars. This leads ISPs to offer very low speeds, and in many cases Internet users experience packet losses and high latency due to the saturation of their providers’ WAN links.

The Peru IX initiative seeks to change this situation by increasing bandwidth and reducing latency, allowing access to other local networks by creating a local interconnection ecosystem. “Our goal is to create neutral IXPs in these two cities that will allow information to be exchanged and created. To log local information that will enable peering and thus lower latency, lower the price of bandwidth, and therefore reduce overall costs,” he added.

The project is already underway in Chiclayo with the installation of the equipment, servers, and the ASN provided by LACNIC. Meanwhile, Cuzco is in the process of purchasing the equipment.

Bertenbreiter also stressed that some of the locations where the equipment is being installed are prone to earthquakes or flooding, so these services are critical to maintain local connectivity.

The goal of the FRIDA program is to support projects, initiatives, and solutions that will contribute to the consolidation of a global, open, stable, and secure Internet. To keep up with the latest news and the next call for candidates, subscribe to the FRIDA mailing list.