+RAÍCES Supports Installation of Four New Anycast Copies in the Region

28/08/2020

IXP.GT of Guatemala, Telefonica of El Salvador, PIT Peru, and the National University Council (CNU) of Nicaragua are the organizations selected this year by LACNIC’s +RAICES Program to install copies of the original Internet root servers.

Sixteen Latin American and Caribbean organizations expressed their interest in hosting a root server copy and responded to the call for proposals launched by +RAICES in 2020. Four beneficiaries have been selected so far, although the number of organizations may later be increased depending on our agreements with DNS root server operators (RSOs).

According to the study titled Use of DNS Root Servers in Latin America, the installation of these root server copies has substantially improved response times for most Latin American and Caribbean countries.

LACNIC’s +RAICES project has allowed installing close to 40 root server copies across the region. This project seeks to strengthen Internet infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean, noted Guillermo Cicileo, Head of Internet Infrastructure Research and Development at LACNIC and responsible for the +Raíces program.

Proposals selected in 2020. The selection process was based on different considerations, including countries with no root server copies supported by the program or with a limited number of copies, locations where the installation of a root server copy would benefit the highest number of users, and locations interconnected with an important number of autonomous systems. These considerations, however, were not exclusive, as a balance among these and other criteria was sought in agreement with the DNS root server operators involved.

Now that the organizations that will host the copies have been selected, the next step is to sign the confidentiality agreements and advance in the purchase and possible process for importing the root servers in each country. The installation phase will begin once a server reaches its destination.

The installation of new mirror copies of the DNS root zone in Latin America and the Caribbean will allow response times (round trip time to the server) to continue to improve.

Since 2013, LACNIC issues an annual call for proposals to encourage the deployment of root servers in the LAC region, promoting their installation for the purpose of improving Internet infrastructure.