The Internet has become an essential\ntool in the wake of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shelter-in-place measures in the\nregion and the closing of schools have led to an increase in the residential\nuse of Internet services and an increase in telecommuting and e-commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlos Mart\u00ednez, LACNIC CTO,\nhighlighted the role that the Internet is playing during this health emergency\nand as a tool for \u201cvirtual social proximity\u201d to counter the physical distancing\nmeasures implemented by the authorities to avoid the spread of the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How can the Internet help during\nthese health crises?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Internet can help in multiple\nways. Right now, I believe that the Internet is essential for maintaining the\nsocial distance needed to control the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Telecommuting will be key to\nsustaining economic activity, as will e-commerce and online financial services.\nWithout these tools, any limitation on people leaving their home would be very\ndifficult to implement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n E-learning platforms will enable children\nand students to continue learning with their teachers, and streaming platforms\nand social networks will allow us to make a better use of our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, one must not forget the\nmultiple communication tools that are currently available, including\nvideoconferencing, instant messaging and others, which will allow us to feel\nclose to our loved ones despite being physically far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the connectivity in our region\ngood enough to help in these situations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Regional connectivity has greatly improved\nin recent years, particularly when looking at the backbones and transit for the\ndifferent providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, in the case of access\nnetworks, the situation is quite varied. Operators that have deployed fiber\nnetworks to the home will surely be able to face the increased demand without\nmajor problems. On the other hand, DSL access networks and certain mobile\nnetworks may perhaps suffer a little bit more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The widespread deployment of mobile\nLTE networks in the region is very positive, as the cellular network will allow\ncovering part of this aggregate demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has an increase in traffic been\nobserved in the countries of the region during the quarantine?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Different operators and several\nInternet exchange points have prepared reports on the status of the Internet.\nAll of these reports mention a traffic increase of between 25% and 35%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has the quality of service been\nmaintained despite the increased demand of recent days?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, I believe that the experience\ncontinues to be very good. There may have been some minor issues here and there\nbut, in general, the Internet is coping quite well with this very particular\nsituation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the existence of greater traffic\nvolumes also increase vulnerabilities? Should we be even more careful?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A major question for the future has\nto do with the maintenance of major networks and systems in general. Deployed networks\nrequire maintenance. Cables break, network ports and line cards grow old and\nneed to be replaced, server discs fail, and power supplies also need to be\nreplaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a scenario in which significant\nrestrictions on the movement of individuals and the transport of goods are\ncommon, the aging of the equipment itself may conspire against the proper\nfunctioning of the Internet in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must keep in mind that very little\nof the equipment used by the operators in our region is manufactured locally \u2013\nmost of it is imported from other regions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Internet has become an essential tool in the wake of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Shelter-in-place measures in the region and the closing of schools have led to an increase in the residential use of Internet services and an increase in telecommuting and e-commerce. Carlos Mart\u00ednez, LACNIC CTO, highlighted the role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[505],"tags":[],"archivo":[1345,939],"taxonomy-authors":[],"tipo_autor":[],"class_list":["post-13015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institutional","archivo-editions","archivo-march-2020-edition"],"acf":{"author":"","related_notes":null},"yoast_head":"\n