A treat for network operators

A workshop in progress at a local hotel on the first day of the 8-day long SANOG V programme

"We have received positive response from almost all the network professionals and operators, who registered for various workshops of the programme," said Akhtaruzzaman Monju, president, ISPAB and director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) while talking to StarTech.

The event started off with a workshop on February 6 and will continue till the 13th. The two-day long tutorial session will start from February 11 and the event will come to an end with a conference on the final day. Twenty-seven Network professionals, consisting of 15 fellows and 12 trainers, have arrived in the city for the programme.

"Previously it was quite tough for a network operator or a professional from this region, to attend workshops and events such as these, which usually took place in most of the western countries," said Faruq Ibn Abu Bakr, Programme Committee Manager, ISPAB.

SANOG was formed by a group of South Asian network operators and professionals to cut down on the expenses and focusing on this they hold resourceful workshops and tutorials in the different parts of the South Asian region.

Ever since the group was formed, through programmes like these, network professionals of this region have shared, exchanged and updated knowledge and learnt new technologies over the last few years.

The SANOG V Programme committee received a huge amount of applications from interested individuals from all over the country. Around 90 percent of the applicants were selected and registered for the workshops.

"We had no other choice but to chop down the number of applications, as we cannot accommodate all the interested network operators," said a member of the committee.

Over 150 network operators and professionals from Internet Service Providers (ISP), Telecommunication companies, and other relevant organisations are attending the workshops.

Under the programme, 5 workshops consisting of important topics like Network and Host Security, ISP Routing and BGP Multi-homing and DNS/DNSSEC have been scheduled. These workshops are being supervised by network specialists from CISCO, APNIC and Network Resource Startup Center (NRSC).

WILAN is the Platinum Sponsor for SANOG 5 programme, while Cisco and Metronet are the Gold Sponsors. Juniper Networks, Advance Data Network, ATC are among the Silver Sponsors. The lab setup and Local Area Network (LAN) support for the entire event are being provided by IIT Dhaka.

Even though, the programme is an effective tool toward the development of ISP and telecommunications sector, the event lacked technical and financial support from the government authorities concerned.

"We did receive encouragement from the authorities but it was already too late to receive any support from them," said Monju.

The President acknowledged the aid of FBCCI and NBR along with the financial and technical support of the Platinum, Gold and Silver sponsors.

Some managers of the programme committee also complained about the problems that the foreign trainers and instructors had to face at the immigration while entering the country.

Philip Smith, an Instructor from CISCO, and a citizen of Great Britain was given only a week's visa when the entire event will be going on for eight days. ISPAB is trying to extend the instructors' visa by another week, which is essential under the prevailing circumstances.

"Despite such problems, hopefully with help from the authorities concerned events such as SANOG V, can become an important instrument for generating skilled Network Operators and Professionals, which will be highly necessary after the arrival of the anticipated submarine cable," Monju concluded.