An Internet Root Server Copy is Installed in Ecuador for the LAC Region

May 09, 2012

Today, in Quito, the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) signed an agreement with the Ecuadorean Association of Companies Providing Internet Services, Added Value, Carriers and Information Technology (AEPROVI) to install a copy of the "L" root server for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Installing this server in Quito – a strategic location within the Andean region – will allow improving the direct connection of users and Internet Service Providers not only in Ecuador but also in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. It will also strengthen the possibility of using Information and Communication Technologies (TIC) in favor of development and the improvement of the community's standard of living.

The installation of a copy of the "L" root server in Ecuador is the result of an agreement signed between LACNIC's Executive Director, Raúl Echeberría, and the Director of the Ecuadorean Association of Companies Providing Internet Services, Added Value, Carriers and Information Technology, Francisco Balarezo, during LACNIC XVII, the region's most important Internet experts meeting which is being held in Quito, at the Swissotel, until this Friday.

The "L" server is one of 13 original Internet servers installed around the world (ten of them in the United States, two in Europe, one in Japan) and it is managed by ICANN. A technical limitation makes it impossible to increase the number of original servers to more than 13; for this reason, a technology known as anycast was developed that allows creating clones (mirror copies) which, once in operation, are indistinguishable from the original servers.

This new agreement allows expanding +RAICES, a project that LACNIC has been implementing since 2004 and which has made it possible to install eight root server copies in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve Internet access throughout the continent and make a relevant contribution to Internet stability both at regional as well as at global level.

The +RAICES project is a concrete example of the multi-stakeholder collaboration efforts that are taking place in our region, bringing together public and private sector organizations, academia, civil society, and the technical community.

To date, +RAICES has made it possible to install root server copies in five South American countries (Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Uruguay), two in the Caribbean (Haiti and St. Maarten), and one in Central America (Panama).