First Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum launched in Barbados

Bridgetown, Barbados - As a first-of-its-kind event in the Caribbean region, the Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum (CarPIF) took place on May 27-28, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Barbados. The Forum sought to provide insights on how the Caribbean could leverage the potential of greater interconnection and peering between local, regional and international Internet service providers.

Hosted collaboratively by the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG), the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), the Internet Society (ISOC) and Packet Clearing House (PCH), CarPIF also benefitted from the participation of representatives from LACNIC, ARIN, Google and Akamai, in addition to key people involved in setting up Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Topics discussed during the sessions included the progress of the CTU's Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (CARCIP) initiative, technical and economic benefits to establishing IXPs, and how to grow Caribbean Internet traffic among other things. The Forum's organisers stressed the importance of finding solutions to the region's challenges by through discussion on Internet peering models and relationships with Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), and sharing regional experiences in critical infrastructure development.

"We didn't come to CarPIF just to talk, we came to build new relationships within the Caribbean," stated Arturo Servin from Google.