| Background
The growth of Internet network in Indonesia, although is still on its
initial phase and not yet popular like in some advanced countries, shows
a positive trend. The large potential of users in Indonesia, whose population
(July 1997) is 200 million, cannot be disregarded. The Government has
issued 41 initial licenses to various companies interested to provide
Internet services.
One of the prerequisites to be able to improve this
big market is by forming a national interconnection among Internet service
providers (ISP) in Indonesia, with the intention that customers from
one ISP can communicate with other customers from other ISPs in Indonesia
easily and with a low cost. Without this national interconnection, the
information traffic speed in Indonesia will entirely depends on foreign
Internet interconnection, which cannot fully be controlled by Indonesian
ISPs.
With this national information traffic backbone whose
development can be maintained by Indonesian ISP’s, there are many
advantages that can be gained, among others :
-
It is a relatively cheaper line than using an
Internet network backbone in another country (which certainly would
take benefits from their services)
-
It is an alternative routing for an ISP when
their connection to the Internet (directly to another country) is
facing problems.
-
The high bandwidth among Indonesian ISPs will
give an incentive to content provider placing ther database in Indonesia,
both for local content provider or international one.
This national interconnection can be tapped for the
development of new services needing a high bandwidth, that probably
could not be realized if we rely on the relatively expensive interconnection
through other countries.
In order to establish this national interconnection,
APJII had the initiative to launch the Indonesia Internet Exchange (IIX)
program, expected to become the initial step for further development
in accordance with the need for Indonesian Internet growth.
Objective
The objective of the IIX program is to form a national interconnection
network having the ability and facilities according to the current necessities,
to be utilized by all Internet Service Provider possessing operational
licence in Indonesia.
Currently the IIX program does not have an expire date,
but it comprises of stages that will be developed continually.
Concept of Maintenance
Basically the maintenance of IIX-AJII will be executed by APJII’s
personnels or by a third party selected transparently. The investment
and operational fund will be divided to all IIX-APJII’s members
based on cost-recovery plus a saving for a development fund. All the
cashflow in the IIX-APJII program can be audited by all members, so
that the exploitation of the program by certain parties can be avoided.
Comprehending the strategic position of the IIX-APJII program, the executive
council of APJII will invite a wide range of sponsors to contribute
some equipment, service or fund, with a publication in return, and other
benefits within the scope of APJII’s executive council.
Development
In conjunction with Internet and its supporting technology development,
the IIX-APJII program will continually be upgraded, both in the function
aspect and capacity. Several points that have been identified are among
others:
-
Increase of bandwidth up to 2 Mbps (E1), or
even more than 165 Mbps using the ATM technology.
-
Performing a peer-to-peer connection (through
a bilateral agreement) with networks in other countries.
-
Placing joint facilities in the IIX-APJII network
such as ID-NIC server, Directory Services, National Search Engine
etc.
Expected participation
The IIX-APJII program seeks participation from various parties :
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All APJII members to allocate the time and resources
in every implementation phase.
-
Vendors of network equipment such as router,
hub, switch, computer, modem, cable, tester/analyzer, monitoring
software/hardware, to contribute equipment that can be utilized
in the IIX-APJII installation and operational process.
-
Vendors of telecommunication equipment and infrastructure
such as VSAT, frame relay, radio link, leased channel and the like
to interconnect among ISPs’ network.
-
Sponsors interested to fund this program both
for a commercial and a non-commercial purpose.
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