Connecting with the Caribbean [Archived]

By Jennifer Bly

The Caribbean is an integral part of ARIN’s service region. Our presence in the Caribbean dates back over two decades. Through outreach events and relationships with technical community members, local operator groups, government officials, regulators, and law enforcement agencies, ARIN has been a strong partner to the Caribbean’s efforts to establish and maintain a strong and resilient Internet infrastructure. We’ve hosted Public Policy and Members meetings, attended community events, provided technical expertise, and so much more.

Here are a few of the many ways we’ve been active in the Caribbean over the years:

Distributing Address Space to Caribbean Members

The first allocation/assignment of IPv4 address space to a Caribbean organization  was in 1992. Today ARIN is serving 140 customers in the Caribbean, noting there are an additional 80 customers in Puerto Rico.

Hosting ARIN Meetings in the Caribbean

We hold two Public Policy and Members Meetings a year for members of the entire Internet community to engage in policy discussions, network with colleagues, and attend workshops and tutorials. Our meetings are held in varying locations across the US, Canada, and the Caribbean to allow individuals in all areas of our region to attend. These meetings have been hosted in Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica.  We also offer the opportunity to attend a meeting for free through our Fellowship Program. So far, we’ve had 30 fellows join us from the Caribbean!

Spring 2015 meeting fellows pose for a picture at ARIN 36 in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Listening to the concerns of the Caribbean community

Anyone who is interested in participating in ARIN’s public policy process that determines how Internet number resources are distributed is welcome to participate. Back in 2008, the Caribbean community involvement in the policy process resulted in a smaller minimum allocation size for the region.

Bringing ARIN on the Road Events to the Caribbean

ARIN on the Road is a day-long educational event that travels to lesser-frequented locations within our region. These events provide the latest information on our technical services, the status of IPv6 adoption, current policy discussions and updates about ARIN and the RIR system. We answer questions about how to interact with our online services and how to get involved in our policy development process. To date, we’ve hosted ARIN on the Road programs in different cities throughout the Caribbean including Dominica, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, with an upcoming event in Puerto Rico this summer!

ARIN on the Road Dominica participants hear from Andy Newton, ARIN Chief Engineer, on 18 June 2015

Partnering with Caribbean Operator Group, CaribNOG

We work closely with local operator groups in our region toward the shared goals of the successful operation of the Internet infrastructure. We regularly sponsor the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) meetings held in locations throughout the Caribbean region.  Members of our engineering team frequently give presentations at CaribNOG to help support the needs of Caribbean network operators. In fact, we also played an instrumental role in the first ever CaribNOG meeting which occurred in 2010 in St. Maarten. Our CTO, Mark Kosters, along with other ARIN staff were in attendance. They gave presentations briefing the participants on ARIN and topics including RPKI, DNSSEC, IPv4 exhaustion, and IPv6.

ARIN Infrastructure Manager, Matt Rowley, presents at the 2011 CaribNOG workshop and CTU ICT Roadshow in Castries, Saint Lucia

Supporting the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU)

We’ve been a supporter of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) since 2007. The CTU is an inter-governmental treaty organization dedicated to facilitating the development of the regional telecommunications sector. The CTU works with Caribbean agencies in the areas of capacity building, knowledge sharing, education and policies for Internet governance within the Caribbean. ARIN provides educational information at Ministerial and CTU’s ICT Roadshows, collaborates to get the word out about ongoing ICT capacity-building efforts carried out by the CTU, and, where possible, lends resources to reach our Caribbean community.

ARIN staff, Nate Davis, Cathy Handley, John Curran, Richard Jimmerson, and Susan Hamlin welcome Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU, to the ARIN offices

Getting involved in CANTO

The Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organization (CANTO) serves the Caribbean telecommunications and Internet community by influencing policy, providing information in all aspects of the industry as it evolves, and facilitating a meaningful collaborative process. Over the past decade we have consistently sponsored and sent speakers to the annual CANTO meeting and exhibited to support their efforts in the Caribbean ICT community. Earlier this month, Susan Hamlin, Director of Communication and Member Services, presented and exhibited at CANTO in the Dominican Republic.

ARIN and LACNIC host a joint booth at CANTO 2015 in Miami, Florida to discuss Internet number resources with attendees

Engaging with Governments, Regulators, and LEAs

We’ve maintained a long-standing, well-established working relationship with the governments, regulators, and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) based both within and outside of the Caribbean. This cooperative relationship has become increasingly important, as the wider Internet community strives to ensure that all voices are heard and the interests of all parties are considered. Promoting a more open dialogue between all stakeholders is vital to the open, transparent, bottom-up policy development process and ensuring the continued stability of the Internet.  In our normal course of business we provide information and assistance to governments as they walk through the process of obtaining Internet number resources from ARIN.

ARIN COO, Nate Davis, addresses the CTU ICT Roadshow in September 2012 with Barbados Government Information Service CIO Sharon Lynch, CTU Secretary General, Bernadette Lewis, and Barbados ICT Minister, Senator Darcy Boyce, at the headtable

Our Commitment to the Caribbean

Phew! As you can see, we’ve already done a lot. Our goals for interacting with the Caribbean community include:

• Establishing a well-informed community about IP Addressing

• Opening channels of communication between the different Internet number resource policy stakeholders

• Increasing participation in policy development

• Developing a strong relationship with governments

• Establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for information

We expect our partnership with the Caribbean to only increase, and we look forward to continued community participation and engagement. We are pleased to announce we created a new position within our organization, and welcome Bevil Wooding as our new Caribbean Outreach Liaison. This position will further our reach and involvement in the Caribbean.

Bevil Wooding takes to the microphone in Belize City at CaribNOG 10 in November 2015

Here is a reminder of the ways you can get involved with us:

• Subscribe to our mailing lists to discuss Internet number resource policy development and keep up with ARIN services and activities

• Attend an ARIN meeting – We have great remote participation capabilities if needed

• Don’t forget you can apply for a fellowship!

• Attend our ARIN on the Road events

• Member organizations, get involved in our election process