2010 NANOG Meeting

February the 21st sees the 48th NANOG (North American Network Operators Group) meeting. This event is going to be hosted by Giganews, who are arguably the world’s leading Usenet provider, and Data Foundry, who have been a global provider of outsourced data recovery for many years. The focus of NANOG is to monitor, highlight and solve problems which arise from the operation and expansion of the internet.

This 48th NANOG meeting will be talking place in Austin, Texas and will be attended by such internet names as Comcast, TW Telecom, Akamai, Equinix and Google. They will discuss current problems and issues, along with new technology and its implication upon the infrastructure of the internet.

Topics which will be discussed at this NANOG meeting are listed as operational issues which effect ISP operation. Large scale backbone operations and the application of new protocols including IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

These types of meetings organised by NANOG are held three times over the year, and are held in different venues around the USA each time. NANOG are a subsidiary of the Merit Network, which is the longest standing research and education network in the world. It has helped to organise NANOG since early 1994.

It is sure that a world full of people dependent upon the internet for their work, or even their play, are secure in the knowledge that such industry giants are sitting at the same table. We all know that the internet is far from perfect, especially in less developed countries, and it can only be hoped that NANOG, and other similar working groups around the world, can ensure that the quality of our internet connections continues to get better. We should all give a big word of thanks to Giganews and Data Foundry for their efforts in ensuring we stay connected.