ZANOG@iWeek2024 has announced its programme and keynote speakers for the return of South Africa’s oldest Internet industry conference on 12–14 March 2024.
The last fully-fledged instalment of iWeek was co-hosted with SAFNOG in August 2019 and saw over 30 speakers engage with 423 attendees powered by roughly 5,500 cups of coffee.
iWeek’s return will be hosted by the South African Network Operators Group (ZANOG) and the Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA).
This year’s event will be held at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, and the agenda is available on the iWeek website — https://iweek.org.za/agenda.
Day one of the prestigious gathering will begin with a welcome by ISPA chairperson Sasha Booth-Beharilal.
Professor Jess Auerbach is the event’s keynote speaker and will talk about her research that explores the use of the Internet as a political tool.
She will also discuss the impact of connectivity on social development and the disparities between the minority northern hemisphere and the majority south viewed through the lens of access to the Internet.
For much of the duration of ZANOG@iWeek2024, technical streams will run in parallel with presentations.
These will tackle topics such as the role of ISPs in cybersecurity initiatives, ICASA’s requirements for effective transformation for smaller ISPs, and how to protect children online, with particular reference to the role of the Film and Publication Board.
Speakers from Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, Dominic Cull and Rolf Blom, will also give talks on day one.
As always, the domain name landscape comes under the microscope with a workshop on the second day hosted by ZANOG@iWeek2024 partners, ZADNA and ZARC, on navigating the ZA second-level domain namespace.
ICANN, the event’s main sponsor, will host a workshop on the KINDNS framework, focusing on the most important operational best practices of DNS security.
A market study commissioned by ICANN and presented by William Stucke and Mark Elkins immediately follows and will assess the current state of the domain name sector across the African continent.
June Okal of ICANN will present the “Coalition for a Digital Africa” as well as the ICANN Grant Program, which will be of great interest for community network enthusiasts and operators.
MyBroadband editor Jan Vermeulen will deliver a talk and host a discussion on the concerning state of Africa’s Regional Internet Registry, AFRINIC, and how to fix it.
Wednesday, 13 March, will also feature an INX-ZA User Meeting, providing a platform for users to come together, share experiences, discuss network developments and explore collaboration opportunities.
Much of day three will be devoted to fibre topics such as the mapping of South Africa’s fibre networks presentation in the morning, the Future of Fibre panel discussion thereafter, and the FNO/ISP Best Practice Workshop, amongst other scheduled fibre-related slots.
ISPA’s February 2024 FNO perception survey results will be revealed in the afternoon.
“Internet Week” began as a loose collection of events planned for the same week in 2000, evolving into an annual Internet industry event called “iWeek”.
iWeek 2024 will be the 20th event since the first “Internet Week” was held in Cape Town in 2000.
ISPA was established in 1996 and is a recognised Industry Representative Body representing over 220 members with a diverse range of Internet services and target markets.
ZANOG’s mission is to optimise and streamline Africa’s role within the global Internet community. It focuses on technological best practices for local and regional communities, and peering networks as infrastructure is developed throughout Africa.
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