Saint Lucia to host CaribNOG regional meeting

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, (CMC) – St. Lucia will host the ninth regional meeting of the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) that organisers say provide a significant forum in coordinating and equipping the region’s technical community.

“CaribNOG plays a unique role in the region’s technology ecosystem. It is a volunteer-based community dedicated to strengthening the Caribbean indigenous capacity to address the rapidly evolving technology landscape,” said Bevil Wooding, one of the CaribNOG founders and a main organiser of the April 27-May 1 event.

“Computer network engineers and technology specialists from across the region and around the world take the time to share their knowledge and experience with the colleagues at CaribNOG,” he added.

Founded in 2010, CaribNOG has been steadily building its reputation as the Caribbean’s most influential and solutions-oriented forum for network engineers and computer technology professionals. The group has also built strong connections with other Network Operator Groups from around the world, including Latin America, North America and as far as the Pacific.

“CaribNOG members benefit immensely from exposure to experts from around the region and across the globe,” said Jamaican-born Stephen Lee, another CaribNOG founding member and chief executive officer of ArkiTechs Inc., a US-based technology firm.

“Topics range from protecting local networks from hackers and cyber-criminals to deploying broadband and the future of the Internet,” he added.

Network security, Internet exchange points, cloud computing and global network trends are among the topics to be addressed at the meeting here.

“St. Lucia is really looking forward to hosting this important meeting,” said Simon Alexander, local organiser and IT Manager at the Organisation for Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission.

“The previous CaribNOG gathering in Curacao drew over 100 persons from more than 15 countries. The international nature of gathering affords us the opportunity to showcase Saint Lucia and the OECS   to the world as a significant technology-enabled destination.”

The CaribNOG 9 meeting is being co-hosted by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and is also supported by the regional and global Internet community, including the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (Ams-IX), the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Google and the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry