RIPE NCC Dubai Office in Full Operation

RIPE NCC Dubai Office in Full Operation

Posted on: 13 Dec, 2023

Training, academic initiatives, MENOG, regional meetings, outreach and member lunches

In May 2014, the RIPE NCC, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia, opened an office in Dubai, UAE to better support its members and the Internet technical community in the region.

The RIPE NCC has steadily increased its outreach activities in the Middle East following feedback received from the RIPE NCC Survey 2013 and the RIPE NCC Member and Stakeholder Survey 2011 indicating a need for more RIPE NCC resources in the region for members, the Internet community and the government..

As an RIR, the RIPE NCC’s core function is to provide Internet resources (IPv4, IPv6 and AS Numbers) to its members and keep a comprehensive record of all resources allocated or assigned in its service region.  The RIPE NCC also operates RIPE Atlas, a global Internet measurement network used to analyse and improve core Internet infrastructure functions such as DNS and routing. The organisation is a source of statistics and information about IP addresses, routing and DNS used by operators, academic researchers and policy makers to better understand how the Internet performs and evolves.

The RIPE NCC provides practical, hands-on training on various technical topics such as the deployment of IPv6, DNSSEC and routing security. These courses are available to RIPE NCC members as well as other stakeholders in private and public sectors. These activities are provided free-of-charge and focus on maintaining a stable, secure and reliable Internet for everybody.

The RIPE NCC Dubai office is crucial to successfully engaging the local community, facilitating an open and bottom-up governance model and ensuring that all stakeholders know how to contribute and have their voice heard. The RIPE NCC has historically been very active in supporting regional and local forums but faced various challenges in the Middle East, in particular the need for local industry knowledge, culture and language.

Recent points of focus have been on promoting the RIPE NCC’s inclusive, bottom-up and open processes, raising awareness of IPv6, the Internet of Things (IoT), IANA stewardship transition and revamping the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG).

In 2015-2016, the RIPE NCC office in Dubai is prioritising four activities to promote human capacity building:

·         Train The Trainer (TTT): a programme designed to train and build a diverse pool of highly skilled Middle Eastern instructors capable of delivering technical trainings as part of MENOG and the IPv6 Roadshow. The TTT program is built in collaboration with partners identified throughout the different Middle Eastern sub-regions (Levant, Gulf and Saudi).

·         The RIPE NCC Academy and RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative (RACI) supports members and the academic community by giving them online training and inviting them to present their Internet-related research at RIPE Meetings and RIPE NCC Regional Meetings.

·         Roadshows and trainings: offering one-week events targeted at Internet Service Providers (ISP), government and enterprise network operators.

·         RIPE NCC Regional Meetings and MENOG: MENOG 16 will be held in Istanbul from 23-24 March 2016 and the RIPE NCC Regional Meeting takes place in Beirut on 25 April 2016..

In 2014-2015, staff from the RIPE NCC office in Dubai travelled to Yemen, Oman, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, organised the RIPE NCC Regional Meetings and various member lunches and technical trainings.