The document provides an overview of Internet infrastructure in Southeast Asia, focusing on Laos. It discusses key concepts like autonomous systems (ASNs) and routing. Visualizations show the interconnection of networks globally and in Southeast Asia. Laos currently has predominantly internet service providers and government networks, but more non-ISP networks are expected to deploy ASNs as the country develops similarly to its neighbors. Looking ahead, trends include more local interconnection to improve performance and reduce costs, as well as growth in local content and initiatives driving more networks across academia, businesses and other sectors.

1. Issue Date:
Revision:
Internet Infrastructure
in the South East Asia
region
9 Dec 2015
1.0

2. Overview
Internet Infrastructure
Visualising the interconnection
Lao Internet Infrastructure
South East Asia region views
Looking ahead

3. Internet
Infrastructure
An introduction to Internet
numbers

4. What do I mean by Infrastructure
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
Layer 3
and
below

5. Sending data over the Internet
• Data is sent over the Internet in discrete packets
– Each packet can be a few bytes or a few hundred bytes, or even
larger
• Packets are sent from ‘source’ to ‘destination’
– When streaming YouTube movie on your mobile phone:
• YouTube server is mainly the source
• Your mobile phone is mainly the destination
• Every source and destination in the Internet must have an
IP address
– IPv4 example 203.0.113.15 (32 bit number)
– IPv6 example 2001:db8:200:ff:1:dc:77:ab (128 bit number)

6. IP addresses and ASNs
6

7. Routing and ASN
• RFC 1930:
– An AS (Autonomous System) is a connected group of one or more IP
prefixes run by one or more network operators that has a SINGLE
and CLEARLY DEFINED routing policy.
– An AS has a globally unique number (sometimes referred to as an
ASN, or Autonomous System Number) associated with it. This
number is used in both the exchange of exterior routing information
(between neighbouring AS’s), and as an identifier of the AS itself.

8. Connecting to the Internet
202.178.112.0/24
2400:3E00:DD::/48 202.178.112.0/24
2400:3E00:DD::/48
Multi-homed network
MAY have a need for BGP and public ASN
Single-homed network
No need for public ASN

9. Why multihome with BGP and use a
public ASN?
Good interconnection strategy can lower cost of
operation by directing traffic through the most cost
effective connections wherever possible
Understanding where your network traffic goes and
when possible shortening the path to your main
customers/suppliers/partners could result in better
overall network experience
Looking further than next hop path diversification allows
you to better evaluate interconnection options, which in
turn could result in better network resiliency
Cost
Performance
Resilience

10. View within an AS: Telco/ISP

11. View within an AS: University

12. View within an AS: Data centre

13. View within an AS: Corporate

14. Visualising the
interconnection

15. The Internet
15
• Networks worldwide
interconnect to form the
Internet. They include ISPs,
Internet Exchange Points,
Universities, Corporate
networks, etc.
• Each dot represents an AS
• There are 50,000+ ASNs
currently active in the
Internet
peer1.com

16. Global AS Core

17. Country/economy level AS transit
map
https://labs.apnic.net/vizas/

18. Data source
• Routeviews.org
– RIBs from the Oregon Internet Exchange, for both IPv4 and IPv6
• 12 November 2015 data (taken at 2am UTC)
• This is a snapshot, not live data
• The list of ASNs per country/economy is sourced from
the NRO's global delegated statistics file
(https://www.nro.net/statistics)

19. Sample data
12.180.218.0/24 195.208.112.161 3277 3267 1299 7018 15253
12.180.218.0/24 80.91.255.137 1299 7018 15253
12.180.218.0/24 216.221.157.162 40191 3257 701 15253
12.180.218.0/24 208.51.134.246 3549 7018 15253
12.180.219.0/24 217.192.89.50 3303 3320 7018 19111
12.180.219.0/24 66.185.128.1 1668 7018 19111
12.180.219.0/24 192.241.164.4 62567 2914 7018 19111
12.180.219.0/24 5.101.110.2 3.5410 2914 7018 19111
12.180.219.0/24 198.129.33.85 293 6939 1299 7018 19111
12.180.219.0/24 129.250.0.11 2914 7018 19111

20. Explanation
ASNs with more
downstreams
are displayed
closer to the
centre

21. Explanation
Darker nodes/path
means there are more IP
addresses announced in
that route

22. Explanation
Hover mouse over an
ASN to see its
upstream/downstream
ASNs

23. Explanation
Click an ASN to see
registration detail and its
AS neighbours

24. Demo

25. South East Asia
Region views

26. Indonesia
254.4 million population
Population data from World Bank statistics 2014

27. Thailand
67.7 million population

28. Singapore
5.5 million population

29. Philippines
99.1 million population

30. Vietnam
90.7 million population

31. Malaysia
29.9 million population

32. Cambodia
15.3 million population

33. Mynamar
53.4 million population

34. Brunei Darussalam
0.4 million population

35. Timor Leste
1.2 million population

36. Lao Internet
infrastructure

37. Lao
6.7 million population

38. ASNs in Lao
Industry Date ASNOrganisation Name
ISP 7/02/2000 9873Lao Telecommunication Co Ltd
ISP 8/07/2003 10226Enterprise of Telecommunications Lao
ISP 18/02/2005 24337Sky Telecom State Company
ISP 18/04/2005 23900Planet Online Laos
ISP 21/02/2006 24566Enterprise of Telecommunications Lao
Govt 28/03/2007 38528Lao National Internet Committe
Academic 1/09/2009 45906National University of Laos (NUOL)
ISP 8/12/2009 131267Star Telecom
Govt 6/05/2010 55508National Internet Center (NIC)
ISP 11/05/2010 55511Vimpelcom Lao Co., Ltd.
ISP 30/01/2013 58808Siamdata (Lao) Co.,Ltd
ISP 14/05/2014 133484Vimpelcom Lao Co., Ltd.
ISP 26/05/2014 133500Lao Gateway Co., Ltd
ISP 12/08/2014 133630Lao Telecommunication Co Ltd
System Integrator 9/11/2015 64062CS Computer Sole Co. Ltd

39. Observation
• The networks in Lao are predominantly service providers
• The latest delegation (in 2015) is to a systems integrator
• If Lao Internet is going to grow similar to the other
economies in the South-East Asia region, expect to see
more academic and corporate to deploy ASNs:
– Universities
– Hosting/data centers
– System integrators
– Banks
– etc.

40. Looking ahead

41. Looking ahead
• Global trends
– As more organisations interconnect with upstreams, downstreams and
peers, the number of advertised ASNs will continue to grow
– New technologies such as SDN and network virtualisation will drive
innovations and change the way networks are interconnected, so expect
to see a more dynamic ecosystem in the future
Chart source: http://www.potaroo.net/tools/asn32/

42. Looking ahead
• Regional trends
– Keeping traffic local by establishing multiple or bilateral peering
arrangement
– Reduce cost
– Improve performance
– Improve user experience
– Growth of local content
– e-Gov initiatives
– Domestic e-Commerce
– Domestic/regional News
– Local social media/forums/mailing lists
– Entertainment (games, movies etc.)
– Caching of international content
Learn more about who’s peering where at http://www.peeringdb.com

43. For discussion
• What’s the Internet experience like in Lao?
– From consumer’s point of view
– From academic’s point of view
– From corporation’s point of view
– From service provider’s point of view
• What will Lao’s Internet infrastructure look like in the future?

44. 44