- NPIX was initiated in 2002 after APRICOT to facilitate internet exchange in Nepal. It started with 3 ISPs exchanging traffic and has since grown significantly. - In its early years, NPIX faced challenges in finding a stable location for its switch. By 2003, it was hosted by Mercantile and grew to include many of Nepal's major ISPs and telcos. - Over the following years, NPIX upgraded its infrastructure, migrated ISPs to BGP peering, and increased traffic, membership, and address space. It has hosted regional networking events to support the community. - Recent developments include procuring a new Juniper switch to support 10G ports, increasing fees for the first time

1. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
NPIX
Internet Exchange Nepal

2. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
Some History
• NPIX was initiated after APRICOT, on 22 April, 2002.
• Gaurab invited and presented, Rupesh provided the meeting room and tea.
• First Meeting of the Working group on 1 March, 2002,.
• Very active participation from WG members
– Ritesh Joshi, Rupesh Shrestha, Binay Bohra, Dileep
Agrawal, Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Krishna Shah, Alok
Tuladhar
– Bill Woodcock, Philip Smith,
– First npIX workshop organized at Kathmandu College of
Management on 25-29 August, 2002
• IX powered ‘ON’ on 30 August, 2002 with 3 ISP

3. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
First seven months
• The IX didn't function properly and add new connections
for the first six months, as no stable circuits were available
to the npIX.
• One of our members, Mercantile then hosted the npIX
switch on its rack at a telco exchange to enable immediate
traffic exchange on 3rd
April 2003
– Many Telcos had some equipment in this particular room, due to
their dial-up modem banks and port-masters.
– MOS, Wlink, Infocom, Vianet, E-net, CCSL connected
in April 2003
• All ISPs using static routes, using Cisco 2500 routers.

4. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
April 2003 – April 2004
• npIX functional in stealth mode courtesy of
Mercantile
• Major ISPs migrated to BGP / dynamic Peering
– July, 2004 Workshops and migration held with help of
Philip Smith, Cisco
• Connected ISPs announce prefixes of other non-
connected providers
• NPIX hosts the first APNIC training for local ISPs
on March 20, 2004
– The start of the community building and support efforts

5. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
April 2004 – December 2004
• The main npIX switch started to be made
functional with radio links
• NPIX successfully hosts SANOG 4 in
Kathmandu in July 2004 and all peering
ISPs migrate to using eBGP (one exception)
• Nepal Telecom finally starts peering in
August 2004
– They had to procure new routers....

6. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2005
• First npIX general Meeting held on 16
January 2005.
– Looking back I had reported in the meeting
“Our recording show about 2 Megs of local traffic
going through the npIX in average at the two
switches”
• But each ISPs traffic was still growing at more than
100% at that time.

7. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2005-2007
• June 2005 : Two Switches, 10 members, 8 Mbps
of traffic, around /17 address space. Providers
brining in Fiber. 50% on fiber
– Starting Collecting Fees from Early 2005. Six ISPs as
founding members.
• January 2006 : Two Switches, 12 members, 15
Mbps of Traffic. Around /17.25 addresses.
– Fees for 2006 waived off.
• April 2007 : Two Switch, 12 members, 20 Mbps,
/17.6 space, all ISPs with Fiber, mostly 2600
routers

8. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2008-2009
• January 2008 : One switch, 15 Members, 25 mbps
of traffic, /16 addresses, all members on Fiber
– Hosted SANOG 12 in Kathmandu again
• January 2009: 15 Members, (one left, one new),
80mbps, two switches, /16 + /17 space
– Government and R&E Network connected
– Nepal connected via Fiber to India, DSL and ethernet to
home deployments
– Some content caches shared over the IX

9. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2010-2015
• This period of organic organic growth continued.
Some highlights
– Formally incorporated as non-profit company in August
2010.
– We started using Extreme switches with lots of optical
FE ports, as ISPs had more fiber and media converters
don’t scale.
– We moved the switches into more professional
locations due to power problems.
– Got our first 1GE port activated, and requests for 10GE.
– Continued to do SANOGs and opened fellowship for
SANOGs

10. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2016-2017
• We got our first 10GE request in mid-2016 during our
AGM.
– We had ran out of 1GE ports on the old extreme platform
– New Juniper Switch procured / installed providing the first 10G
ports.
• We have new ideas and plans at the AGM in December
2017.
– Mostly on hold due to APRICOT hosting, but plans are in place
• At end of 2017 : 29 members, 25 paying members. 3G of
traffic, all domestic traffic stays local. IXP Manager in
operation
• Supported the formation of NPNOG, by providing ‘legal
cover’.

11. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
2018
• Formalize a ‘re-seller’ arrangements, so that ISPs
outside Kathmandu can provide bundled services
– And we avoid running multiple cables from same PE
routers of ISPs to the IX.
• The fee increases (for the first time ever since
establishment), from Rs. 5000/month to Rs.
10000/month.
– Fees based on membership, not for ports.
• Establish a model for fabric expansion in
Kathmandu Valley.

12. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
Expansion Model
• In Kathmandu Valley : Extension Switch
– DC / location operator provides
• Colocation facility, 10year contract
• 1x10G to each existing LAN
– NPIX provides the hardware and operations and
responsible for hardware upgrades as needed
– NPIX will be responsible for upgrades when usage
hits >5G on each trunks

13. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
Management / Financials
• When NPIX was formed, it managed its funds under the
ISP Association of Nepal, with board members from
various local bodies and members
• Since we incorporated in 2010, board members are all
elected by the members.
• Management / Financials
– NPIX has outsourced the administration, financial management
and day to day operations to the Nepal Research and Education
Network (NREN)
– Senior Technical management still volunteer managed

14. APRICOT 2018, 26 February 2018, Kathmandu Nepal
Questions ?
APNIC NPSeries Blog for #apricot2018
https://blog.apnic.net/2018/02/23/npseries-
community-makes-npix-successful/
Has some photos and insights.