By Juliet Umeh

The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, IXPN, will introduce about 100 students to careers in Internet infrastructure and host a forum to encourage more women into technical roles as part of its 20th anniversary programme.

The month-long programme, themed “20 Years of Building Nigeria’s Internet,” will also bring industry players together to discuss how to strengthen local Internet interconnection.

IXPN Chief Executive Officer, Muhammed Rudman, said the anniversary was an opportunity to recognise those who developed the exchange and prepare a new generation to build on their work.

“IXPN@20 is more than a celebration of an organisation. It is an opportunity to recognise the people, institutions and partnerships that have contributed to the development of Internet interconnection in Nigeria over the past two decades, while preparing the next generation to take Nigeria’s Internet forward,” he said.

Students from universities and other tertiary institutions across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones will take part in the Student Internet Infrastructure Discovery Programme. They will learn about network operations, Internet exchange, service providers and data centres, with visits planned to Open Access Data Centres, Rack Centre and Digital Realty.

The Women in Internet Infrastructure Forum will bring together industry leaders, technical professionals and students to discuss careers in network engineering, data centres, cybersecurity and other fields. IXPN said it would encourage members and partners to offer mentorship, internships, training and employment pathways for women entering the sector.

In collaboration with the Nigeria IPv6 Council, IXPN will also work with AFRINIC to provide IPv6 training for engineers, network operators and universities.

Established in 2006, IXPN enables Internet service providers, telecom operators, content providers and other networks to exchange traffic locally.

“From a relatively small interconnection initiative in 2006, IXPN has grown into an important component of Nigeria’s Internet infrastructure,” Rudman said.

“As we celebrate this milestone, our focus is not only on where we have come from, but also on the skills, infrastructure, partnerships and people that will be required for the next twenty years.”

The anniversary will include a peering and interconnection forum for network operators, content providers, data centres and regulators. IXPN is also producing a documentary and archive on the exchange’s history and has invited industry members to contribute photographs, documents and videos.

The programme will conclude with a gala dinner and awards ceremony in Lagos on October 30, recognising individuals and institutions that contributed to IXPN’s development.

“The next twenty years must be about extending that value even further — strengthening resilience, expanding interconnection, developing technical capacity, bringing more networks and institutions into the ecosystem,” Rudman said.