Lanka Network Operator’s Group launched as community-based initiative

The Lanka Network Operator’s Group or LKNOG (www.lknog.lk) was launched on Friday 20 October at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo with the participation of over 100 network operations professionals representing Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecommunication service providers, universities, public and private sector organisations attending the inaugural conference. The community based initiative was spearheaded by a team of enthusiastic industry professionals from Sri Lanka who are highly recognised and actively involved in contributing to numerous network operator groups in the world. 

Welcoming the delegates LKNOG Founder President Champika Wijayatunga said that the primary objective of LKNOG is aimed at bringing together the network operators and networking professionals in Sri Lanka in terms of enhancing and coordinating educational, knowledge sharing and cooperation activities in the network operations space. The LKNOG community will provide a platform to discuss operational issues and technologies that interests network operators in Sri Lanka, and also unearth local talent and resource personnel who will be keen to contribute towards capacity building and knowledge sharing at large. 

Wijayatunga also added that, “In addition to establishing a platform for education and capacity building, the formation of the LKNOG will create a platform and forum for networking with like- minded community based non-commercial entities in the region and in the world such as South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG), Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT), North American Network Operators Group (NANOG), etc. and the inauguration of the LKNOG will enable the network operational community in Sri Lanka to collaborate and discuss about newer technologies and operational best practices that would benefit the entire community. LKNOG will open a window to enhance collaboration with likeminded communities and personnel globally as well. 

The inaugural LKNOG conference comprised of a comprehensive program covering a range of topics and discussions. The keynote speakers of the conference were Professor Gihan Dias from University of Moratuwa and Rohith Udalagama, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Lanka Communications Services (LankaCom). Prof. Dias highlighted the importance of Securing Operator and Customer Networks and Udalagama spoke about the Evolution of Commercial Internet in Sri Lanka. Following the keynote speakers Asela Galappattige from Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) spoke about an IPv6 deployment case study, Champika Wijayatunga representing the global multi-stakeholder body ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) spoke about Domain Name System (DNS) Security, Harsha Wijayawardhana representing University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) spoke about Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs), Thilina Pathirana from Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN) covered Network Monitoring and Measurements, Srimal Rajapaksha (D-Tech Ltd) spoke about Internet of Things (IoT), Pubudu Jayasinghe from Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) spoke about Number Resources and Thushara Jayawardana (SLT) covered Next Generation Wireless Technologies. 

Another highlight of the event was the panel discussion on Cloud Technology where there were a lot of interactive discussions on areas such as cloud adoption in today’s data centres, challenges with network automation in private cloud, open source virtualisation technology, security, scalability, application performance etc. The panel discussion was moderated by Subhash Chandra Bowse from Just In Time Technologies and the panel consisted of Dr. Nimal Ratnayake from University of Peradeniya, Wellington Perera from Microsoft APAC, Muhammed Musthalie from Mobitel and Data Centre consultant Tharindu Meepegama.

The conference was supported by ParaQum Technologies (Principal Sponsor), Lanka Education and Research Network (Supporting Partner), Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), .LK Domain Registry, Sri Lanka Telecom, Peo TV and Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter.

The inaugural LKNOG conference ended with a very positive note with acknowledgements to its organising committee, President LKNOG Champika Wijayatunga, Vice presidents Rajeewa Abeygunarathna and Sagarika Wickramasekera, Secretary Maheeshwara Kirindigoda, Treasurer Thilina Pathirana, Activity Coordinator Ziyam Abdeen, Ex-Co Asela Galappattige, Pubudu Jayasinghe and Srimal Rajapakse. 

LKNOG plans to have more activities in the future, and the programs will consist of conference presentations, panel discussions, technical hands-on workshops, tutorials and other engagement activities. LKNOG invites and encourages Sri Lankan network operational community members, women in ICT and youth to be engaged in these capacity building activities. 

More information about LKNOG is available from https://www.lknog.lk.