Evolution of the Georgian Internet Jim Cowie, Chief Scientist Tbilisi, Georgia 19 May 2015 Georgia’s Regional Connections The Caucasus region is a natural bridge Bulgaria (Varna) between Central Asia, Azerbaijan Middle East and Europe Georgia’s railways and energy pipelines provide natural routes for fiberoptic interconnection @JimCowie 4 Regional Context 5 3 1 Jeddah Amman Damascus Istanbul 2 Gulf Bridge / Iraqi ITPC 6 3 Europe-Persia Express Gateway 4 Russian connectivity 5 TASIM 6 Caucasus Cable System 2 3 1 @JimCowie MARKET STRUCTURE, GROWTH, AND DIVERSITY @JimCowie Domestic ASN growth in Georgia 60 • 125% growth since 50 2009 – very strong 40 • Compare to 30 worldwide growth 20 of 65% in the same period 10 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 @JimCowie Domestic ASNs regionally RU: 4609 Compare to: • Ecuador (53) GE: 55 • Egypt (54) • Kuwait (54) AM: 59 AZ: 35 • Puerto Rico (55) TR: 348 • Cyprus (56) IR: 332 @JimCowie Domestic ASNs connected cross-border RU: 439/4609 “Too few” cross-border ASN connections may indicate an increased risk of accidental GE: 7/55 Internet disconnection • <3: severe risk AM: 8/59 AZ: 3/35 TR: 29/348 • <10: significant risk • <40: low risk IR: 5/332 @JimCowie Percent of market on-net, largest providers RU: 50% Rostelecom 12880 High on-net market capture suggests limitations on GE: 64% competition, powerful Caucasus Online AS20771 incumbent role in market AM: 36% AZ: 89% W. Europe median: 37% TR: 96% Delta AS29049 Middle East median: 68% Turk Telekom AS9121 Central Asia median: 64% IR: 71% TIC AS12880 GNC-ALFA AS196709 @JimCowie 2006-2015 EVOLUTION OF TRANSIT INTERCONNECTION @JimCowie Georgia 2006 Primary national connectivity was through Turk Significant satellite Telekom Internet transit still apparent (SatGate, SkyVision) @JimCowie Georgia 2008 Dependence on Tu r k Te l e k om has increased significantly More expensive satellite Internet is being phased out, driving transit consolidation @JimCowie Georgia 2009 Cogent arrives, becomes significant transit provider @JimCowie Georgia 2011 Level3 service from Sofia arrives via CCS and expands rapidly @JimCowie Georgia 2013 Armenian connectivity Cogent has faded entirely @JimCowie Georgia 2015 Level3 out of Superonline/ Sofia is still the Tellcom has dominant replaced Turk transit provider Telekom @JimCowie HOW DOES DIVERSITY TRANSLATE INTO USER EXPERIENCE? @JimCowie Regional path redundancy: Tbilisi City Hall (Turkish routes) (Northern routes) (Black Sea routes) @JimCowie Visible diversity: Tbilisi City Hall @JimCowie Latencies to Tbilisi Town Hall @JimCowie LATENCIES MATTER WHEN CONTENT IS FAR AWAY @JimCowie Georgia’s popular content: RTT latencies Czech Japan Netherlands Republic 300+ms Russia 50-100ms 50-100ms USA 50-100ms 150-250ms Rankings: www.alexa.com @JimCowie Analysis: Dyn Research WHEN YOU CAN, EXCHANGE TRAFFIC LOCALLY @JimCowie Interconnection Choices Impact Consumers… Silknet: 142ms Caucasus Online: 60ms Egrisi: 9ms @JimCowie … Because peering in remote places adds delay 142ms via Frankfurt 60ms via Sofia 9ms – direct interconnection! @JimCowie Conclusions • Georgian connectivity is geographically diverse • Strong potential to be regional hub • End user experience depends on: • Content locality (is it hosted here?) • Local peering (can I get to it?) • In-region interconnection (avoid hairpinning!) • Lots of profitable work and growth ahead! @JimCowie Evolution of the Georgian Internet Jim Cowie, Chief Scientist Tbilisi, Georgia 19 May 2015 .