UGNOG creates an environment where operators can discuss best industry practices and empower our community to meet the ever-changing demands of a global network, in service of building the Internet of tomorrow.
UGNOG is managed and organised by a group of volunteers with the aim of capacity building and technology development within Uganda.
Timetable & speakers
Opening and virtual House Rules
Toni Kalombo is an open technology advocate and over the period of almost 20 years, Toni has innovated across telecommunications, mining, defence, automotive and financial sectors. In 2019, Toni founded DevBoks, a software and network automation company.
DevBoks is an Afrinic member and LIR (AS328910).
Toni currently serves as CEO and Managing Director of DevBoks. Toni’s day to day activities are focused on developing digital transformation strategies and software defined networking platforms.
Before DevBoks, Toni worked as a Software Engineering manager at SEACOM.
His past employment experience includes MTN, Denel, Blhum Burton Engineering and BMW.
Welcome
Isabel Odida is the Founder/Convener of UGNOG and the Director of Fontes Foundation Uganda. She is an Online Course Tutor for the Internet Society (ISOC) where she teaches Network Operations and a Trainer for the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG) where she delivers the Scalable Internet Services course. Isabel is a Fellow to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). She is an avid supporter of free and open source software (FOSS) and bases all her training on these platforms. Her passion is knowledge sharing and evangelizing the potential of the Internet and ICTs in advancing and empowering the talented minds involved in the African technical community. Her past employment experience includes MTN Uganda, Raintree Farms and The Network Centre
ugNOG Intro
Toni Kalombo is an open technology advocate and over the period of almost 20 years, Toni has innovated across telecommunications, mining, defence, automotive and financial sectors. In 2019, Toni founded DevBoks, a software and network automation company.
DevBoks is an Afrinic member and LIR (AS328910).
Toni currently serves as CEO and Managing Director of DevBoks. Toni’s day to day activities are focused on developing digital transformation strategies and software defined networking platforms.
Before DevBoks, Toni worked as a Software Engineering manager at SEACOM.
His past employment experience includes MTN, Denel, Blhum Burton Engineering and BMW.
Update from AFRINIC
Eddy Kayihura is currently the Chief Executive Officer of AFRINIC, the Regional Internet Registry for Africa and the Indian Ocean region. He has worked at AFRINIC since November 2019. He has worked in the Information Technology sector for than 20 years. Eddy has previously worked as the CIO of Bank of Kigali, the largest Bank in Rwanda where he contributed to the initial stages of its digital transformation. He also served as CEO of Broadband Systems Corporation, an Internet Service Provider in Rwanda focusing on service delivery to major corporates using fibre and 4G connectivity. Eddy was also involved in Rwanda’s Internet community as the Board Chairman of RICTA that manages both the IXP and ccTLD. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the University of Rwanda and an MBA in International Business from Oklahoma Christian University.
AFRINIC Q&A
Cyber Security
Tomsleen Sammee-Nlar is an engineer and researcher interested in the issues where cyber security, strategy and diplomacy interact in Africa. He is an ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) council member and also a member of the Policy and Research Advisory Group of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace funded CyberFI project.
Cyber Security Q&A
Break
Open Access Panel discussion
Michelle Opiyo has over 10 years of experience in the Network Services Provider Industry. She attained her BSc in electronic and computer engineering from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology. Michelle currently serves as a Senior Network Engineer at Workonline Communications. Prior to joining Workonline, she served in various capacities at the national research and education network of Kenya (KENET) where she operated the core network and delivered tailor-made solutions to top Universities and Research Institutions. Her core skills are in network design, implementation and operation, capacity building and community development. She is passionate about developing the African Internet connectivity landscape and opening it up to the world, as well as developing the abilities of engineers on the continent. To this end, Opiyo volunteers as a trainer for various regional technical forums and network operator groups (NOGs) where she trains and mentors engineers.
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Ben is a member of the Edge Team at Facebook, with responsibility for the Edge Strategy in SSA and with the team working with ISPs and MNOs on Peering and Caching
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Noah Maina is a Network Infrastructure Professional with extensive Internet & Telecommunication Industry experience spanning 15 years with expertize in TCP/IP packet-switching based network design, configuration, deployment, scaling, securing, automating and troubleshooting. Noah has been involved in the building of Internet network Infrastructure across Africa thereby helping ISP companies to achieve their ROI on Network & Systems Infrastructure investments.
From National ISP’s to Multinational Global Network Service Providers like SEACOM, Noah has played a role in the building Internet Transport Infrastructure carrying traffic from 1Gbps to 100Gbps Ethernet transport links that have fundamentally changed the digital landscape of the African continent. Noah is well known within the Internet exchange point’s community due to his role as IP Peering Coordinator at AS37100.
Noah Maina is a passionate volunteer and an expert instructor or trainer for over a decade where he has trained for various Internet communities and network operators organizations whose goal is to transfer Internet technology skills to various professional ICT engineers in Tanzania and across Africa i.e. tzNOG, AfNOG, SAFNOG, NSRC, Binary Institute (BIT), TERNET & Internet Society (ISOC)
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James Byaruhanga is the General Manager- Raxio Data centre and has been at the forefront of building, operating and maintaining the 1st Tier III Carrier Neutral Data Centre in Uganda. James leads the entire team, builds the business strategy, products and solutions in the data centre.
With over 20 years of experience in ISP, Data Centre and Telco in Network Administration, Service & Infrastructure Support and Executive Management, James has comprehensive and in-depth Knowledge of Wireless, VSAT and Cable Networks, Project Management of cross-functional projects in ISP and Telco related fields as well as Strategy and Planning Expertise on Voice, Video and Data Products.
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Open Access Panel Q&A
ISP Last Mile Service Delivery
Mercy Njue is the founder of Botlab. She has an MBA, and a Degree in Business & technology from Africa Nazarene University. She is also trained in GDPR by university of groningen, BI specialist and is cloud certified trained by IBM, data science for business leaders by Data incubator- Chicago. She has 8 years of experience
Threat Intelligence with Community Services
Brian Davenport is a Solutions Engineer for the Outreach department at Team Cymru. He brings a decade of experience utilizing metadata to improve network security and performance. As a Solutions Engineer Brian is helps partners implement and understand all of the community services offerings, with his focus being on NimbusTM. Professionally he is passionate about working with smart people to solve hard problems, off hours Brian enjoys hiking through the white mountains and traveling as much as possible.