Peering Asia 4.0: Another Stage for Thailand IX to shine, Proving Viability of the Neutral Internet Exchange in Thailand at Global Scale
At this point, you might already understand the importance of Peering Asia 4.0, which we were one of the hosts and organized on November 2nd-3rd, 2022 at Bangkok Convention Center, Centara Grand @ centralwOrld. In case you missed it, here is the companion interview with Thailand IX’s executive article just for you.
But you may ask “how did the event go?”, “what did it look like?”, or “was anything interesting?” We are glad you asked! Today, we are taking you deeper into Peering Asia 4.0, and answer everything you ask. So, strap it in, and let’s see how it unfolds.
The Return of Peering Asia 4.0, In Person
During 2019, Thailand IX participated the Peering Asia 3.0 for the first time, in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The event was important for us since we were lunch sponsors. At the same time, we officially joined the Asia Pacific Internet Exchange Association (APIX) as a member.
However, during 2020, the in-person Peering Asia event was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic, which was not ideal for the APIX to organize in-person event due to several preventive measures, including lockdown, social distancing, and avoiding in-person contact or communicate.
After the reduction of restriction policies in 2022, the APIX saw opportunities for in-person Peering Asia event. As a result, Peering Asia 4.0 was born. Besides, there was no better place to host, but in our home, Bangkok, Thailand. The event was organized by us, Thailand IX, as well as our friends at BBIX Thailand.
It was also a rare opportunity for us since the chance of becoming a host country is limited. If we missed the opportunity, we would need to wait another 10 years to do it again!
Understand More about Thailand, In Our Perspectives
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Vichai Deecharoenkul, executive vice president in digital group of the National Telecom PLC (NT), as well as Mr. Trirat Charoensak and Mr. Chalermkiat Sirachairat, data center operation personnels of NT, which also operate Thailand IX, walked on stage and welcome participants across Asia Pacific region to the event.
Plus, after the opening ceremony, we had a chance to present the current states of the Internet in Thailand. Mr. Surasit Prakunhungsit, network engineer from Thailand IX, presented the keynote.
The key takeaways from the keynote included the origin of the Internet exchange business in Thailand, starting in 1995, which also marked as the first year of our operation. With the demand for the Internet emerges, so too with the competition in the Internet exchange service.
And with the new ways to connect to the Internet, including Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTB), cellular, or Wi-Fi, the Internet Exchange businesses are even more significant than ever. Thus, everyone in the industry aims toward improving the quality of the Internet connections for businesses and consumers.
Opportunities for APIX’s members
After 3 years of hiatuses for in-person events, the importance of the event was not clearer. As you may know by now that APIX’s members, across the Asia Pacific region, came together as one for this event. And the responses from the event were incredible.
Not only did we host the event, but we also shared the stage with the rest of the speakers across the continent as well. The notable speakers included Telehouse Thailand, Google, Kentik, or even CMC Telecom from Vietnam also joined to share their knowledge. It was priceless to learn new topics to improve the Internet exchange services for every single participant.
Moreover, this was the perfect place for everyone in the industry to discuss their own operation. It was wonderful to see everyone at the event talking in the same language as ours!
In-Person Physical Connection
Nothing came close in terms of meeting old and new friends in person, rather than in video conferences. Not only do we learn something new, but friendships are also tremendously important from events like this.
As one of the cohosts, we took effort to ensure that everyone would get the wonderful experience and the uniqueness of Thai cultures from in-person event by organizing outdoor activities matching the theme of the event. This should not be even clearer for everyone about why we missed this type of event. What is more, they liked our traditional activities!
So, that wrapped up for the incredible success of the Peering Asia 4.0 organized in Thailand for the first time. We hoped you enjoyed our coverage of the event. Until next time, we hope to see you once again at Peering Asia 5.0, which will be organized in Seoul, South Korea. If you want to see our future coverage, please stick around because Thailand IX will be there too!
