Speakers 2023

Speakers 2023

Ben Ryall

Meta

Ben has been at Meta for 6 years and is currently responsible for the Edge Strategy in SSA – this includes, with the team, partnering with ISPs and focusing on peering and caching in the region, to ensure the people using our products get the best experience possible. Ben is also chair of the PeeringDB Outreach Committee (OC).

Ben Ryall

Meta

Ben has been at Meta for 6 years and is currently responsible for the Edge Strategy in SSA – this includes, with the team, partnering with ISPs and focusing on peering and caching in the region, to ensure the people using our products get the best experience possible. Ben is also chair of the PeeringDB Outreach Committee (OC).

Patrick Prangl

ARISTA

Patrick is working as a Systems Engineer for Arista Networks. He is based in Austria and is passionate about networking and automation. He has more than 10 years of experience in the networking industry mostly working at or with various Service Providers.mpany bgp.tools.

Patrick Prangl

ARISTA

Patrick is working as a Systems Engineer for Arista Networks. He is based in Austria and is passionate about networking and automation. He has more than 10 years of experience in the networking industry mostly working at or with various Service Providers.mpany bgp.tools.

Lee Hetherington

Meta

Lee plays the role of Engineer, Entrepreneur and Evangelist across several domains in the Edge space at Meta.  Currently focused on building distributed compute infrastructure for current and future experiences at planetary scale.  Lee has spent the last 25 years working across Interconnection, Edge Strategy and Network Architecture for a number of different companies in the space.  Lee also recently left a 6 year term as Non-Exec Director of the London Internet Exchange

Lee Hetherington

Meta

Lee plays the role of Engineer, Entrepreneur and Evangelist across several domains in the Edge space at Meta.  Currently focused on building distributed compute infrastructure for current and future experiences at planetary scale.  Lee has spent the last 25 years working across Interconnection, Edge Strategy and Network Architecture for a number of different companies in the space.  Lee also recently left a 6 year term as Non-Exec Director of the London Internet Exchange

Ben Cartwright-Cox

Port 179 Ltd

Ben (@benjojo12) is a systems engineer by day, and bad-ideas-blogger on the side. After building a WAF, a fair handful of protocols, and rejigging a Bank’s payment gateways. Ben is currently focused on making day to day BGP operations less awful at his self-owned company bgp.tools.

Ben Cartwright-Cox

Port 179 Ltd

Ben (@benjojo12) is a systems engineer by day, and bad-ideas-blogger on the side. After building a WAF, a fair handful of protocols, and rejigging a Bank’s payment gateways. Ben is currently focused on making day to day BGP operations less awful at his self-owned company bgp.tools.

Marian Rychtecký

NIX.CZ

Marian joined the NIX.CZ team in 2019 as the CTO. His primary role is to oversee the operation, security, and construction of both IXP infrastructures, NIX.CZ and NIX.SK. He also leads the technical team and is responsible for testing new technologies. Additionally, Marian collaborates with external partners, including the RIPE NCC and EURO-IX, and helps represent the Association.

Marian Rychtecký

NIX.CZ

Marian joined the NIX.CZ team in 2019 as the CTO. His primary role is to oversee the operation, security, and construction of both IXP infrastructures, NIX.CZ and NIX.SK. He also leads the technical team and is responsible for testing new technologies. Additionally, Marian collaborates with external partners, including the RIPE NCC and EURO-IX, and helps represent the Association.

Lisa Wright

Console Connect

With more than 13 years of industry experience, Lisa Wright is a seasoned professional serving as the Ecosystem Partner Manager and Head of IXaaS at Console Connect. Having dedicated over a decade to the company, Lisa’s strategic acumen has played a pivotal role in fortifying the company’s ecosystem to align with clients’ digital strategies. Her role involves crafting and executing strategies that foster collaboration and growth within the Console Connect ecosystem.

Lisa Wright

Console Connect

With more than 13 years of industry experience, Lisa Wright is a seasoned professional serving as the Ecosystem Partner Manager and Head of IXaaS at Console Connect. Having dedicated over a decade to the company, Lisa’s strategic acumen has played a pivotal role in fortifying the company’s ecosystem to align with clients’ digital strategies. Her role involves crafting and executing strategies that foster collaboration and growth within the Console Connect ecosystem.

Stephan Schroeder

BENOCS

Stephan heads up BENOCS, a technology spin-off of Deutsche Telekom’s laboratories in Berlin. 

Benocs provides Flow Optimization and Traffic Analytics Services for IP-Networks to network operators, carriers, hosting providers and CDNs. Previously working at Deutsche Telekom, Stephan has run several business units in DT’s Global Carrier unit, including IP-Transit, Peering and CDN, International Voice, Mobile Carrier Services and Strategy, Planning and Operations.

Stephan Schroeder

BENOCS

Stephan heads up BENOCS, a technology spin-off of Deutsche Telekom’s laboratories in Berlin. 

Benocs provides Flow Optimization and Traffic Analytics Services for IP-Networks to network operators, carriers, hosting providers and CDNs. Previously working at Deutsche Telekom, Stephan has run several business units in DT’s Global Carrier unit, including IP-Transit, Peering and CDN, International Voice, Mobile Carrier Services and Strategy, Planning and Operations.

Mike Peterson

Netflix

Mike Peterson has worked on Content Delivery Hardware for Netflix for the past decade.  Prior to Netflix he worked professional services for Juniper Networks and was a CDN Engineer and Network Engineer for Level3 communications.  When he is not working he enjoys time with his wife and 2 kids traveling the world and exploring the mountains in his home state of Colorado.

Mike Peterson

Netflix

Mike Peterson has worked on Content Delivery Hardware for Netflix for the past decade.  Prior to Netflix he worked professional services for Juniper Networks and was a CDN Engineer and Network Engineer for Level3 communications.  When he is not working he enjoys time with his wife and 2 kids traveling the world and exploring the mountains in his home state of Colorado.

Ivo Ivanov

DE-CIX

Ivo has been Chief Executive Officer at DE-CIX and Chair of the Board of the DE-CIX Group AG since 2022. Prior to this, Ivanov was Chief Operating Officer of DE-CIX and Chief Executive Officer of DE-CIX International, responsible for the global business activities of the leading Internet Exchange operator in the world. He has more than 20 years of experience in the regulatory, legal and commercial Internet environment. Ranked as one of the top 100 most influential professionals of the Telecom industry (Capacity Magazine’s Power 100 listing, 2021/2022/2023), Ivo is regularly invited to share his vision and thought leadership in various industry-leading conferences around the globe.

Having joined DE-CIX in 2007, he has been deeply involved in recent years in the establishment of DE-CIX sites in North America, Southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, along with several DE-CIX consultancy projects in Africa, Asia and Europe. His strategic vision has led to close to 40 DE-CIX locations globally, as well as the development of a range partnership models to sustain DE-CIX’s global expansion, bringing neutral, high-performance, low-latency interconnection services – including services for the enterprise sector – to as many regions of the globe as possible, helping to close the gaps in access to information and modern digital services.

Ivo has also been instrumental in the establishment of the DE-CIX/UPF Global Interconnection Academy in Barcelona, to be rolled out globally as a hybrid training program together with local educational partners in each region. The creation of the Interconnection Academy seeks to provide a global standard certificate of excellence for interconnection experts.

Ivo has an educational background focused on Law and Business. Fluent in German, English, Russian and Bulgarian, he attended a German business school and holds two Law degrees. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer, with a focus on e-commerce, IP, telecommunications, and data protection law.

Ivo Ivanov

DE-CIX

Ivo has been Chief Executive Officer at DE-CIX and Chair of the Board of the DE-CIX Group AG since 2022. Prior to this, Ivanov was Chief Operating Officer of DE-CIX and Chief Executive Officer of DE-CIX International, responsible for the global business activities of the leading Internet Exchange operator in the world. He has more than 20 years of experience in the regulatory, legal and commercial Internet environment. Ranked as one of the top 100 most influential professionals of the Telecom industry (Capacity Magazine’s Power 100 listing, 2021/2022/2023), Ivo is regularly invited to share his vision and thought leadership in various industry-leading conferences around the globe.

Having joined DE-CIX in 2007, he has been deeply involved in recent years in the establishment of DE-CIX sites in North America, Southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, along with several DE-CIX consultancy projects in Africa, Asia and Europe. His strategic vision has led to close to 40 DE-CIX locations globally, as well as the development of a range partnership models to sustain DE-CIX’s global expansion, bringing neutral, high-performance, low-latency interconnection services – including services for the enterprise sector – to as many regions of the globe as possible, helping to close the gaps in access to information and modern digital services.

Ivo has also been instrumental in the establishment of the DE-CIX/UPF Global Interconnection Academy in Barcelona, to be rolled out globally as a hybrid training program together with local educational partners in each region. The creation of the Interconnection Academy seeks to provide a global standard certificate of excellence for interconnection experts.

Ivo has an educational background focused on Law and Business. Fluent in German, English, Russian and Bulgarian, he attended a German business school and holds two Law degrees. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer, with a focus on e-commerce, IP, telecommunications, and data protection law.

Justin Ryburn

Kentik

Justin is the Field CTO at network observability company Kentik. He has 25 years of experience in network operations, engineering, sales, and marketing with service providers and vendors. Justin contributed content to Cyber Forensics (Auerbach Publishing, 2007) and authored Day One: Deploying BGP FlowSpec (Juniper, 2015). He has also spoken at numerous industry conferences on the topics of network observability and security. Justin currently lives in St. Louis with his wife and two kids. His blog is at ryburn.org and you can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Justin Ryburn

Kentik

Justin is the Field CTO at network observability company Kentik. He has 25 years of experience in network operations, engineering, sales, and marketing with service providers and vendors. Justin contributed content to Cyber Forensics (Auerbach Publishing, 2007) and authored Day One: Deploying BGP FlowSpec (Juniper, 2015). He has also spoken at numerous industry conferences on the topics of network observability and security. Justin currently lives in St. Louis with his wife and two kids. His blog is at ryburn.org and you can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Andreas Polyrakis

Digital Realty

Director of Business Development, Network Service Providers, DR

Andreas is part of the Service Providers Business Segment team at Digital Realty. He focuses on the formulation and execution of the strategy of the company with regard to Network Service Providers and Internet Exchanges, with a primary objective to establish across all Digital Realty Data Centers a robust connectivity foundation, which fosters the thriving and diverse ecosystem of connected communities that resides and grows within. 

Previously, Andreas held the position of Business Development Manager at Digital Realty Greece (former Lamda Hellix), where he focused on the strategy on telecoms, carriers, ISPs, Internet Exchanges, CDNs, OTTs, and clouds. Before joining Digital Realty, Andreas worked for the Greek Research & Technology Network (GRNET), as Head of the Greek Internet Exchange (GR-IX) and as Technical Head of the Engineering & Technical Operations department.

Andreas proudly serves as a board member of the Greek Network Operators Group (GRNOG) and passionately promotes RPKI, MANRS, and IPv6. He loves discussing Internet & Telecoms infrastructure, Data Centers, Internet Exchanges and IP Peering, while he enjoys in-depth technical discussions in topics such as BGP routing or network automation.

Andreas Polyrakis

Digital Realty

Director of Business Development, Network Service Providers, DR

Andreas is part of the Service Providers Business Segment team at Digital Realty. He focuses on the formulation and execution of the strategy of the company with regard to Network Service Providers and Internet Exchanges, with a primary objective to establish across all Digital Realty Data Centers a robust connectivity foundation, which fosters the thriving and diverse ecosystem of connected communities that resides and grows within. 

Previously, Andreas held the position of Business Development Manager at Digital Realty Greece (former Lamda Hellix), where he focused on the strategy on telecoms, carriers, ISPs, Internet Exchanges, CDNs, OTTs, and clouds. Before joining Digital Realty, Andreas worked for the Greek Research & Technology Network (GRNET), as Head of the Greek Internet Exchange (GR-IX) and as Technical Head of the Engineering & Technical Operations department.

Andreas proudly serves as a board member of the Greek Network Operators Group (GRNOG) and passionately promotes RPKI, MANRS, and IPv6. He loves discussing Internet & Telecoms infrastructure, Data Centers, Internet Exchanges and IP Peering, while he enjoys in-depth technical discussions in topics such as BGP routing or network automation.

Greg Shepherd

NSRC

Greg has been working with multicast standards and network deployments for over 20 years: in the IETF, in R&E networks as an operator, then with Cisco, Juniper, Procket, then back at Cisco. He has given numerous workshops at NANOG, APRICOT, RIPE, AFNOG, SANOG, AIT, as well as directly with customer engineers. As a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco he directed several advance development projects. He current chairs the MBONED and BIER working groups in the IETF. Greg retired from Cisco in 2020, and is now working back on the Route Views project at NSRC/UofO where his Internet adventure began.

Greg Shepherd

NSRC

Greg has been working with multicast standards and network deployments for over 20 years: in the IETF, in R&E networks as an operator, then with Cisco, Juniper, Procket, then back at Cisco. He has given numerous workshops at NANOG, APRICOT, RIPE, AFNOG, SANOG, AIT, as well as directly with customer engineers. As a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco he directed several advance development projects. He current chairs the MBONED and BIER working groups in the IETF. Greg retired from Cisco in 2020, and is now working back on the Route Views project at NSRC/UofO where his Internet adventure began.

Yolandi Cloete

Teraco

In my current role (Platform Specialist), my primary objective is to contribute to the growth and advancement of the Internet ecosystem in Africa. Specifically, I am responsible for overseeing the daily operations, management, marketing, growth, and development of the largest Internet Exchange Point (IXP)on the continent, namely NAPAfrica IXP. This IXP is recognized as the 6th largest globally, and I also oversee the Africa Cloud Exchange solution.

My focus revolves around interconnection and peering activities, where I am involved in both hands-on technical aspects as well as strategic commercial initiatives. I joined the peering team in 2017 when we had 100 connected Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) and traffic peaking at 100Gbps. Over time, the number of connected ASNs and traffic volumes has experienced exponential growth where NAPAfrica is now known as the largest Internet Exchange Point in Africa and sixth largest globally.

Yolandi Cloete

Teraco

In my current role (Platform Specialist), my primary objective is to contribute to the growth and advancement of the Internet ecosystem in Africa. Specifically, I am responsible for overseeing the daily operations, management, marketing, growth, and development of the largest Internet Exchange Point (IXP)on the continent, namely NAPAfrica IXP. This IXP is recognized as the 6th largest globally, and I also oversee the Africa Cloud Exchange solution.

My focus revolves around interconnection and peering activities, where I am involved in both hands-on technical aspects as well as strategic commercial initiatives. I joined the peering team in 2017 when we had 100 connected Autonomous System Numbers (ASN) and traffic peaking at 100Gbps. Over time, the number of connected ASNs and traffic volumes has experienced exponential growth where NAPAfrica is now known as the largest Internet Exchange Point in Africa and sixth largest globally.

John Brown

Team Cymru

John is a Senior Security Evangelist and member of the Team Cymru Outreach team. Prior to joining Team Cymru, he was CTO of a regional ISP that provided Internet and Voice services via fiber optic and microwave technologies. Mr. Brown has actively been involved with Internet technologies since 1984, when as a high school student he connected via the local University’s UNIX systems. He has held senior technical training and customer support engineering roles at various companies in Silicon Valley. He is an active entrepreneur, having founded several successful technology companies. Mr. Brown was the principal networking and technical engineer for ICANN’s L-Root DNS server, part of the global critical DNS infrastructure. He is passionate about protecting the Internet from cyber criminals, teaching and passing on knowledge to others so that the Internet remains an open and safe system. In his non-working life, he enjoys downhill skiing, flying airplanes as a private pilot, traveling and spending time with his family.

John Brown

Team Cymru

John is a Senior Security Evangelist and member of the Team Cymru Outreach team. Prior to joining Team Cymru, he was CTO of a regional ISP that provided Internet and Voice services via fiber optic and microwave technologies. Mr. Brown has actively been involved with Internet technologies since 1984, when as a high school student he connected via the local University’s UNIX systems. He has held senior technical training and customer support engineering roles at various companies in Silicon Valley. He is an active entrepreneur, having founded several successful technology companies. Mr. Brown was the principal networking and technical engineer for ICANN’s L-Root DNS server, part of the global critical DNS infrastructure. He is passionate about protecting the Internet from cyber criminals, teaching and passing on knowledge to others so that the Internet remains an open and safe system. In his non-working life, he enjoys downhill skiing, flying airplanes as a private pilot, traveling and spending time with his family.

Fredrik Korsbäck

AWS

Fredrik Korsbäck

AWS

Karin Ahl

Netnod

Before being appointed Interim CEO of Netnod, Karin spent two years as Head of Netnod Time and Frequency where she oversaw the expansion of Netnod’s time services for public and commercial use.

Karin has more than 20 years of experience in the fixed telecom network industry and has significant expertise with policy-related topics both in Sweden and on a European level. Prior to Netnod, Karin’s roles included: President of FTTH Council Europe, an industry association focused on advancing full fibre-based connectivity to the whole of Europe; Head of Sales and Marketing for the Technology and Infrastructure specialist Rala AB; and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swedish Local Fibre Alliance.

Karin Ahl

Netnod

Before being appointed Interim CEO of Netnod, Karin spent two years as Head of Netnod Time and Frequency where she oversaw the expansion of Netnod’s time services for public and commercial use.

Karin has more than 20 years of experience in the fixed telecom network industry and has significant expertise with policy-related topics both in Sweden and on a European level. Prior to Netnod, Karin’s roles included: President of FTTH Council Europe, an industry association focused on advancing full fibre-based connectivity to the whole of Europe; Head of Sales and Marketing for the Technology and Infrastructure specialist Rala AB; and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swedish Local Fibre Alliance.

Ruben van den Brink

AMS-IX

Ruben proudly joined AMS-IX in 2021. With an academic degree in mathematics, he started his business career in media broadcast IT. He held several management positions at Technicolor and Ericsson, focussing on network and datacenter services. In 2016, Ruben decided to join the SURFnet executive management team, leading the network department. At SURFnet, the Dutch national research and education network, he was responsible for the development and automated deployment of SURFnet8, as well the innovation programme for network services.

Ruben van den Brink

AMS-IX

Ruben proudly joined AMS-IX in 2021. With an academic degree in mathematics, he started his business career in media broadcast IT. He held several management positions at Technicolor and Ericsson, focussing on network and datacenter services. In 2016, Ruben decided to join the SURFnet executive management team, leading the network department. At SURFnet, the Dutch national research and education network, he was responsible for the development and automated deployment of SURFnet8, as well the innovation programme for network services.

Kurtis Lindqvist

LINX

Kurtis (CEO of LINX) has a broad background in engineering and business development of ISP and worldwide carrier networks. He has been active in the Internet community for more than 20 years, working in several roles: CEO of Netnod (2002-2015), chairman of Euro-IX since 2003, WG Chair for RIPE since 2004.

Kurtis Lindqvist

LINX

Kurtis (CEO of LINX) has a broad background in engineering and business development of ISP and worldwide carrier networks. He has been active in the Internet community for more than 20 years, working in several roles: CEO of Netnod (2002-2015), chairman of Euro-IX since 2003, WG Chair for RIPE since 2004.

Thomas King

DE-CIX

Dr. Thomas King has been in the IXP industry for more than ten years. As CTO at DE-CIX, he and his team are responsible for building and operating the Interconnection Platform worldwide, designing and introducing new Interconnection products, and keeping customers happy with swift service provisioning.

Thomas King

DE-CIX

Dr. Thomas King has been in the IXP industry for more than ten years. As CTO at DE-CIX, he and his team are responsible for building and operating the Interconnection Platform worldwide, designing and introducing new Interconnection products, and keeping customers happy with swift service provisioning.