The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today November 15, 2022, unveiled a new Managed Root Server (IMRS) for the African market.
Attending the occasion was ICT CS Eliud Owalo, and Ezra Chiloba, the director general of the Communication Authority Of Kenya(CA).
The move is aimed at allowing internet users have faster access to services on the web while also providing internet users better protection from cyberattacks.
“ICANN has selected Kenya as Africa’s first ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) Cluster host nation that is key in transforming the country as an information gateway of internet traffic for the African region as well as greatly enhancing internet quality, cybersecurity & resilience,” ICT CS Eliud Owalo said.
“This development is a key milestone towards the achievement of objectives outlined in Kenya Kwanza’s Digital Superhighway & Creative Economy plans,” Owalo added.
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An IMRS cluster helps improve Domain Name Systems (DNS) infrastructure in any country, territory, or region of the world. It is key to stimulating Internet access and strengthening Internet stability. The IMRS cluster will reduce the impact of potential cyberattacks across Africa.
One of the most common types of attacks, distributed denial-of-service attacks, works by overwhelming servers with a flood of queries or Internet traffic. IMRS clusters provide higher bandwidth and data processing capacity to alleviate some of that traffic.
“Improving users’ access to the Internet in Africa, and their safety while using it, is part of ICANN’s mission to help make the Internet more secure, stable, and resilient across the world,” said Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO.
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“The installation of this new IMRS cluster would not have been possible without the participation of the local community. We are grateful to the Kenyan government for its support and commitment to advancing Internet accessibility across Africa,” he added.
ICANN is a multinational organization that organizes Domain Name Systems (DNS) and plays a role in guaranteeing a global, accessible, and secure internet. There are five IMRS clusters worldwide. One is in Asia, two in North America, one in Europe, and the newest one in Africa, Nairobi Kenya.
ICANN has been actively engaging with the African technical community since the early 2000s, providing capacity development for many technical organizations, and working closely with the African Network Operators Group and partners such as the Africa Top Level Domains Organization and African Network Information Centre.
Three more clusters are set to be added in the next two years.
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