The inaugural ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) cluster to be established in Africa is located at Africa Data Centres, a subsidiary of the pan-African tech firm Cassava Technologies.
Aligned with the Cassava group’s objective of a digitally inclusive Africa, ICANN aims for the deployment of the IMRS cluster to assist Internet users in Africa in attaining faster access to online services and enhanced safeguarding against cyber threats.
A new ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) cluster is in the process of being launched in Africa, specifically in Nairobi, Kenya, as per a recent declaration from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its regional collaborators. The Domain Name System (DNS) is overseen by ICANN, a worldwide non-profit entity that plays a vital role in ensuring a secure, interoperable, and universal Internet.
Any country, region, or locale that utilizes DNS infrastructure stands to gain from an IMRS cluster. It is crucial for improving Internet access and bolstering its reliability. In Africa, the IMRS cluster will mitigate the impacts of possible cyber threats. Distributed denial-of-service assaults, one of the most common forms of attacks, operate by overwhelming servers with requests or Internet traffic. Enhanced bandwidth and data processing capabilities are supplied by IMRS clusters to alleviate some of that influx.
ICANN has appointed Africa Data Centres to host the IMRS cluster at their premier data center in Kenya. There are five IMRS clusters globally, with two situated in North America, and one in Europe, Asia, and Africa each.
“Enhancing users’ access to the Internet in Africa, alongside their security while online, is part of ICANN’s mission to contribute to a more secure, stable, and resilient Internet worldwide,” stated Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO. “The establishment of this new IMRS cluster would not have been achievable without the involvement of the local community. We express our gratitude to the Kenyan government for its support and dedication to improving Internet accessibility throughout Africa.”
“Africa Data Centres is honored to have been chosen as the colocation partner for the first African IMRS cluster. This acknowledges the excellence of the Africa Data Centres facilities and our mutual commitment with ICANN and its local associates to a digitally inclusive Africa. Africa Data Centres appreciates the contributions of these local partners, especially the Ministry for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy – Republic of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya, and the Technology Service Providers of Kenya, whose Kenya Internet exchange point (KIXP) is also located at Africa Data Centres’ facility,” stated Tesh Durvalsula, the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres.
The establishment of this IMRS cluster diminishes Africa’s dependence on networks and servers located in other regions of the globe, allowing the continent to process Internet inquiries locally. Moreover, the IMRS cluster enhances local, state, and regional resilience by facilitating local root server traffic.
