In our November 2022 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Amit Uttamchandani, of CaribbeanSignal.com, and Internet Service Provider and Network Infrastructure Professional, Brent Mc Intosh, the panel discusses: automation software and the threats and opportunities for the region; and building and developing the Caribbean’s Critical Internet Infrastructure: one IXP at a time.

 

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As users of technology, we can all attest to its benefits in our lives, ranging from helping us to stay connected to others and increasing our productivity, to opening up new avenues for innovation and wealth creation. However, the ability to facilitate these and other benefits is underpinned by an ecosystem, which is not readily evident to the average person, but countries ought to recognise, as it the disruption of that ecosystem could have deleterious consequences for the smooth running of their societies.

In a different vein, the rapid evolution of technology, though welcomed and being leveraged, has also resulted, to some degree, in a lag in our mindset and attitude. For example, although we might be prepared to embrace the new and shiny, we may not be ready to let go of older constructs and assurances, as arguably the world has become less predictable.

The above are key underlying themes that emerged during our November 2022 Community Chat. Our guests, whom we present below, are highly experienced in their respective fields, which resulted in a robust, yet informative, conversation.

 

Introducing our guests and their topics

Amit Uttamchandani

Originally from Barbados, Amit Uttamchandani is a Tech Executive and Consultant with over 15 years of experience in business and ICT-related roles. He has worked across the Caribbean in various industries including technology, insurance, construction, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, government and education.

Amit is also a part-time Citizen Journalist and Data Analyst, and is the writer behind CaribbeanSignal.com, where he writes data-driven articles on topics that either tend to be rarely noticed, or are ignored by Caribbean media.

As a Tech Executive and Consultant who is aware of some of the pain points of businesses, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and competitiveness have been growing in importance. However, within the construct of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, automation and robotics are being widely pursued to address many of these imperatives.

Having said this, with automation gaining traction in the Caribbean region, there can be a knee-jerk reaction to the benefit of the introduction of this technology into the workplace. He thus submitted the topic, Automation software and the threats and opportunities for the region, to help us to ventilate some of the points on both sides of the issue.

Brent Mc Intosh

Brent Mc Intosh is an Internet Service Provider and Network Infrastructure professional with expertise in Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. He considers himself an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Evangelist, and is an Internet Protocol (IP) Network Architect/Consultant, as well as a certified IPv6 Forum Engineer and Trainer (Gold).

Brent recently became an IPv6 Forum Hall of Fame Inductee for IPv6 evangelism and is continuing to support IPv6 deployments through IXPs, specific training and customer network solutions. He is based in Grenada.

As IXP Peering Coordinator for the Grenada Internet Exchange Point, Brent has seen first-hand the impact having a well-functioning IXP can have on a country. More importantly, with all of us being online more than ever and countries seeking to ‘go digital’ and develop their digital economy, the vulnerability of our internet infrastructure is becoming increasingly evident. Thus, Brent proposed we discuss, Building and developing the Caribbean’s Critical Internet Infrastructure: one IXP at a time, as IXPs are not only a critical internet infrastructure element, it is one that most Caribbean countries have already established, which provide a foundation for countries and the region as a whole to increase their internet infrastructure resilience.

 

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Let’s make it happen!

 

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  A Uttamchandani;  B Mc Intosh;  dawnydawny (Pixabay);  Gerd Altmann (Pixabay);   Michal Jarmoluk (Pixabay) 

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez