In a significant stride towards strengthening research and education networks in Malawi, UbuntuNet Alliance recently completed a successful Direct Engineering Assistance (DEA) mission for the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN). This critical initiative, co-funded by the European Union through the AfricaConnect3 project, marks a pivotal moment in MAREN’s journey towards managing the growing demand from its member base.
The Direct Engineering Assistance (DEA) mission, conducted from August 6 to August 15, 2024, was a joint operation between MAREN and UbuntuNet Alliance. The mission was the culmination of months of planning and design led by MAREN’s team, with support from UbuntuNet Alliance made possible by the AfricaConnect3 project. Together, they transitioned MAREN from a virtual Point of Presence (PoP) to a newly established physical backbone, equipped to meet the growing needs of Malawi’s academic and research communities.
The new network architecture strategically positions the organization to better serve its member institutions. The backbone, now spanning key cities such as Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu, connects over sixty-five institutions, including universities and research centers. This infrastructure is a testament to MAREN’s commitment to improving service delivery and expanding its reach across the country.
MAREN’s Networks Manager, Mr. Alexious Chipalamwanzani, emphasized the critical role this new setup plays in enhancing service stability and quality. “The obvious benefit is service stability. Previously, service was affected when the carrier network had problems. But with the new setup, an outage of a single carrier will not directly affect clients as service will traverse on the redundant carrier. This setup will also improve service quality as traffic will only be shared with the nearest regional node,” he noted.
Moreover, MAREN’s initiative to connect to Malawi’s two main Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Blantyre and Lilongwe is a significant achievement. Mr. Chipalamwanzani highlighted this development as a major milestone: “This is a huge milestone as all MAREN traffic will be exchanged with traffic from other ISPs, as well as provide access to caches at IXPs. This will assist in keeping all local traffic local.”
The success of this project is rooted in the strong partnership between MAREN and UbuntuNet Alliance. While MAREN led the initiative, UbuntuNet Alliance provided critical support, including on-the-ground assistance during the migration. The collaboration was described by Mr. Chipalamwanzani as a continuation of the longstanding productive relationship between the two organizations: “MAREN has always had a cordial working relationship with the UbuntuNet Alliance technical team. During the migration, we worked together in migrating clients from the old setup to the new setup.”
Building on this successful migration, MAREN has ambitious plans for the future. “With this successful migration, MAREN envisions bringing in a third backbone carrier to enhance the network even more. We are also exploring the possibility of providing redundancy even to the last mile, connecting to clients,” Mr. Chipalamwanzani shared. Additionally, MAREN is planning to deploy solar-powered WiFi nodes to support clients affected by power outages and extend connectivity beyond institutions of higher learning to schools as well.
The European Union’s support through the AfricaConnect3 project has been instrumental in realizing these advancements. Mr. Chipalamwanzani underscored the impact of this support: “Through this project, MAREN is able to get more international capacity. With the economies of scale in play, client institutions can now afford more internet bandwidth, greatly improving the student-to-bandwidth ratio.”
As MAREN continues to expand and enhance its network, the ongoing collaboration with UbuntuNet Alliance and the support from the EU will be crucial in meeting the growing demand for bandwidth among its member institutions. This DEA mission is a reflection of MAREN’s leadership and the collective effort to elevate Malawi’s research and education network to new heights.