LACNIC Academy
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| LACNIC Academy | |
|---|---|
| Name | LACNIC Academy |
| Formation | 2010s |
| Type | Educational initiative |
| Region | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Parent organization | LACNIC |
LACNIC Academy is an educational initiative operated by the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry to develop technical capacity and public policy awareness for Internet infrastructure across Latin America and the Caribbean. The program offers technical training, policy workshops, and community outreach designed to support Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, Regional Internet Registry, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Internet Engineering Task Force, and national stakeholders such as Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial, Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Uruguay), Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Mexico), and regional organizations. It works with universities, telecommunication providers, and civil society to strengthen skills relevant to IPv4, IPv6, Domain Name System, Border Gateway Protocol, and network security.
Overview
LACNIC Academy provides structured curricula addressing operational, policy, and governance aspects of Internet number resources, collaborating with institutions like Organización de Estados Americanos, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Internet Society, Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry, and technical forums such as LACNOG, NOG Brasil, and Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Courses target engineers from operators like Telefónica, Claro (América Móvil), AT&T, Tigo and infrastructure entities such as RedCLARA, NIC Mexico, NIC.br, and ARIN exchange participants. The Academy coordinates with standards bodies like IEEE and ICANN constituencies including the At-Large Advisory Committee, and engages policymaking partners such as World Bank projects and Inter-American Development Bank programs.
Programs and Courses
Offerings include introductory IPv6 routing workshops, advanced BGP troubleshooting labs, DNSSEC operations training, and Internet governance seminars involving actors like United Nations, World Summit on the Information Society, ITU, OECD, and European Commission delegations. Technical modules reference protocols and tools developed by IETF, RIPE NCC, APNIC, and AFRINIC; practical labs use platforms from Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, Arista Networks, and open-source projects like BIRD (routing daemon), Quagga, Knot DNS, and Bind (software). Policy modules examine frameworks informed by cases such as Brazilian Internet Bill of Rights (Marco Civil da Internet), European Union General Data Protection Regulation, and regional initiatives by Mercosur and CARICOM.
Governance and Partnerships
Governance is aligned with LACNIC's board and technical community processes and involves partnerships with international organizations including ICANN, IETF, ISOC, UNICEF, UNESCO, and private sector partners like Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, and regional carriers. Academic collaborations include Universidad de São Paulo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, State University of Campinas, and research networks like REUNA and RedCLARA. Funding and project support have been coordinated with agencies such as European Union External Action Service, Inter-American Development Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and multilateral initiatives involving World Bank technical assistance.
Regional Impact and Outreach
The Academy's outreach spans workshops in capitals including Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Bogotá, Lima (Peru), Santiago (Chile), and island hubs such as Kingston, Jamaica and Bridgetown, Barbados, engaging local regulators such as Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Chile), CRC Colombia, and IFT Mexico. Alumni include engineers from national registries like NIC Argentina, NIC Chile, and network operators in the Andean Community, Mercosur, and Central American Integration System regions. Outreach initiatives partner with community networks exemplified by Guifi.net, maker spaces associated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and digital inclusion projects supported by Mozilla Foundation and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
History and Development
The program emerged from LACNIC's broader mission after consultations with regional actors and international partners during forums such as LACNIC conference, ICANN Meeting, IETF Meeting, and Internet Governance Forum. Early phases saw collaboration with APNIC and RIPE NCC for curriculum sharing and train-the-trainer activities mirrored in capacity-building campaigns by ARIN. Milestones include expansions into remote learning, incorporation of hands-on labs using virtual testbeds inspired by projects from GENI, and curriculum updates reflecting developments from IETF RFCs and operational incidents like major BGP hijacking events that influenced routing security modules.
Training Resources and Certifications
Resources include slide decks, lab guides, virtual labs, and recorded lectures adapted from materials by IETF Working Group chairs, ICANN policy analysts, and vendor technical documents from Cisco, Juniper Networks, and Arista Networks. Certifications or attendance acknowledgments are issued to participants and recognized by regional networks and employers, aligning with competency frameworks used by IEEE Communications Society and training standards advocated by ISOC. The Academy also promotes best practices such as MANRS and operational security guidance from CERT/CC and national Computer Emergency Response Teams like CERT.br.