[ripe-list] Sunsetting ENOG

Dear colleagues,

ENOG (Eurasian Network Operators' Group) was established in June 2011 as a means to bring RIPE and the RIPE NCC closer to the local communities in Eurasia and to support Internet development in the region. 

Last year, we indefinitely postponed what would have been the 19th ENOG Meeting, slated to be held in Moscow. In the run up to that decision, we heard from many community members, first at a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on the future of ENOG at ENOG 19 and subsequently during the BoF at RIPE 85 in Belgrade and on the ENOG Discuss mailing list. I then shared an email to the ENOG Discuss list, outlining the RIPE NCC’s view on the matter [1].

These dialogues highlighted the complexities involved in continuing engagement efforts through ENOG and we appreciate the community’s willingness to have difficult but much needed conversations. In light of these discussions, we believe it is time to dissolve ENOG as a RIPE NCC regional platform. It is in no one’s interest to continue to support a platform that can no longer serve its purpose or deliver meaningful outcomes. If, in the future, the community indicates that there is a constructive role for ENOG to play, we will be open to this discussion. 

In practical terms, this means that we will archive the ENOG website and sunset the mailing list as of 31 July 2023, after which it will be kept as a read-only site. ENOG Meetings have already ceased to take place, and we will not plan ENOG Meetings for the foreseeable future. We thank everyone who has contributed their time and effort towards ENOG over the past decade.

The RIPE NCC remains as committed as ever to supporting the technical communities in our service region. Our focus going forward will be on more localised efforts, whether this is training, workshops, providing staff to speak at events or supporting NOGs. 

Since our decision to postpone ENOG 19, we have also hosted our first Central Asia Peering and Interconnection Forum meeting in Kazakhstan last year, and the second of these events will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 19-20 September 2023 [2]. We will continue to host smaller events such as RIPE NCC Days and Internet Measurement Days (IMD) in the region that used to be covered by ENOG events, such as the IMD Kyrgyzstan which took place recently. We’ve supported other events including the KZ NOG, Baykal NOG, the Georgia NOG, the Kyrgyzstan IT Forum and the Central Asia, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova Internet Governance Forums (IGFs). We continue to engage with the Ukrainian Internet community through various online initiatives and our staff in Ukraine.

We encourage you to take a look at NOGs and other activities taking place within the region [3].

Please reach out to us if you have thoughts on how we can better support the technical communities in your region. 

Regards,
Hisham Ibrahim
Chief Community Officer
RIPE NCC 

[1] A request to terminate ENOG: https://enog-apps-2.ripe.net/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/thread/3AJSUFXVRDOVI764J2OTUSMHODXHYQT3/

[2] CAPIF 2: Tashkent:
https://www.ripe.net/capif-2

[3] Network Operator Groups: 
https://labs.ripe.net/nogs/