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Network Training Workshops

Through the annual Internet Society (ISOC) Network Training Workshop for Countries in the Early Stages of Internetworking, professional men and women from around the world are being taught the design, operation, maintenance and management of Internetworks.

Over the past nine years, more than 2,500 professionals have been trained in these workshops as well as spin-off workshops. These graduates have performed a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country that has connected to the Internet during the past seven years.

In 1993, the Internet Society organized a training workshop in conjunction with its INET'93 meeting in San Francisco. The aims of the workshop were to assist countries to connect to the Internet and to extend the Internet in these countries, to learn how to obtain and supply services on the net, and to manage their own national networks to ensure growth and sustainability. This workshop, and the ones that have followed annually, have been an overwhelming success, training over 1,500 students from nearly every developing country.

The eighth annual NTW was held from 9-16 July 2000, preceding the INET 2000 meeting (more information on the 2000 NTW program). For the third year in a row, the workshop was held at two sites. In addition to the site of INET 2000 in Yokohama, Japan, a parallel workshop was held in Mexico City, Mexico. The ninth annual NTW was held from 1-4 June, 2001 preceding the INET 2001 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden (more information on the 2001 NTW program). The Latin American and Caribbean Workshop (WALC 2001) was held 28 May - 2 June 2001 in Merida, Venezuela.

The workshops are an outgrowth of and build upon the experiences of seven similar workshops held during 1993-1999 at Stanford University, U.S.A., Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic, University of Hawaii, U.S.A., McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Petronas Training Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Cit? Universitaire, Geneva, Switzerland and San Jose State University in San Jose, California, U.S.A.

In the first years, the workshops were held exclusively in English. In 1996, and from 1998 to 2000, some courses were conducted in French, making them more accessible to French-speaking students, particularly those from West Africa. The satellite Latin America and the Caribbean workshops are held primarily in Spanish, at times with additional support for Portuguese-speaking students.

The goals of the workshops are:

1. To train a critical mass of trainer/professionals in network infrastructure, transport, services, and management to be able to support an extension of meaningful Internet-related activities within the countries represented.
2. To identify and share individual and institutional contacts as well as information sources that will assist the process of national development, using international Internet connections.
3. To build robust professional linkages between all participants in the programs so that the mentor-student and colleague-colleague relationships formed during the workshop and conferences will remain strong and of continuing usefulness well beyond the workshop and conference.
4. To increase the level of cooperation among existing projects and activities for establishing public data networks in developing countries.
5. To train people and groups of people who will return to their country and region and who will teach others what they have learned at the workshop.

NTW Student Distribution, 1993-2001