The Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum is the best opportunity for Caribbean Telecom Operators, Internet Service Providers,
content providers, regulators, hosting providers and stakeholders in the ICT sector to network, advance their business
and secure new opportunities for growth.

The Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum (CarPIF) is a first-of-its kind event for the region to specifically address the Interconnection challenges and opportunities in the Caribbean. CarPIF provides participants with regional as well as global insights on how the Caribbean can maximize the opportunities that can be derived from greater interconnection and peering.

Designed as a multi-stakeholder forum, CarPIF facilitates in-depth discussion on issues critical to Internet-enabled development. The event typically draws high-level participation from industry stakeholders, including: infrastructure providers, content delivery networks, Internet Service Providers, Internet Exchange Point operators, government officials and regulators.

Major investments are being made on submarine, terrestrial fiber and broadband infrastructures as well as mobile and wireless data technologies. Gradual ongoing policy and regulatory changes have positively impacted a region that is heavily dependent on Internet connectivity as a key to national, regional and international communications.

While these developments address some of the challenges that have contributed to the relatively slow Internet growth in the region, there is still much more that can be done. Despite the growing regional infrastructure, most Caribbean cross-border Internet traffic is still exchanged through North America and Europe. This is a clear indication that routing practices still reflect an expensive asymmetry that is disadvantageous to faster-paced development of local bandwidth and local content.

This is where CarPIF delivers value to the Caribbean. The primary goal of Internet peering forums is to bring together exchange point (IXP) participants and potential participants to an event where there are both educational sessions and opportunities to meet and interact with other members of the Internet peering community.

CarPIF brings these stakeholders together to spark productive discussions and tangible action on implementing more efficient and cost effective local, regional, and international interconnection and peering strategies in the Caribbean. CarPIF, addresses the region’s unique interconnection opportunities and challenges by:

The successes of CarPIF activities are visible across the Caribbean, where there is a notable growth in the number of external regional networks interconnecting the Caribbean internet exchange points. More information about the Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum is available at www.carpif.net.