From April 27 to 30, APNIC Training team organized and delivered a training event in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Cook Islands has a population of over 12,000 with about 48 per cent Internet penetration rate.
The 4-day workshop has been arranged in collaboration with Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA) and the Cook Islands Government through the Office of Prime Minister (OPM).
As a first time collaboration, the event was a great success. The 3-day hands-on IPv6 Workshop had great participation from around 21 local IT staff spread across the government ministries (Education, Marine Resource, Health, and the Police), private sector, and the telecoms. It was then followed by a Network Security Tutorial on the last day.
Overall, the goal of the workshop– to educate about IPv6– was achieved with participants very keen on implementing it on their lab routers. For most of them, it was also a chance to upgrade their networking skills. It can be costly to send staff overseas for training, so APNIC’s effort to send a trainer to provide local training was very much appreciated.
With the enthusiasm of the local community, there is a big potential for growth in its ICT sector, in which IPv6 deployment may play a big role. Through this training (and possibly more in the future), we can help build a capable local IT community, and see Cook Islands be ready to join the IPv6-reachable Internet soon.
Check out photos from the training here.
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