As the digital landscape undergoes a massive transformation driven by artificial intelligence, surging cloud workloads, and shifting security demands, network operators and infrastructure leaders from across the region are facing unprecedented pressures. These critical challenges took center stage at the INNOG 9 session, which was co-located with APNIC 62. Bringing together a diverse community of network operators, infrastructure providers, security specialists, and policymakers, the event served as a vital forum for tackling the common complexities of preparing regional networks for a demanding technological future.
With a distinctly operational perspective drawing heavily on real-world experiences from India and Bangladesh, INNOG 9 explored a wide spectrum of critical topics. Discussions ranged from the imperative deployment of IPv6 and the vulnerabilities of submarine cable infrastructure to enterprise-level cybersecurity postures and the operational lessons learned from major internet disruptions. Industry experts shared valuable insights, emphasizing that the traditional ways of managing network architecture must evolve rapidly to keep pace with modern demands.
Scaling Edge and AI Workloads with IPv6-First Architecture
Addressing the audience of network operators, Dr Devesh Tyagi, Chief Executive Officer of NIXI, opened the session by focusing on the exponential growth of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, edge computing, and machine-to-machine communications. As these technologies expand, network operators are facing increasingly stringent demands for massive scale and deep automation. Dr Tyagi argued strongly that IPv6 should no longer be viewed merely as a temporary workaround for IPv4 address exhaustion. Instead, it must be embraced as the absolute foundational technology for future digital infrastructure.
According to Dr Tyagi, an IPv6-first approach needs to be woven directly into the fabric of infrastructure design rather than treated as an afterthought. As AI workloads become increasingly distributed and edge computing continues its upward trajectory, networks, data centers, applications, and security systems must be engineered around IPv6 from the very outset. Furthermore, Dr Tyagi highlighted the ongoing work at NIXI to expand critical internet exchange infrastructure, actively promote widespread IPv6 adoption, and advance crucial routing security technologies. These include Resource Public Key Infrastructure, Route Origin Authorizations, and Autonomous System Path Authorizations, all of which are essential for maintaining a secure and stable routing environment.
What Happens When a Subsea Cable Goes Dark
Shifting the focus to regional resilience and the vulnerabilities of international connectivity, Sumon Ahmed Sabir, Chief Information Officer at Fibre@Home and a member of the APNIC Executive Council, drew heavily on Bangladesh’s turbulent experiences during major internet shutdowns in 2024. He examined the complex scenario of what happens when international connectivity completely disappears while local infrastructure remains fully operational. A recurring theme in his presentation was that many critical services fail during such crises, not necessarily because local networks are unavailable, but because they rely heavily on external dependencies that operators frequently overlook.
Sabir pointed to numerous examples of these hidden risks, including Domain Name System resolvers hosted outside the domestic economy, cloud-based application components, remote application programming interfaces, time synchronization systems, and mobile payment platforms. He argued persuasively that operators must proactively identify these hidden dependencies and build robust local resilience wherever possible. His presentation offered practical, actionable recommendations for the industry, including operating local DNS resolvers, maintaining local copies of critical services, strengthening domestic DNS infrastructure, and rigorous planning for prolonged submarine cable outages.
Integrating People, Technology, and Process into a Unified Security Posture
From the perspective of the highly regulated and security-conscious banking sector, Abhijit Chakravarty, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks and Cybersecurity at Kotak Mahindra Bank, explored how modern organizations can construct a unified security posture across increasingly complex and distributed operational environments. Chakravarty emphasized that true organizational resilience depends just as much on people and operational processes as it does on advanced technology.
Chakravarty stressed that organizations must move beyond the simple collection of vast amounts of security data and focus instead on generating actionable intelligence. He underscored the fundamental principles of Zero Trust architectures, placing particular emphasis on the philosophy of assuming a breach has already occurred rather than naively assuming protection. His presentation highlighted the rapidly growing role of behavioral analysis, robust identity protection, AI-assisted threat detection, and comprehensive visibility across enterprise environments as essential components of an effective modern defense strategy.
The Costs of Spam Beyond a Crowded Inbox
Addressing the less visible but equally damaging operational hurdles faced by network administrators, Samarjit Biswas, Vice President of Global Emerging CyberSecurity Technologies for Telecom at XELE Labs, examined the broader economic and operational costs of spam, network abuse, and compromised end-user devices. These issues continue to exert a heavy toll on network reputation and overall service quality, with IP deny lists and reputation databases having profound effects on operators, government digital services, and enterprise networks alike. Biswas demonstrated that poor network hygiene can trigger severe consequences that extend far beyond a cluttered email inbox.
Biswas illustrated how compromised customer devices, brute-force cyberattacks, malware infections, and misconfigured mail infrastructure can easily lead to IP addresses being flagged and added to global deny lists. Once an IP address is listed, end customers frequently experience blocked services, degraded access, and a sharp spike in customer support incidents. His presentation underscored the critical importance of proactive abuse monitoring, diligent reverse DNS management, effective traffic filtering, and ongoing customer education to maintain clean network operations.
The Concentration of Sub-Sea Infrastructure Serving India
Submarine cables form the backbone of the global internet, carrying the overwhelming majority of international traffic and standing as one of the most critical pieces of digital infrastructure in existence. Ashutosh Zutshi, Senior Vice President at NEC India, provided a comprehensive look at how India’s rapidly expanding data center industry is set to drive major changes in both the deployment locations and structural design of future submarine cable systems.
Zutshi pointed out that a significant portion of India’s current international connectivity converges on a relatively small number of traditional landing points situated in Mumbai and Chennai. While this concentration accurately reflects where domestic data center capacity has historically been clustered, future growth is anticipated to expand outward into additional geographic locations, thereby improving overall network resilience and redundancy. Furthermore, Zutshi’s presentation highlighted the growing urgency of protecting vital submarine cable infrastructure and continuously improving repair processes as cable capacities scale upward to meet mounting global demands.
Optimizing Networks for Intelligence
The INNOG 9 session concluded with a forward-looking examination of how artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the demand for network, data center, and connectivity infrastructure. Harsha Ram, Business Head of Network Services at Sify Technologies Limited, detailed how operators are currently undergoing a major strategic shift, moving away from optimizing networks primarily for content delivery and pivoting toward optimizing networks specifically for artificial intelligence and machine learning intelligence.
According to Ram, AI workloads introduce entirely new and stringent requirements concerning latency, available bandwidth, advanced data center design, underlying fiber infrastructure, and high-capacity submarine connectivity. Modern data centers will increasingly need to support densely packed Graphics Processing Unit deployments, while terrestrial and core networks must move inference capabilities closer to end users and accommodate vastly larger traffic flows between distributed AI facilities. Ram’s presentation also touched upon the rising importance of sovereign AI infrastructure, as economies worldwide increasingly seek to retain strict control over their data, foundational models, and national AI capabilities within their own borders.
A Vibrant Community of Network Operators
The co-location of INNOG 9 with APNIC 62 successfully united diverse operational perspectives from across the entire region, creating valuable opportunities for professionals to share hard-earned operational lessons, compare strategic approaches, and explore the shared challenges facing network operators today and in the future. The session demonstrated the sheer breadth of technical hurdles that modern network operators must navigate as internet infrastructure continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Discussions seamlessly bridged the gap between practical deployment experiences, day-to-day security operations, economy-wide infrastructure planning, and the staggering infrastructural growth driven by artificial intelligence.
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