NetUK1: A Successful Inaugural Event

James Bensley (Techlead Network & Product) recently attended the inaugural NetUK1 conference in London with colleague Stefan Funke (Head of Tech Operations). In this blog, James gives his thoughts on the event, explaining why he is eagerly anticipating NetUK2. 
 


NetUK1 was held at the prestigious Institute of Engineering and Technology building at Savoy Place. If you didn’t already know, the IET began life in 1871 as the Society of Telegraph Engineers, so there couldn’t be a more fitting venue for a conference held by and for the Internet community from the UK and beyond. 
 
Inter.link was a sponsor of the event because it is clear to us that these kinds of events provide enormous value. Firstly in the range and relevance of talks; there was an update from PeeringDB about new features and beta testing options, and from RIPE about how RPKI (Resource Public Key Infrastructure) helps to protect BGP operations. Both RIPE and PeeringDB provide systems that Inter.link relies upon on a daily basis.  
 
Frequent updates and tight community integration from these organisations is highly valued by the Internet community. There were presentations from OpsMill and Kriten about new open source tooling for network automation. As an automation-first company, updates on the latest automation trends are key for our long term automation strategy at Inter.link.

Also, as a technology company we need to keep our finger on the pulse with regards to both the emergence of new technologies and the deprecation of legacy technologies. We saw a couple of presentations about such technology changes; specifically the new IETF draft providing support for exception records in IPFIX (IP Flow Information Export), and the retiring of the port-43 WHOIS service by gTLD registries. 
 
Secondly, we find great value in the community engagement. When compared to previous UK conferences, NetUK1 had more students in attendance and a marked increase in people who identify as non-male. Supporting the next generation of talent in our industry is very important.

There were also a couple of feedback sessions during the event so that the wider Internet community could have a say in how NetUK should develop. There are interesting times ahead with various ideas on the table, none of them are confirmed yet but ideas include offering free workshops, providing a jobs board for interns and junior positions, and offering mentors. We are eager to see how this will develop and how Inter.link can get involved. 
 
Inter.link is regularly involved with various industry community conferences either as attendees, or as a sponsor, or by providing content, and we are continuing to do this because our community is an excellent one that warrants as much support as we can provide. We’ll make sure we’re at NetUK2 but until then, you can find us at all the usual events such as DENOG, NANOG, NLNOG, FRNOG, ITNOG, GRNOG, RIPE, Peering Days, and many more.

If you’re going to be attending one of these events too, please come and say “Hi” because we love to meet people and discuss current industry topics.