Cloudflare’s Sustainable Internet Project

Project Pangea was announced by Cloudflare as a project to send the Internet to the world. Through this project, communities around the world will be able to provide free Cloudflare internet services and build networks.

According to Cloudflare, if a new Internet is introduced in an area where there is no Internet connection, there are two problems in terms of facilities and services. Among these, facility problems such as the construction of communication bases and line laying can be solved relatively easily by the local community by raising money or by negotiating with the land owner. However, it is not easy to solve service problems such as DDoS attack protection, user privacy protection, and performance improvement.

Project Pangea provides Cloudflare Network Interconnect CNI that connects physically and virtually with Cloudflare networks around the world to achieve high communication speed, Magic Transit that provides defense against DDoS attacks, and Magic that improves network security. It solves the service problem by providing services such as Magic Firewall for free.

If a community network is established in a physically close distance to the Internet Exchange, it is relatively easy to create a fast network environment. However, if the distance from the Internet Exchange is physically long, a backhaul connection between the community network and the Internet Exchange is required. According to Cloudflare, some companies that install backhaul require expensive service fees. Therefore, Project Pangea provides high-speed Internet at a low cost by community management of the backhaul itself.

Project Pangea Awards are non-profit networks or networks focused on providing Internet access to developing countries. In addition, Cloudflare said that the initial growth of the community network depends on volunteering or subsidies from public institutions. It is difficult to maintain this model in the long term, and it is necessary to switch to a model with user payment. Project Pangea achieves this transition smoothly. He said it was designed to do that. Through this, it is emphasized that Project Pangea is not a project that provides services for free, but rather helps build a sustainable network environment. Related information can be found here.