West and Central African Research and Education Network(WACREN) CEO wins 2014 Network Information & Infrastructure (NI&I) Service Award.
News from WACREN website says that Boubakar Barry has won the 2014 Network Information & Infrastructure (NII) Service Award. Dr Barry who comes from Senegal won the award for his commitment to capacity building and Internet development in Africa including his work in supporting the emergence and the strengthening of several research and education networks in Africa.
Dr Barry said as he received the award from the 2013 recipient, Mr Alan Barrett that “It’s a great honor for me to receive the 2014 Network Information & Infrastructure (NI&I) Service Award. I see it as recognition of my active involvement in the Internet community for almost 20 years now. Being more active in the research and education networking community as Convener of AfREN for the past eight years, I would like to share this honourable moment with all those who work tirelessly to build state of the art infrastructures, and offer services to support quality education and research in Africa.”
The ceremony was hosted by Gaelle Fall, AFRINIC’s Head of Communications and PR, on 5 June 2014 at a Gala Dinner held during the Africa Internet Summit (AIS) Meeting in Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti.
Mr Adiel Akplogan, CEO of AFRINIC, described the open selection process, where a call for nomination is sent to the community and candidates are nominated by nominees from the community.
The Network Information & Infrastructure (NI&I) Service Award was set up in 2009 during AfNOG’s 10th year anniversary by Dr Nii Narku Quaynor, who himself received the Internet Society’s prestigious Jonathan Postel Award in 2007 for his service, dedication, commitment, and leadership in the Region. The NI&I Service Award has been set up to acknowledge individuals and organisations for providing Internet services and Infrastructure in Africa. The NI&I Service Award recognises and rewards the next generation of “i-heroes”, role models from the African Internet technical community for their achievements.