Aimed at both industry professionals and students, the academy will issue a "global standard certificate of excellence for interconnection experts".
UPF will provide the academic knowledge – through its Department of Information and Communication Technologies – while DE-CIX will offer operational knowledge from its staff in R&D, technical and other operational divisions. The collaboration is intended to prepare "well recognised and highly knowledgeable interconnection professionals" for the market, by combining advanced technical, operational, and business-related knowledge.
DE-CIX International CEO, Ivo Ivanov (pictured left), said: “As interconnection is one of the key enablers of digital transformation, interconnection experts need to be developed to satisfy the increasing demand of enterprises and organisations.
"Every enterprise and public institution needs to extend the knowledge of their in-house staff to design and implement their digital transformation strategies. The creation of the Interconnection Academy aims at providing a global standard certificate of excellence for interconnection experts, helping to shape the global interconnection landscape into the future through the transfer of business and technical knowledge.”
Signing the agreement with UFP, Ivanov was joined by Oriol Amat rector of the Pompeu Fabra University and Harald A. Summa, CEO DE-CIX.
DE-CIX runs close to 30 Internet Exchanges globally and is home to the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem worldwide
Amat said: “The knowledge we generate at the university impacts positively on societal wellbeing. UPF is a good university in terms of teaching and research, but we need to intensify our transfer of knowledge activity. To intensify our collaboration with strategic stakeholders, such as DE-CIX, will be a priority for the coming years. Today’s agreement joins two leading actors in their respective areas of work. The pandemic has shown us how important a functioning, secure, and reliable digital infrastructure is for all areas of life. There is no need to emphasize how much we can achieve by working together on this strategic area.”
