On October 9-10, 2024, the HUNOG conference, the only domestic NOG (Network Operators' Group) professional event, was held for the second time in Inárcs, at the FLOW Hotel & Conference. In its second year, the event attracted an even broader segment of the industry, with over 250 participants from more than a hundred companies and across nearly a dozen European countries.
The event was once again organized by ISZT (Internet Service Providers Council Scientific Association), the professional association of internet service providers, and ISZT Nonprofit Ltd., the registry and manager of domain names under the top-level .HU namespace, responsible for maintaining the related technical infrastructure.
The seven-member Program Committee was responsible for compiling the high-quality professional program and selecting expert speakers: Dr. Pál Varga (Head of the Department of Telecommunications and Artificial Intelligence at BME and the event's moderator), Dr. Sándor Laki (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Informatics at ELTE), János Zsakó (IT and Business Consultant at ISZT Nonprofit Ltd.), Ferenc Tanács (Product Owner of the Peering Network Squad at Magyar Telekom), Zoltán Virág (Managing Director of Rackhost Ltd.), Attila Miszori (President of ISZT), and Csaba Bodor (Managing Director of ISZT Nonprofit Ltd.). The mobilization was supported by Network Committee members Zoltán Bálint (Giganet) and János Gergely (BIX).
The event was opened by Attila Miszori, President of ISZT, who stated, “Last year, we only suspected, but now we know that we organized a much-needed event, which was confirmed by last year's feedback.” He also mentioned that the first HUNOG would have been considered a success if 80 professional participants attended, but instead, 200 showed up last year, and this year, more than 250 participants came to the conference from across the country—and from ten other European countries as well. Thus, HUNOG has now become a truly national and international event.
Barbara Angelus, Marketing and Communications Director at ISZT Nonprofit Ltd., explained that HUNOG is not a traditional conference, as it is organized for a closed professional community, so the organizers know almost everyone by name and face. The most important element, of course, is networking, the strengthening of personal connections. Therefore, based on last year's feedback, the lunch and coffee breaks were significantly extended, and every presentation included a live Q&A feature via an app for participants.
The program was moderated by Dr. Pál Varga, Head of the Department of Telecommunications and Artificial Intelligence at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. His presence ensured that the professional program was conducted on schedule and maintained the planned level of quality.
The first presentation was given by Jacek Topolski, Partner Engagement Manager EMEA at Netflix Open Connect, who spoke in detail about the streaming service provider's infrastructure, its presence in the region, and particularly in Hungary. He explained how they ensure that their tens of millions of users can always enjoy smooth, uninterrupted content consumption.
Following this, Patrick Prangl, Advanced Services Engineer at Arista Networks, discussed the development of so-called merchant silicon architectures, particularly their benefits in scalability for internet service providers.
Dr. Gerhard Stein, Head of Product Development at Flexoptix, and Thomas Weible, Co-founder and CTO of the company, gave a highly detailed presentation on the current technological advancements of coherent optical transceivers, their application areas, and future research and development directions.
Prof. Dr. Zoltán Gál, from the Supercomputing Center at the University of Debrecen and Head of the Faculty of Informatics, discussed the traffic properties of the QUIC-based transport layer mechanism, providing an overview of its history and sharing insights on current development directions and experiences.
This was followed by a historically themed presentation: Dr. István Bartolits, Head of the Technology Analysis Department at NMHH, presented the work, operations, and development of the 75-year-old Scientific Association for Infocommunications (HTE), from its inception to the present day.
This year, several international speakers took the stage at HUNOG, with ten of them delivering their presentations in English, reflecting the spirit of international cooperation and sharing the latest technological developments.
During the afternoon of the first day, participants had the opportunity to ask Dr. Krisztina Vécsei, a legal expert from ISZT about NIS2 at the joint ISZT/.HU/BIX booth.
The second session of the first day was centered around the topic of AI. Siarhei Matashuk, Technical Consultant at Genie Networks, and Dr. Péter Orosz, Head of the Department of Telecommunications and Artificial Intelligence at BME, both discussed in their consecutive presentations how the latest AI-based solutions can be used to defend against DDoS attacks, enable active and passive protection, and identify zero-day threats, as well as how to train these models most effectively.
Following this, Dr. Sándor Laki, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Informatics at ELTE, spoke about the advantages and possibilities of deeply programmable networks, specifically SDN 2.0. Dr. Richárd Ádám Vécsey, a freelance artificial intelligence developer and data scientist, gave a presentation on the application of AI models in network infrastructure, including the resource requirements for training and optimization opportunities.
The first day's program concluded with a panel discussion also focused on AI. Joining Dr. Richárd Ádám Vécsey and Dr. Péter Orosz were Dr. Vera Könyves, AI Researcher and Data Scientist at the HUN-REN SZTAKI Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory, and Péter Duronelly, Head of Analytics and AI tasks at the organizational unit responsible for data assets at Magyar Telekom Nyrt. The discussion primarily addressed misconceptions about AI, the technology's limitations, future development directions, and opportunities for Hungarian AI researchers to excel.
On the first day, several notable speakers from higher education took the stage. Attila Miszori mentioned in his opening speech that while only BME (Budapest University of Technology and Economics) participated in the first HUNOG conference, this year, experts and computer science students from five universities attended the event.
The day concluded with a social event at the hosting venue, the FLOW Hotel & Conference in Inárcs. After a plentiful dinner, participants continued their conversations late into the night, accompanied by pálinka tasting. During the day, there was constant activity around the stands, with professionals involved in internet networks eagerly visiting the exhibitors, supporters, and sponsors.
The second day was opened by István Laky, Senior Systems Engineer at Juniper Networks, with a presentation on the evolution of data centers and their role in supporting modern AI hubs, detailing both their use cases and the current challenges.
Ferenc Tanács, Product Owner of the Peering Network Squad at Magyar Telekom, spoke about peering traffic trends and the development of optimized architectures, presenting numerous statistics and historical trends from recent years.
Dr. Benedek Kovács, Head of Technology and Innovation at Ericsson Hungary, discussed the data strategies of telecommunications providers, using international examples to illustrate the differences between the American-European and Asian-African markets, and how the operations of mobile and cloud service providers fundamentally differ across these regions.
Dániel Beszkid, the IP Presales Engineer of Nokia, delivered a presentation on IP network peering, focusing primarily on the structure of networks and data centers, the differences between various technologies, the precise operation of BIX, and the importance of scalability and redundancy.
One of the most popular events on the second day was the arrival of BIX, the guide dog, and his companions. ISZT, as the owner and operator of the Budapest Internet Exchange (BIX), had partnered with the Baráthegy Guide Dog School Foundation back in 2023. They agreed that ISZT would support the upbringing and training of a guide (or assistance) dog, helping a person in need to live a fuller life.
BIX, the labrador retriever puppy, is now over a year old, and he visited the conference along with his two companions, Rizling and Karma. During the event, Zoltán Vida, a visually impaired IT specialist from the foundation, gave a presentation to the participants on how modern technology, including smartphones, apps, and artificial intelligence, is used in everyday life by visually impaired individuals.
Dr. László Bacsárdi, an associate professor of quantum informatics at the Department of Network Systems and Services at BME, discussed current market trends and implementation challenges in quantum communication. He specifically addressed the long-standing quantum cryptography challenges and possible ways to prepare for them, as well as the role of the European quantum communication initiative, EuroQCI.
János Mohácsi, Head of International R&D at the Government IT Development Agency, continued this topic by discussing where we currently stand at the EU level as we experience the second quantum revolution, including the current status of EuroQCI's development.
Following this, two operational staff members from ISZT Nonprofit Kft., Péter Brucker and Zoltán Lajber, took the stage to talk about the application of open-source virtualization in the .HU domain. They provided a detailed account of recent network transformations, the development process of the new Domain Registration System (ngDRR), and the current state of the network.
During the day, participants had the opportunity to meet and chat with the developers and operators of the new Domain Registration System at the joint ISZT/.HU/BIX booth in the separate room, allowing them to “take a peek under the hood.”
At the event, participants received exclusive HUNOG-branded water bottles, which they could also have personalized with custom engravings on-site.
The presentation block concluded with a panel discussion featuring Sándor Laki (ELTE), Péter Brucker (ISZT Nonprofit Kft.), János Angeli (BIX), and István Laky (Juniper Networks). They discussed the challenges of virtualization, its practical applications, the challenges customers face with virtualization, and the misunderstandings that exist around the technology.
Ulrich Wisser from ICANN attended the conference and spoke to the attendees about the technical challenges encoded in the DNS system, best practices, and the KINDNS approach.
He was followed by Alastair Strachan from RIPE NCC’s Community Development Officer. He presented how traffic redirection attacks currently occur, how they can be detected, and how they can be mitigated.
Zbyněk Houska, a Senior Systems Engineer at Dell Technologies, then discussed where open-source networking solutions find their roles in the operation of enterprise-level networks.
Dr. Viktor Kilbertus, the B2B Sales Director of TP-Link Networks Hungary, took the stage to discuss the limitless opportunities in TR management alongside Dávid Csillag, the company's Pre-sales Engineer.
Finally, three experts from Aruba Cloud—András Barsi, Strategic and Regulatory Advisor, along with online check-in representatives Marco Mangiulli and Sirio Pietrantoni—held a joint presentation on the network security of large-scale e-Delivery systems, showcasing a range of practical examples.
The auditorium was just as packed for the final presentation as it was during the opening ceremony. During the concluding coffee break, personal conversations continued for quite a while even after the official closing remarks. The organizers hope that this year’s event successfully strengthened the Hungarian NOG community and that participants continue to see these two professional days as filling a gap in the industry. They also look forward to welcoming representatives of the network operating profession at the third HUNOG conference in 2025.
Thanks to the sponsors of HUNOG_2 for their support!
Barbara Angelus
ISZT Nonprofit Ltd. - Head of Marketing and Communications
+36 30 950 7815 – angelus.barbara@domain.hu
Karina Kerekes
Goodevent Rendezvényszervező Ltd.
+36 20 236 2715 – kerekes.karina@goodevent.hu