Evolution of Measurement Lab platform with Host Managed deployments

Measurement Lab (M-Lab) is the world’s largest open Internet measurement platform, providing open-source tools, globally distributed infrastructure, and publicly accessible datasets to advance transparency, research, and policy around Internet performance. M-Lab platform has over 500 servers across 40+ countries, hosting experiments such as NDT (network diagnostic tool), with all resulting data openly available through platforms like Google BigQuery.

This presentation introduces the evolution of M-Lab’s platform through the new Host Managed Deployment model, which enables organizations to contribute physical or virtual servers—managed locally but running standardized M-Lab software—broadening M-Lab’s global footprint, reducing operational costs, and improving coverage in underrepresented regions such as the Middle East or Central Asia.

We will discuss the technical and organizational requirements for participation, lessons from pilot deployments (e.g., RNP’s 27 servers in Brazil), and the roadmap toward general availability. Attendees will gain insight into how Host Managed Deployments open new opportunities for collaboration across research, industry, and public interest communities to measure and understand the Internet more effectively.