Possibility of use of EU and other funds for financing the ICT infrastructure and developement of other projects in Macedonia MARNet/UKIM development Prof. Dr. Aneta Buckovska anbuc@etf.ukim.edu.mk MARNet MB Prof. Dr. Margita Kon-Popovska margita@marnet.net.mk

EUROPEAN VISION l One of the key aims of the European Research Area is integrated networking & Grid environment = eInfrastructure. eInfrastructure allows new methods of global collaborative research - referred to as eScience. Vision: build a European-wide Grid-based infrastructure on top of a broadband networking infrastructure 􀂃 Integrates computing power, storage, sensors, instruments and databases. 􀂃 Open to wide user and provider communities; 􀂃 Transparent, reliable, pervasive and ubiquitous; 􀂃 Secure; provide trust across multiple admin domains. 􀂃 Provide better, cheaper service to its users. Strongly supported by the European Council, the European Parliament and Member States budgets (Lisbon Agenda, EC Policies) 7th Framework Program: Research Infrastructures (RI) feature prominently l

EC FP PAST AND FUTURE FUNDINGS

REGIONAL VISION l Our strategy was to drive the regional developments 􀂃 within the framework of wider European developments 􀂃 based on the experience of local Macedonian developments Timeline: 􀂃SEEREN1/2 project: establishing the regional inter-NRN interconnectivity and GEANT links 􀂃SEEGRID1/2: building the regional Grid infrastructure within and beyond EGEE 1st phase: infrastructure establishment, pilot applications 2nd phase: infrastructure expansion, multi-disciplinary applications, National Grid Initiatives SEEFIRE: studying the feasibility of long-term solutions for dark fiber backbone in the region 􀂃SEELIGHT: implementation of the lambda facility in the region ELISE: Academia & SME’s cooperation in the SEE to improve the general competitiveness of the region l

Investments in period 2002-2011 Name of the Project Foreighn Investments in the SEE Region (eur) Foreighn Investments in MK (eur) Own Sources (eur) Source of Funding Period of Duration of the Projects SEEREN 1.300.000 350.000   FP5 1.12.2002 - 31.03.2005 SEEREN 1.5 215.000 EU-DANTE+MK.GOV 1.02.2005 - 27.01.2006 SEEREN 2 2.500.000 472.000 160.000 FP6+RM.GOV 1.09.2005 - 31.12.2007 SEEFIRE 400.000 20.000 FP6 1.03.2005 - 28.02.2006 ELISE 1.252.000 40.000 INTEREG III CADES 10.06.2005 - 31.05.2008 NATO NIG-MANI 208.000 NATO 1.12.2002 - 30.11.2004 GMON 190.000 Austrian Government 1.04.2003 - 31.09.2004 UNESCO-HP 50.000 1.01.2005 - 31.12.2005 SEEGRID 1.000.000 86.000 FP6 + own sources 1.05.2004 - 30.04.2006 SEEGRID2 2.00.3000 112.000 1.05.2006 - 30.04.2008 All 8.453.000 1.743.000 395.000 SEE-GRID-SCI 104.000 FP7 + own sources 1.05.2008 - 30.04.2010 SEELIGHT 29.000.000 2.000.000 HIPERB-Greece+RM.GOV 1.10.2007 - 31.09.2011 Expected 31.500.000 2.104.000 420.000 Total 39.953.000 3.847.000 815.000

Macedonia 4 mbps 2004 34 mbps 2006 68 mbps 2007 SEEREN WEATHERMAP Macedonia 4 mbps 2004 34 mbps 2006 68 mbps 2007 http://netmon.grnet.gr/seeren.shtml

MARNet NATO NIG MANI, GMON MANI- MARNet Advanced Network Infrastructure Objective achieved Established MAN in Skopje area based on wireless links and gigabit multilayer switches to interconnect University campuses’ LANs Participants: Faculties and Research Institutes in Skopje

Gigabit Metro Optical Network Facts & Figures Owned by MARNet - Ss Cyril and Methodius, University Total length: 20 km Throughput: 1 Gbit/sec Optical cable with 12-18-24 fibers More than 95% students and academic staff of the University are covered Da se objasnat glavnite trasi: 1. bul. Aleksandar Makedonski (prodolzenie od Nikola Karev) – podvoznik Kontinental, PMF, Zem F; 2. bul. Nikola Karev, bul. 8-mi septemvri, h.Aleksandar Palas, ETF; 3.prodolzuva do Fdramski I pod bul. partizanski odredi - kampus PedF-Lik Umetn; 4. ETF – ul. Franklin Ruzvelt – bul. Partizan Odredi – GradF I ArhF; 5. ul. Belasica – zeleznicki most, tutunski kombinat – bul. Makedonija – Med F;

EUROPEAN GRID INFRASTRUSTURE Size of EGEE infrastructure today: • ~200 sites in 40 countries • ~25 000 CPU Size of SEEGRID infrastructure today: • ~30 sites in 11 countries • ~700 CPUs

Macedonian GRID Infrastructure – Clusters installed

Services and tools structure A plethora of state of the art tools are incorporated More to be implemented during the rest project’s lifetime

ACADEMIA & SME’s COOPERATION ELISE E-learning for Improving access to Information Society for SMEs in the SEE Area Goal …improving the access to knowledge and the information society of SMEs in South-East Europe, through close cooperation of academic and business communities at a transnational level, by transferring EU best practice training know-how and by developing national training strategies. Emphasis is given to SMEs from rural and distant areas in Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia-Montenegro.

Upgrade the SMEs competitiveness General idea In the future: no competitive business outside the electronic networks The use of internet in the SEE is very low Simple, quick, flexible and low cost policy measures have to be up taken as soon as possible. Use of e-business in SEE is very low Simple, quick, flexible and low cost policy measures have to be up taken as soon as possible Result The creation of a dynamic set of tools (human, technical, infrastructural, organizational) that can be used by policy makers or adequate bodies in order to implement policies that improve the ICT usage at local SMEs

ELISE in MK The e-business “survival kit” 10.000 items of Booklet+ CD-ROM + Brochures in Macedonian and Albanian language 7 certified trainers Training for pilot 30 SMEs, dissemination events Access to the ELISE e-learning platform

Future Plans Build on the tremendous brain potential in the region; Focus not only on easing the digital divide, but on achieving it in a sustainable way! Go for new opportunities and projects towards the upgrade of networking infrastructure/equipment, human networks, competitiveness upgrade and cooperation under FP6, FP7, NATO, ERDF, Government investments, Vendor sponsorships, Bilateral programmes, INTEREG, UNDP, EIB, WorldBank, USAID, etc.

SEEGRID-SCI . . . . . . . Connecting researchers Sharing the best scientific resources Building global virtual communities Weather Forecast VO Biomedics VO Astrophysics VO Sharing and federating scientific data Sharing computers, instruments and applications Objectives of e-Infrastructure activity Promote an ICT-based environment, in which all researchers have an easy-to-use controlled access to unique or distributed scientific facilities, regardless of their type and location in the world Strengthen collaboration between research centres and their researchers in virtual research communities, enabling worldwide sustainable partnerships in all e-Science fields Infrastructure layer more transparent and adequately serving cross-disciplinary needs Linking at the speed of the light . . . . . . .

SEELIGHT SEELIGHT Project South-East European Lambda Network Facility for research and education HIPERB Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkan

Conclusions Thanks to SEEREN1/2, SEEGRID1/2, SEEFIRE, ELISE and wider international and national financial support, remarkable results were achieved in the region eInfrastructure GRID cluster included in regional and European EGEE GRID network Human network in region Academia & SMEs cooperation Thanks to established infrastructure and human network, new joint international projects where enabled (SEEGRID-SCI) Involvement of all possible stakeholders (public administration, academy, business) Significant experience in management of the multi country projects were gained Complementing EC Framework Programs with regional/national initiatives (e.g. in the case of SEE initiatives like the Balkan Action Plan), INTEREG, EU structural funds, support/funding programs from global organizations like NATO, UNESCO, donations from industry HP, CISKO, SUN, etc., can contribute to the sustainability of the effort We expect further international support mainly through the joint projects in high performance networking, e-Science and e-Education and believe that sustainability will be achieved with expected Governmental financial support and MARNet own resources.