EUM Electronic Networking: EUMEDCONNECT Project Sabine Jaume-Rajaonia External affairs manager GIP RENATER

EUM Partners Coordinating Partner - DANTE MED partners/beneficiaries: –Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey EU partners: –National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of France, Greece, Italy and Spain Funded up to 10 M EURO/80% by European Commission – DG AIDCO EUMEDIS programme Remaining funding - from beneficiaries Contracted - to June 2006

EUM EUMEDCONNECT Objectives To establish an electronic, Internet-based network in the Mediterranean region to: Connect MED Partners’ research and education communities to Europe via GÉANT Enable research and educational collaboration within the MED region Thereby: – Ease the EU-MED research networking ‘digital divide’ – Strengthen human relationships and stability

EUM Project Environment Monopoly national operators Limited international telecoms infrastructure and poor investment conditions Unaffordably high commercial prices De-regulation slow, competition weak No consortium Difficult political climate

EUM Now, the Mediterranean region is connected… Capacity provided as point to point International leased circuits EUMEDCONNECT tightly linked to GEANT Topology is the outcome of a challenging tender

EUM EUMEDCONNECT NETWORK

EUM Achievements: connectivity

EUM But also ….. Increase the number of users : Connecting major project sites (instead of via commercial Internet) Develop applications : –Hosting project databases in any connected country –Grid computing –Real-time applications requiring high bandwidths and reliable connections (e.g. videoconferencing, tele-medecine)

EUM Who is using the network? Over 100 Mediterranean universities and research centres connected for first time Researchers and students in the 25 EU Member States and 9 Mediterranean Partner Countries EUMEDIS Pilot projects e.g. –STRABON (tourism and culture) –MEDFORIST (e-Business learning) –EUMEDCancer (Medical e-Learning) –AVICENNA (Virtual campus) –MVU (Virtual university) EUMEDGRID – first Grid Computing project for Mediterranean region, based on EGEE experience, planned from late 2005 for 2 years

EUM Beyond June 2006 Current EUMEDCONNECT network costing 3 – 4 M Euro per year Partners want EUMEDCONNECT to continue after June 2006 but need continued external funding assistance Modalities for extension being discussed with European Commission

EUM Conclusions EUMEDCONNECT now connects the Mediterranean regions’ research community and with the European community -> synergy Provides high performance Internet infrastructure for further EU/MED collaborative programmes Offers one successful model for other African research networking projects Contact or visit