SERENATE What’s the idea? David Williams CERN, also President TERENA SERENATE Initial Workshop 17 September September 2002

Topics n What is SERENATE about? n Structure and timescales n How you may be able to help the study n This workshop n What’s changing around R&E networking n My view of some of the strategic questions

What is SERENATE about?

The acronym n SERENATE = Study into European Research and Education Networking as Targeted by eEurope n Funded as an EC project – FP5 n Looking at the strategic needs, say up to 5 years ahead n NOT about making detailed plans

Who are the partners? n Academia Europaea n Centre for Tele-informatics (CTI), Technical University of Denmark n DANTE n European Science Foundation n TERENA (coordinating partner) n anticipating considerable involvement of the NRENs, and hopefully of other actors, including end-users and industry

Steering Committee n Bonac - ARNES - chairs “geographic” break-out group n Butterworth - AE – chairs “research users” n Davies - DANTE – chairs “technical” n Jaume - RENATER - chairs “other users” n Liello - chair NREN Consortium n Mayer - ESF n Skouby - CTI – chairs “economics” n Vietsch - TERENA n Williams

Route to more information? n –Public pages –Also working areas for each work package n

Structure and Timescales

The EU project n Runs from 1 May 2002 for 15 months, so until 31 July 2003 n Comprises 14 areas of work, including workshops, studies and report writing

Workshops n Initial workshop (17-18 Sept 2002) n Operators’ views on infrastructure status and evolution (8 Nov 2002, Amsterdam) n User needs and priorities (17-19 Jan 2003, Montpellier) n Possible models for the future (4-5 Feb 2003, t.b.d.) n Final workshop (~May-June 2003)

Reports n A report will be generated after each workshop (see previous slide for list) PLUS n Deployment and trends in transport and infrastructure market (~Nov 2002) n Regulatory situation, especially for alternative approaches (~Nov 2002) n Equipment trends (~Dec 2002) n Telecoms market and infra deployment forecast (~Feb 2003) n Possible infrastructure scenarios (~Feb 2003) n Overall strategic plan – input to Final Workshop (~May 2003)

Other areas of work n Education and other fields (libraries, healthcare….) n Geographic coverage n These break out groups need to think about what is needed for SERENATE conclusions, and how to arrive there….

How you may be able to help the study (skip)

NRENs (and others……) n Help to capture arguments in written form –For example, fundamental arguments about needs for NRENs n Help by providing staff effort or contacts to people with expertise n Your experts  regulatory evolution n You technical staff  equipment evolution n Your users  user needs and priorities n Your local experts  extension of NRENs to early education, libraries and healthcare n Your local experts  geographic coverage Many of these bullets are also directly applicable to ENPG members and potentially to members of other interested national bodies

Network and Infra Service Vendors n Submit thoughts to Steering Committee n Participate in operators’ workshop – its especially for you

Equipment vendors n Submit thoughts to Steering Committee n Participate in the “equipment trends” activity

This workshop

Who are you? n People recommended to us as being interested in the topic n From all “backgrounds” (operate nets, fund nets, sell equipment or services for nets, use nets, …..) n And able to talk and interact n Many people that you didn’t meet before. Please talk to them, and not to the people that you do know! n Too long for everyone to introduce themselves in this session n Do that in the break-out sessions

Pleas for the speakers n Not everyone listens to rapid-fire English every day. Please speak reasonably slowly and enunciate as clearly as you can! n Remember to send Raquel a copy of your presentation n Please keep to time …

Please keep to time! n Maybe I asked too many people to talk n But this represents the real complexity of the topics that we have to reflect on n The timeslots (many of 10’ and 15’) are ALL-INCLUSIVE of time for introductions and questions n And the coffee-breaks are tight n But lots of time for discussion this evening and tomorrow

Break-out groups n We will be in this Auditorium until ~18.00, when we break into smaller groups n The rooms for those groups are half-way back to the main entrance (just left into Building 2) n Technical; Research Users; Other Users (schools, libraries, healthcare); Geography; Economics n You have been allocated to a break-out group – look in your information package - unless you are deeply unhappy, please keep to your group

Other logistics n Dinner in restaurant at n Check out?? n No smoking inside

What’s changing around R&E networking?

The growth of optical n Over long distances, photons are easier to herd and drive down fibres than electrons n Does that matter for our strategy? Maybe n Because perhaps we are at the start of a move towards having the end-user exert more control over how they use the net n Several NRENs around the world are pushing in this direction n If you’re old enough to remember life before PCs were obviously serious computers, this change has a familiar echo to it. n Personal networking?? Everyone has five wavelengths and decides where they should be connected to (one to a well- connected PoP, the others to their “busiest colleagues”) Is that a silly dream??

Faster, more reliable, data transfer n Over last year, good signs that we finally start to understand what we need to do in order to transfer data at MB/s. n Rates of hundreds of MB/s across the Atlantic are now being achieved “regularly”. How quickly will this become “normal” and “what we expect”??

Transmitting different things n The move from text to graphics to audio, to video, to HDTV, to “virtual reality”. We’re a long way from any optimal use of digital transmission in research and education (and libraries and healthcare) …. n But you need quality of service (it must work smoothly and “all the time”) and wide availability before such new and advanced approaches reach “critical mass”

Access everywhere n Still big battles over which technology; how much mobility; how it’s paid for n We now expect (hope?) to be able to access our “everywhere” n And 7*24 access will become increasingly important for research and education (and healthcare!)

Authentication & authorisation n Partially linked to improving access, and partially related simply to “distributed computing which really works”, we need to know who is connecting, and decide that they are allowed access n Many issues of privacy and how society wishes to regulate itself n Need to avoid “10-20 credit card syndrome” n Will need major collaboration among universities, NRENs, GEANT, Grids, governments, etc.. n A pan-European issue if I ever saw one, and if researchers are to become “mobile” and the ERA a reality

Some of the strategic questions (personal view)

Strategic assumptions n Three-level model (or is it four?, or five?) –Campus –National (and often also regional) infrastructure – NREN –European interconnect –[Pan-continental]

Strategic questions (1/3) n Nature of NRENs – how much technical expertise? – how much direct responsibility for operation? n Move from “best efforts IP” to multi-service networking – with a huge number of “end-to-end” services going across multiple organisational boundaries n Especially because of the three layers (campus, NREN, European interconnect) – hard to balance need for local autonomy (“subsidiarity”) with the need for coherent high-quality “end-to-end” performance. n eEurope and ERA looking for “equality of opportunity” for researchers across different countries in Europe –Should people with (much) higher costs have to pay higher charges? –How could we alleviate discrepancies? –What cost-sharing models can be recommended?

Strategic questions (2/3) n Are present economic assumptions likely to evolve smoothly, or be disrupted? –Optical fibre developments  much more bandwidth –A few examples of NRENs “owning” their own infrastructure – good idea or not? –Have already been disrupted by the shake-out? What next?? n NRENs traditionally worked with tertiary education – to what extent should they become involved with primary and secondary education? And what about 168/7 coverage (student lodging and week-end coverage) for higher education students? n How should NRENs react to eEurope Action Plan? –Council requested Commission to study higher speeds and connecting schools and libraries – SERENATE is part of that work –In general - keep proposing ambitious goals

Strategic questions (3/3) n What are networking needs of FP6 and the ERA? Are we addressing the proposals made in the Harbour Report? n What is the proper geographical extent of the “Europe” that the NRENs should feel concerned by? n How can Europe obtain proper intercontinental connectivity – again reflecting on the need for “end-to-end” services? Are there proposals that could help?

The really key issues? (again – personal view)

What (I guess) really matters? n Will we be able to buy all the services that we need from commercial ISPs any year soon? I guess NO n How much (if anything) does optics change things? What’s the nature of that change?? n How do we handle the “broadening of the community”? Linked to financial model?? n European nets presently in a rather good state. Wasn’t always like that. What do we need to do to keep our R&E networking competitive? Three-level investments?? Support for end-to-end services n How can we create “equality of opportunity” across such a diverse set of countries? n HOW DO WE PLAN TO FUND THIS??