Connect. Communicate. Collaborate GÉANT2 and University Connectivity to NRENs Michael Nowlan, DANTE (with thanks to Cathrin Stöver) UBUNTUNET-CONNECT 2008 Tuesday 11th November 2008, Lilongwe, Malawi

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate DANTE Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Established in 1993 and based in Cambridge, UK Not for profit Organisation Created and Owned by a subset of Europe’s National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) 50 Members of Staff from 14 different countries

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate GÉANT2 Topology January 2008

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate GÉANT2 7th generation of pan-European research network infrastructure Funded jointly by European NRENs and European Commission Project partners include 30 of Europe’s national research and education networks (NRENs), DANTE and TERENA Connects 34 European countries and serves over 3500 research and education establishments across Europe Service Activities and Joint Research Activities Project timescale September August 2008 –Extension to Q Four year project, GEANT3 planned from Q to Q2 2013

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North Africa and Middle East - EUMEDCONNECT 11 Mediterranean Countries connected since 2004, 7 wholly reliant serving 1.4M users in 400+ Institutions Major users include EUMEDGRID MedGeNet Closely connected to GEANT2

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate Why NRENs and Global Connectivity? Research, Science and Technology – Researchers able to participate in global collaborative teams – Resources/knowledge available to the global research community Societal benefit (including education, development and health) – Improving lives as a result of implementing advanced communications that support the well-being of the population Catalysing and stimulating the information economy – Providing services to transform business, society, and personal lives. – Implementing collaborative innovation and access to information – Acting as incubator for technology transfer to industry and commerce (3 pillars of an NREN by G. McLaughlin, DANTE)

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NREN Life Cycle Highly regulated Telecom environment Universities seen as competitors to suppliers Restricted market for networking Restrictive tariffs Unavailability of high speed circuits

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NREN Formation Starts as cooperation between universities Voluntary staff effort, working groups Allocate/second staff to work full time at one institution Eventual incorporation with appropriate staffing and funding In Ireland it took 9 years 1983 to 1992

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate “small” country NREN Close community in Education and Research Short communications path to Funding Authority Close connection between industry and education Head of Funding Authority is Chairman of NREN board

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NREN Financial Models Initially university supported and funded Small seed funding from university funding authority Moved to extra state funding Connected institutions pay significant connection fees

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NREN Funding Models Totally state funded Totally university funded Top-sliced by funding authority A mix of the above See Terena Compendium

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate Institution attitudes May reflect the costs of services May not understand the true costs May not pay much to the NREN May pay a lot for the local loops Needs to reinforce the supplier/customer relationship with the NREN

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NREN in a competitive market Universities always looking for a better deal NRENs may not be able to compete with commercials on cost, but must compete on services & identity NRENs must ensure they represent “value for money” NRENs can respond to education/research needs and provide extra shared services beyond bandwidth Research & Education market is pre-competitive so a strictly free market analysis may not apply

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate NRENs for societal benefit – some examples The power of telemedicine –Remote assistance –Access to specialists –Telesurgery training and mentoring Climate Research –Malaria, Dengue, Yellow fever, etc –Crop research –Floods and droughts Modelling and predictions –Earthquakes (and resulting Tsunamis) –Volcanoes Digital Heritage

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RedCLARA 3M users in app. 750 institutions 13 countries connected Major users: Grids, telemedicine, e- learning, agricultural research

Connect. Communicate. Collaborate 9 Asian countries and Australia connected since 2006 Serving 30M users in 3,800 institutions Major uses include: China/EU traffic Tele-medecine E-learning programmes Strong co-operation between partners