Geneva 2005ARENet1 September CERN Geneva, Switzerland International Workshop on African Research and Education Networking Oliver B. Popov CEENet Central and Eastern European Networking Association

Geneva 2005ARENet2 Unique events July 2002 – a unique type of Workshop – NREN Creation “Flying” Workshop Three countries and three cities in seven days Czech Republic (Prague) – CESNet Poland (Warsaw) – NASK/POL-34 Estonia (Tartu) – EENet NREN Creation Cookbook (in Russian and English)

Geneva 2005ARENet3 Champions above all “But most importantly perhaps one needs product champions. For only these individuals can create all other conditions.” Peter A. J. Tindemans (Yaroslavl, June 1998) The participants of this Workshop are champions – past, present and future

Geneva 2005ARENet4 24 member NRENs (countries) Offices in Vienna (AT) and Warsaw (PL) General Assembly and Management Committee Secretariat The primary mission of CEENet is to co-ordinate the international aspects of the academic, research and education networks in Central and Eastern Europe and in adjacent countries. CEENet

Geneva 2005ARENet5 NATO ( Public diplomacy division Information Security Panel (formerly Computer Networking Panel - NIG, ANW and ARW) Open Society Institute (OSI Cisco Systems

Geneva 2005ARENet6 Wrong directions...but Fragmented efforts – partial or no results at all (everyone wants to be in charge) Present and work in a unified and coordinated way – nothing looks more discouraging than to see signs of internal fighting and disagreement Problems with no regulation or lack of “real” one, transparency, corruption

Geneva 2005ARENet7 Misplaced competitive behavior Ministries and agencies (government) Research and education community (users) International organizations PNOs and other ISPs (including virtual Telecom monopolies), but one must work together – so talk to the “devil”

Geneva 2005ARENet8 Misconceptions NREN will disturb the market Unfair to the other providers due to the exclusivity of the well- defined user groups NREN has a lot of “political” power and influence Lack of political capacity, will and awareness amounts to a cocktail of arrogance, ignorance and incompetence

Geneva 2005ARENet9 Outside assistance Should Identify the right people Be very focused Start with equipment, expertise, and training – catalytic funding Help in lobbying and raising the awareness Localization of the standards does not mean producing multiple standards

Geneva 2005ARENet10 Goals and Objectives Similar problems similar solutions Three types of educational events, where we discuss, exchange and disseminate ideas and best practices on The technological know-how for building the essential infrastructure Management strategies and policy issues for stability and sustainability Strong belief that sustainability = technological competence + managerial vision + appropriate policies + public awareness

Geneva 2005ARENet11 Sustainable NREN Appropriate with respect to Human resources Technology Nationally based, internationally oriented Inclusive (if possibly include many segments in addition to the primary users – the academic community) Find young and vigorous politicians and educate and entice them for your work – stress content and public recognition, not fiber, copper, switches, …

Geneva 2005ARENet12 Sustainable NREN Extensions NGOs (they have helped to start up many academic networks) Community networks (non-for-profit) Individual users (such as independent artists) All of this may require a small fraction of your bandwidth, but will provide you with ample support and fiercely fight for your existence

Geneva 2005ARENet13 Workshops on Network Technology Strategy Always have a combined team of lecturers From the CEE countries for promoting self-sufficiency, recognition and continuous training From the EU and USA for state-of-the-art updates To expose the participants to the leaders in the ICT industry, best possible and yet affordable and suitable technology To explore the intended and unintended social and humanistic consequences of the ICT and to reassert the maxim that we Connecting machines… to connect people

Geneva 2005ARENet14 Workshops on Network Technology EngiNe, NetKnows, WirEd – three tracks Warsaw – 1995, Budapest – 1996, Zagreb – 1997, Bratislava – 1998, Budapest – 1999, Budapest , Budapest – 2001, Budapest 2002, Budapest 2004, Ohrid 2005 Never limited to its members – for the last two years we have had participants from Afghanistan

Geneva 2005ARENet15 Workshops on network technology In 2002, 2004, and 2005 technology workshops with a single track – EngiNe tailored to a specific audience – an educational extension of the Silk Project (satellite, wireless, and security topics respectively) First Virtual Silk Connection became operational during the workshop in 2002 The side-effect from the WirEd track - Running a pre-workshop distance courses in all three tracks – a very effective instrument both for the selection and the preparation of the potential participants for the f2f event.

Geneva 2005ARENet16 Management and Policy Workshops on Management Yaroslavl – 1998 (co-organized with TERENA) Ohrid – 2000 Zagreb – 2002 Chisinau Workshops on Policy Tartu – 1997 (CEENet Tartu Declaration) Tbilisi – 1999 (CARENA and MoU) Bishkek – 2001 Flying – Prague, Warsaw, and Tartu Baku – 2003 Varna – 2003 (with TERENA and SEEREN)

Geneva 2005ARENet17 Projects Co-operates with Cisco Systems on the expansion and upgrading of their Cisco Networking Academies in the CEE and FSU regions ALaRI – recruitment and selection of students for a graduate programme at the UL in embedded engineering – Distance education in creation and design of distance education courses and tutoring on- line ICT4ICT – modeling ICT diffusion in CEE and developing countries and validation via pilot projects in two countries of SEE and Caucuses It is about to start the EU funded Porta Optica

Geneva 2005ARENet18 Declarations, MoUs and statements CEENet Tartu Declaration (May, 1997) CARENA and MoU (Tbilisi, April 2000) SEE and MoU (Thessalonica, October, 2000) Varna Statement (September 2003)

Geneva 2005ARENet19 The Essence of the CTD Seven parts Preamble The challenges The current situation The goals and the objectives to be reached The means to achieve these objectives The list of problems, and The set of recommendations

Geneva 2005ARENet20 Recap and lessons learned With respect to CEENet Keep it small in everything except your aspirations Modest membership and reasonably sized administration Focus on few goals and strive for excellence in achieving them Induce fairness – one vote per one member Replicate your success models Educate on all levels – from network engineers and administrators, to policy and decision makers. We have “educated” more than thousand people and build an invaluable human network

Geneva 2005ARENet21 Recap and lessons learned ICT, networking and the Internet are mosaic of efforts – so you need every stone to complete the picture. Technology has indeed the potential to induce a leapfrog effect – in 1992 both Poland and Czech Republic had between 19.6 and 56 Kbps for their Internet connectivity – today their NRENs are among the leaders in deploying and using fiber Sense of “déjà vu” – Never forget that networking is about sharing and communication is about understanding, and finally Hope that the old guard of politicians will fade into history, and will be replaced by the “Internet” generation of decision makers.

Geneva 2005ARENet22 Many thanks to The organizers, in particular the hospitality of CERN and Olivier Martin on the prep work The sponsors The participants for their attention