The EARNEST Foresight Study Report from Breakout Group F by Karel Vietsch Wednesday, 24 May 2006

The EARNEST Foresight Study Question 1 How will (National) Research and Education Networks distinguish themselves (in the next 5-10 years) from commercial providers? –Historically, NRENs have been providing connectivity with a capacity / quality that commercial providers could not offer. That is no longer sufficient (justification). –For example, “new” user groups (schools, libraries, healthcare, government institutions, etc.). Which should be served by NRENs and which should be served by commercial providers? –How far “up the service / application stack” should NRENs go? (Should they even make “content” part of their business?)

The EARNEST Foresight Study Answers 1 What is currently the added value of NRENs? –Some DE universities have decided not to connect to NREN – Advanced technology marketplace technology –Innovation, “testbed of new services” –Special services for schools e.g. content filtering –High-availability guarantees –Small institutions large institutions Yes, NRENs should go up the application stack E.g. extremely large data storage, extremely fast search engine NRENs should go far up the stack, also to content

The EARNEST Foresight Study Question 2 The essence of the Norwegian GigaCampus project is that the national network (services) and the local network (services) are no longer seen as separate responsibilities but as a joint responsibility of the NREN and the local network people. They then work together closely in many areas. Is this an example that should be followed (perhaps in slightly different forms) in all European countries?

The EARNEST Foresight Study Answers 2 Very positive of Norwegian set-up Does not scale to large countries (DE, UK) Universities are each other’s competitors, no collaboration to be expected on business as usual But do Norwegian collaboration on per project bases (examples: rollout wireless, rollout VoIP)

The EARNEST Foresight Study Question 3 If GÉANT2 and all NRENs would all use the same platform (e.g. “let’s all buy Alcatel”) things would be simpler than in the current situation with different platforms. Can research networks as launching customers of new technologies and products exert enough market pressure on vendors to enforce global standardisation?

The EARNEST Foresight Study Answers 3 Interoperability in optical networking is a real problem Yes, NRENs can have an influence; interoperability is a plus for vendors NRENs need to develop common requirements Idea: interoperability test lab Common initiative of NRENs needed

The EARNEST Foresight Study Question 4 Research networks give a lot of attention to “high-end” users (Grid applications and others). Do they give enough attention to “middleclass” and “low-end” users, making them aware of the technologies and services that they could use? Is there “latent usage”?

The EARNEST Foresight Study Answers 4 NRENs are demand-driven They don’t go out to evangelise, push new technologies/services Probably they should pay more attention to middle- and low-end users, but they don’t have the time / resources Campus can be intermediary in communication between NREN and end- users