1. Possibility of use of EU and other funds for
financing the ICT infrastructure and developement of other
projects in Macedonia
MARNet/UKIM development
Prof. Dr. Aneta Buckovska
MARNet MB
Prof. Dr. Margita Kon-Popovska

2. EUROPEAN VISION l One of the key aims of the European Research
Area is integrated networking & Grid
environment = eInfrastructure.
eInfrastructure allows new methods of global
collaborative research - referred to as eScience.
Vision: build a European-wide Grid-based
infrastructure on top of a broadband networking infrastructure
􀂃 Integrates computing power, storage, sensors,
instruments and databases.
􀂃 Open to wide user and provider communities;
􀂃 Transparent, reliable, pervasive and ubiquitous;
􀂃 Secure; provide trust across multiple admin
domains.
􀂃 Provide better, cheaper service to its users.
Strongly supported by the European Council, the
European Parliament and Member States budgets
(Lisbon Agenda, EC Policies)
7th Framework Program: Research
Infrastructures (RI) feature prominently l

3. EC FP PAST AND FUTURE FUNDINGS

4. REGIONAL VISION l Our strategy was to drive the regional developments
􀂃 within the framework of wider European developments
􀂃 based on the experience of local Macedonian developments
Timeline:
􀂃SEEREN1/2 project: establishing the regional inter-NRN
interconnectivity and GEANT links
􀂃SEEGRID1/2: building the regional Grid infrastructure within and
beyond EGEE
1st phase: infrastructure establishment, pilot applications
2nd phase: infrastructure expansion, multi-disciplinary applications,
National Grid Initiatives
SEEFIRE: studying the feasibility of long-term solutions for dark
fiber backbone in the region
􀂃SEELIGHT: implementation of the lambda facility in the region
ELISE: Academia & SME’s cooperation in the SEE to improve the general competitiveness of the
region l

5. Investments in period 2002-2011
Name of the Project
Foreighn Investments in the SEE Region (eur)
Foreighn Investments in MK (eur)
Own Sources (eur)
Source of Funding
Period of Duration of the Projects
SEEREN
FP5
SEEREN 1.5
EU-DANTE+MK.GOV
SEEREN 2
FP6+RM.GOV
SEEFIRE
20.000
FP6
ELISE
40.000
INTEREG III CADES
NATO NIG-MANI
NATO
GMON
Austrian Government
UNESCO-HP
50.000
SEEGRID
86.000
FP6 + own sources
SEEGRID2
All
SEE-GRID-SCI
FP7 + own sources
SEELIGHT
HIPERB-Greece+RM.GOV
Expected
Total

6. Macedonia 4 mbps 2004 34 mbps 2006 68 mbps 2007
SEEREN WEATHERMAP
Macedonia 4 mbps mbps mbps 2007

7. MARNet NATO NIG MANI, GMON
MANI- MARNet Advanced Network Infrastructure
Objective achieved
Established MAN in Skopje area based on wireless links and gigabit multilayer switches to interconnect University campuses’ LANs
Participants: Faculties and Research Institutes in Skopje

8. Gigabit Metro Optical Network
Facts & Figures
Owned by MARNet - Ss Cyril and Methodius, University
Total length: 20 km
Throughput: 1 Gbit/sec
Optical cable with fibers
More than 95% students and academic staff of the University are covered
Da se objasnat glavnite trasi: 1. bul. Aleksandar Makedonski (prodolzenie od Nikola Karev) – podvoznik Kontinental, PMF, Zem F; 2. bul. Nikola Karev, bul. 8-mi septemvri, h.Aleksandar Palas, ETF; 3.prodolzuva do Fdramski I pod bul. partizanski odredi - kampus PedF-Lik Umetn; 4. ETF – ul. Franklin Ruzvelt – bul. Partizan Odredi – GradF I ArhF; 5. ul. Belasica – zeleznicki most, tutunski kombinat – bul. Makedonija – Med F;

9. EUROPEAN GRID INFRASTRUSTURE
Size of EGEE infrastructure today:
• ~200 sites in 40 countries
• ~ CPU
Size of SEEGRID infrastructure today:
• ~30 sites in 11 countries
• ~700 CPUs

10. Macedonian GRID Infrastructure – Clusters installed

11. Services and tools structure
A plethora of state of the art tools are incorporated
More to be implemented during the rest project’s lifetime

12. ACADEMIA & SME’s COOPERATION
ELISE E-learning for Improving access to Information Society for SMEs in the SEE Area
Goal
…improving the access to knowledge and the information society of SMEs in South-East Europe, through close cooperation of academic and business communities at a transnational level, by transferring EU best practice training know-how and by developing national training strategies. Emphasis is given to SMEs from rural and distant areas in Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia-Montenegro.

13. Upgrade the SMEs competitiveness
General idea
In the future: no competitive business outside the electronic networks
The use of internet in the SEE is very low
Simple, quick, flexible and low cost policy measures have to be up taken as soon as possible.
Use of e-business in SEE is very low
Simple, quick, flexible and low cost policy measures have to be up taken as soon as possible
Result
The creation of a dynamic set of tools (human, technical, infrastructural, organizational) that can be used by policy makers or adequate bodies in order to implement policies that improve the ICT usage at local SMEs

14. ELISE in MK The e-business “survival kit”
items of Booklet+ CD-ROM + Brochures in Macedonian and Albanian language
7 certified trainers
Training for pilot 30 SMEs, dissemination events
Access to the ELISE e-learning platform

15. Future Plans Build on the tremendous brain potential in the region;
Focus not only on easing the digital divide, but on achieving it in a sustainable way!
Go for new opportunities and projects towards the upgrade of networking infrastructure/equipment, human networks, competitiveness upgrade and cooperation under
FP6, FP7, NATO, ERDF, Government investments, Vendor sponsorships, Bilateral programmes, INTEREG, UNDP, EIB, WorldBank, USAID, etc.

16. SEEGRID-SCI . . . . . . . Connecting researchers
Sharing the best scientific resources
Building global virtual communities
Weather Forecast VO
Biomedics VO
Astrophysics VO
Sharing and federating scientific data
Sharing computers, instruments and applications
Objectives of e-Infrastructure activity
Promote an ICT-based environment, in which all researchers have an easy-to-use controlled access to unique or distributed scientific facilities, regardless of their type and location in the world
Strengthen collaboration between research centres and their researchers in virtual research communities, enabling worldwide sustainable partnerships in all e-Science fields
Infrastructure layer more transparent and adequately serving cross-disciplinary needs
Linking at the speed of the light

17. SEELIGHT SEELIGHT Project
South-East European Lambda Network Facility for research and education
HIPERB
Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkan

18. Conclusions
Thanks to SEEREN1/2, SEEGRID1/2, SEEFIRE, ELISE and wider international and national financial support, remarkable results were achieved in the region
eInfrastructure
GRID cluster included in regional and European EGEE GRID network
Human network in region
Academia & SMEs cooperation
Thanks to established infrastructure and human network, new joint international projects where enabled (SEEGRID-SCI)
Involvement of all possible stakeholders (public administration, academy, business)
Significant experience in management of the multi country projects were gained
Complementing EC Framework Programs with regional/national initiatives (e.g. in the case of SEE initiatives like the Balkan Action Plan), INTEREG, EU structural funds, support/funding programs from global organizations like NATO, UNESCO, donations from industry HP, CISKO, SUN, etc., can contribute to the sustainability of the effort
We expect further international support mainly through the joint projects in high performance networking, e-Science and e-Education and believe that sustainability will be achieved with expected Governmental financial support and MARNet own resources.