1. Clara CLARA: an advanced regional network integrating LA&C NRENs (*) APAN Cairns, Australia July 2004 Michael Stanton CLARA Technical Committee Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa – RNP, Brazil www.rnp.br/en michael@rnp.br www.rnp.br/en michael@rnp.br (*) LA&C = Latin American and the Caribbean NREN = National Research and Education Network

2. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 2 The Latin America and Caribbean Region – LA&C Geography South, Central and part of North America, plus Caribbean islands Over 10.000 km diameter Demography Around 400 millions (more than 40% in Brazil) History Formerly mostly colonies of Spain and Portugal and autonomous since c. 1820 Languages Mostly Spanish and Portuguese (just Brazil) Many amerindian languages English is first foreign language

3. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 3 A Brief Story of Networking in LA&C Political, linguistic and cultural considerations have traditionally led to considerable interaction between countries within the region However, networking has not followed this model: First connections (BITNET) starting 1986 using satellite links between the US and each country separately Same topology inherited with transition to Internet Even multilateral initiatives (RedHUCyT in mid 90s and AMPATH from 2001) have used traffic hubs in the US. Recent developments (CLARA and ALICE, 2003) have sought to alter this tendency.

4. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 4 Scientific User Community Needs in LA&C The provision of high-capacity networking infrastructure in LA&C countries is in good part to meet the demands of international collaboration It is hoped that such provision can be made by a combination of networking interconnections at the regional/inter-regional levels, combined with renovation of national NREN infrastructures

5. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 5 Global connectivity supports science user communities Scientific research increasingly dependent on access globally to resources, collaborators, data, scientific instruments. 1.Access to scientific instruments with specific geo-location needs: optical telescopes: e.g., Gemini South and SOAR, Chile; operated by US, Brazil and other countries 2.Unique instruments: impractical or unfeasible for each country to “afford” for its own community: Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva: thousands of collaborators around the world 3.Access to/collecting geo-specific data and getting it back for analysis, visualisation, sharing Environmental data from the Amazon or Antarctica

6. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 6 Some of the scientific community connectivity needs in LA&C Some areas of interest: –Astrophysics Argentina, Brazil, Chile –e-VLBI Brazil, Chile, Mexico –High Energy Nuclear Physics Brazil –Geosciences Chile, Mexico –Marine sciences Chile –Environmental studies Brazil, Costa Rica –Health and Biomedical applications Several countries –Grid computing in general

7. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 7 Global connectivity – tendencies Very high capacity (10s of Gbps) networks in core countries and between them Increasingly regionalised networking –European GEANT, South American CLARA, Asian cluster efforts –aggregate inter-continental bandwidth now sometimes greater than continental bandwidth –slow trend away from US as centre of the world –many initiatives outside the US are engaging and establishing leadership roles in connecting to the world –European – Asian connectivity –European – Latin American connectivity

8. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 8 The emerging global network (as seen from Australia)

9. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 9 LA&C connectivity Phase 1:satellite communication with US hub –bandwidth limited to 2 Mbps Phase 2:submarine optical cables –initial bandwidth of 34 or 45 Mbps –no upper limit in sight –Phase 2A:based on US hub AMPATH project (2001 - ) –Phase 2B:region-centric CLARA network (2004 - )

10. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 10 Phase 1: Satellite connectivity (1990s)

11. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 11 First global conections from LA countries Two “classical” phases of connectivity: e-mail networks (BITNET, UUCP) full Internet (IP) connectivity Table shows the first connections for each LA NREN (National Research and Education Network)

12. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 12 Phase 2: New Submarine Cables in Latin America (1999-) E-mergia (TIWS) Global Crossing & TI Sparkle Global Crossing ImpSat Transandino UniSur San Juan, Puerto Rico Miami to New York and Europe to California and Asia-Pacific

13. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 13 Phase 2: New cables in the Caribbean (Maya & Arcos) Maya Arcos (festoon)

14. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 14 Phase 2A: US-centric connectivity (2001 - ) AmPath uses Global Crossing 45 Mbps (one size fits all) connections to Miami, and thence to Abilene (US NREN) connects Argentina, Brazil (2), Chile, Panama, Venezuela other LA&C countries not so benefited Mexico 3 cross-border connections to US (Texas and California) AmPath

15. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 15 Where do we go from here? AMPATH´s achievements –Initial boost for Advanced Networking in LA –Stimulus for advanced connectivity inside each country –Motivation for collaborative projects BUT Why does LA&C communicate internally through Miami? Why does LA&C communicate with other parts of the world through the US?

16. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 16 An alternative paradigm: regional R&E networking Since the early 1990s great efforts have been invested in pan-European networking. The present pan-European network is GÉANT (2002-) –currently the largest capacity operational IP network in the world –built and managed by DANTE

17. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 17 GÉANT connections to other regions (2004)

18. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 18 The European Commission’s @LIS initiative Through @LIS programme the European Commission is supporting improved connectivity to Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C) @LIS: Alliance for the Information Society (2003-2005) –62.5 Million Euros for EU-LA&C on Information Society Issues –10 Million Euros for Interconnecting Europe & LA&C Research and Education communities Will interconnect LA&C-NRENs Consequences: –Formation of new NRENs in many LA&C countries –Creation of the CLARA organisation of LA&C-NRENs –ALICE project to support the building of the CLARA regional network in Latin America

19. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 19 Association of NRENs open to all LA&C Countries –constituted in Uruguay (like LACNIC) in Dec 2003 Created in response to @LIS initiative, but not limited to @LIS time scale and restrictions CLARA regional network will connect to Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific Argentina (RETINA) Brazil (RNP) Chile (REUNA) Costa Rica (CRNET) Panama (REDCYT) Paraguay (ARANDU) Peru (RAAP) Uruguay (RAU) Venezuela (REACCIUN) Ecuador (CEDIA) El Salvador (RAICES) Guatemala (RAGIE) Mexico (CUDI) Nicaragua (RENIE) CLARA Member NRENs (July 2004) (NRENs in formation indicated in RED)

20. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 20 Phase 2B: region-centric networking ALICE – Latin America Connected to Europe (2003-2006) Project to build CLARA network, supported by the @LIS programme (cost-sharing: EU 80% - LA&C 20%) Coordinated by DANTE, with participation of NRENs from Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and some LA&C countries, and CLARA itself –(target countries include present 14 CLARA members, plus Bolivia, Columbia, Cuba and Honduras) August 2004: CLARA network to commence operations ALICE website: www.dante.net/alice www.dante.net/ ALICE brochure (in English, Spanish and Portuguese): www.dante.net/alice/ALICEbrochure.pdf

21. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 21 Expected CLARA network topology Initially connected to Europe Tijuana (Mexico) PoP to be connected by dark fibre to CENIC (California) –access to US, Canada and Asia - Pacific Rim Initial backbone ring bandwidth of 155 Mbps Spur links at 10 to 45 Mbps (Cuba at 4 Mbps by satellite) Initial connection to Europe at 622 Mbps from Brazil Network to be operated by CLARA (through CUDI and RNP) Expected also to support future US funded international scientific collaborations, including through the IRNC program

22. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 22 IRNC - International Research Network Connections – new NSF program launched in March, 2004 Synopsis of Program: Support for international collaboration for: –access remote instruments, data, and computational resources located throughout the world –Remote access to large-scale science and engineering facilities located both inside and outside the U.S. utilized by multi- national research and education collaborations NSF expects to make awards to provide network connections linking U.S. research networks with peer networks in other parts of the world. –Links funded by this program are intended to support science and engineering research and education applications. –Funded projects will enable state-of-the-art international network services similar to and interconnected with those currently offered or planned by domestic research networks.

23. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 23 CLARA response to IRNC CLARA’s major interest in this program is to leverage good quality connectivity between the US and countries served by the CLARA network through new links from the US to backbone nodes of the CLARA network Cross-border dark fibre from Mexico to US Direct access to the “Southern Cone” countries (Argentina-Brazil-Chile) CLARA believes the region’s interests are best served by working with all US institutions proposing IRNC-funded links to LA&C. We have therefore freely collaborated with both proposals we have learned about.

24. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 24 1 st Proposal CLARA for IRNC 2004 to US West Coast to US East Coast Clara to Europe (existing)

25. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 25 2 nd Proposal CLARA for IRNC 2004 to US West Coast (CUDI-CENIC) to US East Coast to Europe (existing) Clara

26. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 26 Global R&E connectivity from LA&C The CLARA initiative is altering the way in which LA&C countries communicate among themselves, and with countries outside the region. In particular, LA&C traffic will be aggregated within the region enabling more effective routing to other parts of the world. The greatly improved connectivity will also support improved and new collaborations with partners in other regions.

27. Clara Michael Stanton - APAN, Cairns, 2004 27 Thank you! Questions? michael@rnp.br