An overview: NRENs in support of research, teaching and learning

1. An overview: NRENs in support of research, teaching and learning Heather Boyles Director, International Relations, Internet2 heather@internet2.edu Past, Present and Future of Research in the Information Society Tunis, Tunisia 13 November, 2005

2. The PPF context • Science, technology, and engineering in the origin and development of the Internet will be examined (“Past”). • Current and cutting-edge technologies and trends in the utilization of information technology for science and engineering (“Present”). • Constraints and opportunities that exist for the research communities of Africa, Latin America, and Asia (“Future”).

3. This session in the PPF context • Past: higher education and research role in developing and bringing Internet to own communities and beyond • Present: utilizing latest network technologies to support research, teaching and learning missions on a global scale • Future: opportunities and challenges to develop new technologies, new infrastructure to support research, teaching and learning in previously underserved areas

4. Focus on Research and Education Networks • Network capabilities built on Internet technology • Specifically serving universities, research centers and related institutions • Enabling conduct of research, teaching and learning between and among institutions • Can be sub-national, national or multi-national in organization • Critical asset in a nation’s research and higher education enterprise • Like a scientific instrument, computational facility or classroom

5. R&E Networks • Provide capabilities beyond commercial ISPs • A question of purpose – designed to fit R&E community’s particular needs • Aggregate demand of an important user community • Potential to mitigate constraints in non-competitive marketplaces, i.e., buying power • Platform for providing key R&E collaboration-supporting infrastructure • Inter-institutional authentication and authorization • Shared use of computation facilities – i.e., the Grid • Facilitating shared access to digital resources – e.g. national digital libraries, e-journals acquired by national entity • Collaboration among R&E community • Where much more can be achieved together than separately

6. NRENs around the world Last updated: September 2005 Europe-Middle East Asia-Pacific Americas Austria (ACOnet) Belgium (BELNET) Bulgaria (ISTF) Croatia (CARNet) Czech Rep. (CESNET) Cyprus (CYNET) Denmark (Forskningsnettet) Estonia (EENet) Finland (Funet) France (Renater) Germany (G-WIN) Greece (GRNET) Hungary (NIIF) Iceland (RHnet) Ireland (HEAnet) Israel (IUCC) Italy (GARR) Latvia (LATNET) Lithuania (LITNET) Luxembourg (RESTENA) Malta (Univ. Malta) Netherlands (SURFnet) Norway (UNINETT) Poland (PSNC) Portugal (FCCN) Qatar (Qatar FN) Romania (RoEduNet)Russia (RBnet) Slovakia (SANET) Slovenia (ARNES) Spain (RedIRIS) Sweden (SUNET) Switzerland (SWITCH) United Kingdom (JANET) Turkey (ULAKBYM) Australia (AARNET) China (CERNET, CSTNET, NSFCNET) Hong Kong (HARNET) Japan (SINET, WIDE, JGN2) Korea (KOREN, KREONET2) Malaysia (MYREN) New Zealand (REANNZ) Philippines (PREGINET) Singapore (SingAREN) Taiwan (TANet2, ASNet) Thailand (UNINET,ThaiSARN) Argentina (RETINA) Bolivia (BOLNET) Brazil (RNP2/ANSP) Canada (CA*net) Chile (REUNA) Costa Rica (CR2NET) Ecuador (CEDIA) El Salvador (RAICES) Guatemala (RAGIE) Mexico (Red-CUDI) Nicaragua (RENIA) Panama (RedCYT) Paraguay (Arandu) Peru (RAAP) Uruguay (RAU) U.S.A. (Internet2)Venezuela (REACCIUN) Africa Algeria (CERIST) Egypt (EUN/ENSTIN) Ethiopia (ETHERnet) Kenya (KENET) Morocco (CNRST) Tunisia (RFR) South Africa (TENET) South Asia Central Asia Bangladesh (BAERIN) India (ERNET, GARUDA) Pakistan (PERN) Sri Lanka (LEARN) Armenia (ARENA) Georgia (GRENA) Kazakhstan (KAZRENA) Tajikistan (TARENA) Uzbekistan (UZSCI)

7. Global R&E network infrastructure • Interconnecting (N)RENs • Regional (continental-scale) backbone growth • Europe+ GEANT • Latin America redCLARA • Asia-Pacific APAN • Southeastern Asia TEIN2 • Central Asia Virtual Silk Project • Africa AVU 7 12/08/03

8. Supporting research, teaching and learning over R&E networks • Single researcher paradigm has changed to multiple researcher collaborations • Scientific instruments and facilities are increasingly complex, expensive, shared by researchers at different institutions • Scientific data increasingly distributed across institutions

9. Remote Electron Microscope • Provide wider access to limited resource • Multiple locations can leverage investment in hardware • Improves teaching and learning • Provide access to tools that are prohibitively expensive, fragile, etc. for general use through safeguards in the interface • Create a dynamic resource • Share equipment • Dynamically analyze data with remote collaborators • School students remotely using SEM at Lehigh University • http://www.lehigh.edu/~inimagin/

10. BIRN • Biomedical Informatics Research Network • Extremely large data sets and repositories dynamically generate 3D visualizations from medical records • Generating 36 Gbytes/day, so new models for search, retrieval and analysis will be necessary • Concerned with data security, access control, anonymization • Showcases: • Distributed data repositories • GRID technologies • Dynamic visualization

11. Music Master Classes • Arts & Humanities: Performing arts demands • High fidelity video and audio via MPEG2 • Optimized for latency, audio/video synchronization • Connecting Oklahoma with the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida • Removing physical distance as the reason why a student and instructor cannot interact • Showcases: • Distance Teaching and Learning • Video (and audio) as data • Extending the reach of resources

12. International Science • Research increasingly dependent on access to resources, collaborators, data, scientific instruments located around the globe • Access to scientific instruments with specific geo-location needs (e.g., optical and radio telescopes) • Unique instruments: impractical or infeasible for each country to “afford” for its own (e.g., Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, electron microscope in Japan) • Access to/collecting geo-specific data and getting it back for analysis, visualization, sharing, prevention • Environmental, Atmospheric/Oceanographic Studies 12

13. Resources • TERENA Compendium: NRENs in Europe and beyond • http://www.terena.nl/compendium/ • Latin American NRENs: • http://www.redclara.net/ • Asia-Pacific NRENs and beyond • http://www.apan.net/ • Emerging African NRENs: • AAU workshop Monday and Tuesday here in hotel • Internet2 international partners • http://international.internet2.edu

14. Session Speakers • Florencio Utreras, CLARA (Chile) - The Latin American experience in building NRENs • Andrea Johnson, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (USA) - Emerging strategies for supporting university connectivity in Africa • Don Riley, University of Maryland, IEEAF (USA)  - Extending Research and Education Connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa • Nezar Nabil Sami, Chair, Computer Science Department, ENSTINET (Egypt) - Egyptian networking for higher education and research