TEIN3 South Asia Feasibility Study

1. TEIN3 South Asia Feasibility Study George McLaughlin, APAN Vice-Chair & Coordinator, TEIN3 South Asia Feasibility Study Backbone Committee Meeting, APAN 26 Queenstown, NZ, 6th August 2008

2. TEIN3 Work Package 5South Asia Feasibility Study • One of the key objectives of TEIN3 is to extend the TEIN network and programme to South Asia • To this end, a feasibility study (SAFS) is being undertaken in conjunction with the prospective South Asian partners • Seven countries were identified for inclusion in the SAFS: • Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan • The study is assessing: • the status and prospects for research and education networking in the target countries • the role that TEIN3 could play to assist the countries, and • the obligations of the target countries of participation in TEIN3

3. Timezones and Populations TEIN2: Member countries represent 1/3 of the world’s population in a timezone range spanning only 3 hours TEIN3 Potential member countries represent almost 60% of the world’s population in a timezone range spanning only 5 hours Small timezone range is critical for interactive collaboration

4. Areas of Study (1) • Current status of research and education networking and plans • Draw together relevant studies & analyses undertaken or underway, augmented with information about capabilities, plans and needs provided by participants. Address national & international networking infrastructures & organisational structures, also user communities and current and potential applications that could be supported via TEIN3

5. Areas of Study (2) • Telecommunications market assessment • Analyse regulatory and telecommunications market conditions to assess the feasibility, available technologies, supplier capabilities and potential costs of connection to TEIN3 • Undertake a comprehensive RFI for international capacity to gain a good insight into capabilities, costs and potential topologies

6. Areas of Study (3) • TEIN3 participation assessment • Assess the benefits, costs and modalities for each target country of participating in the TEIN3 programme • Judge against the state of national readiness to benefit from the programme • Assess what TEIN3 can offer in terms of support towards connectivity, applications development, and human capacity development • Take account of the needs of each country and what can be afforded from within the TEIN3 funding envelope

7. Areas of Study (4) • Sustainability • Lesson learnt from other studies – needs to be addressed from the outset • TEIN3 is contracted to end 2011, after that date significant European funding support cannot be assumed. • Need for target countries to discuss with their governments the principle of long term and increasing commitments to support continued participation.

8. 2008 Roadmap • 13-14 May 2008 SAFS Kick-off meeting, Singapore • Introducing TEIN2/3, participant presentations, NREN data collection analysis, determine action items • 11-12 August 2008 2nd SAFS meeting, Kathmandu • International capacity offerings RFI review, cost sharing model, user applications survey, preliminary SAFS report • October 2008 3rd SAFS meeting, location TBD • Feasibility Study report, indicative funding proposals to partners • Q4 2008 • EC reviews Feasibility Study results, South Asian Partners decide whether to join TEIN3

9. 2009 Roadmap • Q1 Joiners participate in TEIN3 Technical Committee meeting • Q1 – Q2 TEIN3 South Asia Connectivity Tender • Q3 – Q4 TEIN3 South Asian partners connected to TEIN3 network

10. Participation • Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan all signed letters of endorsement and participated in the Kick-off meeting • Bhutan will participate in the 2nd SAFS meeting, but not included in RFI • NATO is currently exploring the connection of Afghanistan in an extension of the Virtual Silk Road. The intention is to cooperate with NATO and have NATO participate in SAFS meetings • The World Band will participate in the 2nd SAFS meeting to harmonise with its South Asian programs • TransPac/IRNC will participate in the 2nd SAFS meetiing, building on the collaboration already started with the Pakistan/Internet2 connection • Interactions with the Asian Development Bank/SASEC Information Superhighway project (involving BT, BD, IN, NP)

11. Initial data collection • Reps from each country identified (from Government and NREN) • Letters of endorsement to participate provided from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan • Comprehensive survey initiated covering (for each country): • Geographic indicators • Economic indicators • Telecommunications/Internet indicators including international capacity • NREN indicators including funding, staffing, user community, capacity and traffic, and services offered

12. Actions after Kick-off meeting • Identify supplier contacts for RFI • Prepare, distribute, collect and analyse responses for international capacity between South Asian countries, and from these to TEIN2 and GEANT2 PoPs • Prepare framework document for Applications and Collaboration sub-study • Prepare, distribute and collate Applications and Collaboration survey • Survey current commodity Internet requirements and costs • Prepare cost sharing principles

13. International Capacity RFI Objective • To test the market in the target countries of South Asia • Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (Bhutan not included this round) • More specifically to test for International connection capability and offerings: • between the South Asian countries • between South Asian countries and TEIN2 PoPs • between South Asian Countries and GEANT2 PoPs • To determine network topologies that make sense based on suppliers’ indicative offerings and indicative costs for these

14. RFI responses • 13 Supplier responses • 430 individual circuits offerrings • Almost any capacity is available up to 2.5Gbps on new cables • Cables used in the responses include SMW4, FLAG, I2I, FEA, Tata Indicom, Falcon, Indo-Nepal. Foreshadowed later offerings on Peacock cable (2009) and other extensions • Many suppliers didn’t offer anything less than 155Mbps • Some only offered 622Mbps

15. Current International R&E connections • India has a 155Mbps circuit to GEANT2 and a 1Gbps (rate limited) to CERN • Pakistan is about to activate a 155Mbps circuit to the TEIN2 PoP in Singapore and then via Japan/TransPac to Internet2 • Sri Lanka and Nepal access the International R&E networks via the commodity Internet • Bangladesh does not yet have an NREN • Bhutan has a single University, RUB, with a number of campuses and currently uses ISP capacity

16. Schematic of offers South Asia to TEIN2 137 offerings Beijing Copenhagen Nepal 18 London Pakistan Bangladesh Paris 158 Frankfurt India Hong Kong 45 Milan Sri Lanka 72 Vienna Singapore Within South Asia 137 offerings Madrid

17. Applications and Collaborations Sub-study • A sub-study framework has been developed and documented following feedback from participants before, during and after the Kick-off meeting • A high degree of commonality between partners was established in the areas of collaboration tools, digital libraries, and telehealth • Parvati Dev, with support from South Asian practitioners, has agreed to lead the development of a roadmap for telehealth in South Asia • Surveys were undertaken on collaboration tools, digital libraries and other collaborations

18. Collaboration Tools

19. Digital Libraries

20. Other discipline collaborations

21. Engaging User communities

22. Summary • Positive interaction among partners • Telecommunications market and competition improving • Started to identify applications that are “low hanging fruit” that will illustrate the value of the network • Continue to identify current and potential collaborations between South Asian partners and: • other South Asian partners • other TEIN2/3 partners • European collaborators • Others