Building the SEE human and eInfrastructure network MARNet/UKIM development

1. Building the SEE human and eInfrastructure network MARNet/UKIM development Prof. Dr. Aneta Buckovska anbuc@etf.ukim.edu.mk MARNet MB Prof. Dr. Margita Kon-Popovska margita@marnet.net.mk MARNet MB

2. About MARNet • MARNetis organizational unit of the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje establish in 1994 year by auspices of the Ministry of research of R. Macedonia • Mission • Provide international and national networking services to the Macedonian academic research & educational community and support to their research and educational activities, • Promote and disseminate the use of ICT in the academic and research sector. • Role • Connection to the international networks with basic IP provision; • Maintain and management of the national DNS, • International memberships, • National academic network policy and development.

3. MARNET actual/ potential users &MANI/GMON SEEREN/SEEREN2 connectivity

4. Global idea eInfrastructure + GRID + human network Towards e-Infrastructure and e-Science geographical coverage in the region

5. GEANT (plan up to 100 GB in 7FP) • .

6. The vision… Bring SEE in the R&E Networking Map Source: GEANT

7. The Vision Contribute to building up a Pan-EU eInfrastructure by expanding the eInfrastructure inclusion into South-East Europe

8. Administrative OverviewIST Programme (FP5) • Project name: SE European Research and Education Networking • Project Acronym: SEEREN • Call Identifier: IST-02-8-2B • Contract No.: IST-2001-38830 • Project type: Preparatory, accompanying and support measures • Start date: 01/12/2002 • Duration: 25 months • Total Budget: 1,297,481 Є • Funding from the EC:1,297,481 Є • Total Effort: 56.1 person-months • Project web-site: www.seeren.org

9. On linePicture of the Interconnections Macedonia 4 mbps 2004 http://netmon.grnet.gr/seeren.shtml

10. SEEREN2 http://www.seeren.org/6FP Start September 2005, continuation, upgrade, if possible lease dark fiber

11. Macedonia 34 mbps 200668 mbps 20072.5М Є

12. SEFIRE project (FP6) South-East Europe Fibre Infrastructure for Research and Education • Find potential owners of fibre in SEE The SEEFIRE Consortium consists of: TERENA (co-ordinating contractor) The Netherlands GRNET Greece CESNET Czech Republic new partner NIIF/HUNGARNET Hungary AMREJ Serbia and Montenegro DANTE United Kingdom RoEduNet Romania ISTF Bulgaria MARNet Macedonia ASA Albania BIHARNET Bosnia and Herzegovina Provide input for preparing the next-generation networks for research and education in the region. Duration: 12-month, start 1 March 2005

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

14. Two of possible routes

15. MARNet NATO NIG MANI and CISCO donation MANI- MARNet Advanced Network Infrastructure • Dec. 2002 –Dec 2004 • Status: Operational Sept 2004 • Budget: 200 K€ (NATO Science Programme funding) • 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

16. MARNet GMON GMON Gigabit MARNET Metro Optical Network • Start: Apr. 2003, Duration 18 months • Budget: 190 K€ (Austrian Government Grant) • Main Objective: To establish MAN in Skopje area based on optical fiber links that will interconnect University campuses’ LANs • Participants: Faculties and Research Institutes in Skopje

17. Gigabit Metro Optical Network • Facts & Figures • Owned by MARNet - University Sts Cyril and Methodius • Total length: 17 km • Throughput: 1 Gbit/sec • Optical cable with 12-18-24 fibers • More than 95% students and academic staff of the University are covered

18. MARNet development underpinned by SEEREN/NATO NIG MANI/GMON • . institutions MARNet users connectivity to NOC

19. SEE-GRID FP6 project • SEE-GRID • Start: May 2004, Duration 24 months • Main Objective: To migrate and test Grid applications developed by pan-European Grid efforts in the regional infrastructure. To demonstrate one more Grid application of regional interest • Total budget around 1M eur • Participants: CERN Swiss, Tu, Cro, Al, B&H, Bg, MK, S&Mn, Gr, Hu and Ro. • Third parties • Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics • Faculty of Electrical Engineering

20. National GRID Infrastructure – Clusters installed MK01 • Start with 3 clusters M01 (6 nodes), M02 (3 nodes) and M03 (3 nodes) with CERN (Red Hat) Linux 7.3 and LCG_2 GRID middleware • Merge the MK01 and MK02 clusters into the new MK01 cluster under Scientific Linux 3.0.3 and LCG-2_4_0 throughout • Preparation and upgrade from RedHat Linux 7.3 to Scientific Linux 3.0.3 and installation of LCG-2_3_0 • Upgrading to LCG-2_4_0 • Certification of RA, GIM and two host nodes grid.-ce.ii.edu.mk and grid-se.ii.edu.mk • Production phase of the cluster

21. National Grid Initiative -MARGI MARGI – Macedonian Academic and Research Grid Initiative was launched at ‘Ss. Cyril and Methodius’ University on April 15, 2005 National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) can be defined as concentrated efforts taken at National level in order to deploy, operate, and expand grid infrastructures in a coherent and coordinated way

22. Ongoing/planned services

23. Planned Services

24. The European perspective - eEurope

25. Access to advanced services • EU Geant binds national networks and creates a high performance production network for Europe • EGEE  will bind national Grid infrastructures - focussing all activities towards establishing a production quality Grid for Europe • Both together constitute the eInfrastructure

26. Access to advanced services SEE-GRID: Contribute to building a Pan-EU eInfrastructure by expanding the “eInfrastructure inclusion” into South-East Europe SEEREN SEEREN Contract No.: FP6-RI-002356 Project type: Specific Support Action (SSA) Start date: 01/05/2004 Duration: 24 months Total Budget: 1,215,000 Є > http://www.see-grid.org

27. E-learning for Improving access to Information Society for SMEs in the SEE Area EU Initiative INTEREG IIIB CADSES project October 2005- June 2008 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.

28. 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, under • FP6, FP7, NATO, ERDF, Government sponsorships, Vendor sponsorships, Bilateral programmes UNDP, EIB, WorldBank, USAID, etc.

29. Conclusions • Thanks to SEEREN, SEEGRID, SEFIRE and wider international and national financial support, remarkable results were achieved: • eInfrastructure • GRID cluster included in regional and European EGEE GRID network • Human network in region • Thanks to established infrastructure and human network, new joint international projects where enabled (SEEREN2, SEEGRID2, SEEGRID-SCI) • 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), 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.