Product category:
Process control and networking
News Release from: Dante | Subject: Geant2
Edited by the Laboratorytalk Editorial
Team on 04 February 2008
Bridging the digital divide from Africa
to Europe
African research capacity is to be boosted through a high speed network link connecting the UbuntuNet Alliance to the international research community via the Geant2 network
The connection between the UbuntuNet Alliance's network hub in London and the Geant2 network enables researchers and scholars in Sub-Saharan African universities and research institutions to share information and data and to collaborate through a 1£/s link with their peers in Europe and the rest of the world The UbuntuNet Alliance was founded in 2005 by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa with the aim of establishing a research and education network backbone for Sub-Saharan Africa
This article was originally published on Laboratorytalk on 18 Jun 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Geant2 drives high speed supercomputer projects
Private network of point-to-point links deployed by Geant2 will enable researchers to gain faster access to Deisa's shared file system, supporting ground-breaking applications in computational science
Network underpins high speed astronomy research
UK astronomers using the Geant2 network now have the ability to track transient events right at the edge of the known universe, through the European Union's (EU) Expres project
Membership of the Alliance now includes also the NRENs of Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, and is open to all recognised African NRENs.
As well as creating links between national research networks it aims to join Africa to the global research community, with this connection to Geant2 the first step towards this vision.
The high capacity connection aims to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, and enable faster collaboration on projects across the globe, irrespective of location.
Further reading
Making the Silk Route an information superhighway
Black Sea Interconnection (BSI) project will build a regional research and education network among south Caucasus countries and link them to Geant2, the high bandwidth, pan-European research network
Asia-Pacific research networking boosted
Collaboration between researchers in the Asia-Pacific region and their peers across the globe has been extended by euro18 million investment in the new Tein3 high speed research and education network
A new era in data recording
Martin Binney, product manager at ABB, explains the benefits that electronic data recorders can bring and how they can be used to transform the way in which process data is collected and used
It builds on an existing link between South Africa and Europe, extending the benefits of collaboration to researchers and scholars across sub-Saharan Africa.
"Research today is truly global.
"Scientists, academics and students rely on networks such as Europe's Geant to pool resources and to work together effectively, no matter where they are based.," said Viviane Reding European commissioner for information society and media.
"Bringing together the best minds from Africa and from Europe is not only beneficial for science, but beneficial for all citizens of a world that today, depends increasingly on technology, innovation and collaborative research".
"The UbuntuNet Alliance's vision is to ensure that Africa can participate effectively in the global research community with all involved reaping the benefits of closer international collaboration," commented FF Tusubira, acting CEO, UbuntuNet Alliance.
"This new high speed link with the global research and education network via Geant2 provides the bandwidth to realise our ambitions, making this announcement a major step forward for African research and our overall development.
"We are most grateful to Dante, Geant2 and Cisco Systems for making this hub and connection possible".
The link to Geant2, the world's most advanced international research and education network, enables collaboration with an estimated 30 million research and education users in 34 countries across the continent connected via the NRENs.
Additionally Geant2 allows global research collaboration through EU-funded direct connections to China, Latin America, north Africa, Middle East and south east Asia as well as links to other international networks in the USA and Canada.
Geant2 is managed by Dante, an international research and education network provider that plans, builds and manages networks that enable researchers to collaborate globally and share information from worldwide locations.
Dai Davies, general manager, Dante added, "This significant connection between Geant2 and UbuntuNet underpins even greater global collaboration by providing the world's first regional level connection with research and education networks in Sub-Saharan Africa.
"The fast link will ensure that African researchers have the facilities to work with their peers and will also help develop Africa's wider research base and consequently overall economy.".
• Dante: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Laboratorytalk email newsletter
• Laboratorytalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
