Transcript Pan-European Research and Educational Network From TEN

SERENATE findings
on geographic issues
Marko Bonač
ARNES
[email protected]
Report identifying issues related to the
geographic coverage of European
research and education networking
The Report will
 review the digital divide in research networking provision
in Europe and
 provide some recommendations on how this divide could
be closed.
Sources of information are:
 answers to the special questionnaire sent to all eastern
European NRENs
 several meetings with eastern European NRENs
 TERENA Compendium 2003
Marko Bonac (Arnes) and John Martin (ENPG) are working
on the Report. Any additional input is welcome.
NRENs from eastern Europe









Albania (ANA)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
(BIHARNET)
Bulgaria (ICT)
Croatia (CARNet)
Cyprus (CYNET)
Czech Republic (CESNET)
Estonia (EENet)
Hungary (HUNGARNET)
Latvia (LATNET, LANET)









Lithuania (LITNET)
Macedonia, FYR (MARNet)
Malta (CSC)
Poland (PSNC)
Romania (RoEduNet, RNC)
Serbia and Montenegro
(AMREJ)
Slovak Republic (SANET)
Slovenia (Arnes)
Turkey (ULAKBIM)
Groupings for statistics
For some comparisons, countries were divided in three groups:



European Economic Area (EEA)
which is comprised of
– the 15 European Union (EU) states and
– three European Free Trade Area (EFTA) states
10 acceding states
(Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia)
Other European states
(Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania and Turkey)
Data illustrating the digital divide
Group of
countries
NREN total
international
bandwidth
(Mbps)
Typical
National
Core
Bandwidth
(Mbps)
NREN budget
per 1 M
inhabitants
(MEURO)
GDP per
capita
(EURO)
GERD per
capita
(EURO)
Average
EEA
6,892
3,833
1,57
25,226
510
Average
AC
1,186
712
0,77
11,791
44
Average
OEC
250
161
0,49
Average percentage of NREN client
institutions experiencing high congestion
Country
Grouping
International National
Connections Backbone
Metropolitan Access
Network
Network
LAN
EEA countries
1
0
2
9
8
Acceding
countries
2
11
0
21
5
Other European
countries
39
21
19
34
0
GÉANT (January 2003)
Country
grouping
Speed of
access port
to GÉANT
in Mbps
Load
Expenditure for GÉANT
as percentage of
NREN`s budget
Average
EEA
2.006
6%
6%
Average
AC
Average
OEC
662
28 %
23 %
155
37 %
22%
Backbone
Country Typical backbone Traffic to/from customers in
grouping capacity (in Mbps) January 2003 in Terabytes
Average
EEA
Average
AC
Average
OEC
3,833
235
712
211
161
46
Ratio between
- average of top four developed countries and
- average of bottom four developed countries
is 110:1
High speed University connections
Country
grouping
Average
EEA
Average
AC
Average
OEC
Percentage of Universities Percentage of Universities
connected to NREN at 1
connected to NREN at 100
Gbps or more
Mbps or more
29 %
47 %
10 %
24 %
2%
24 %
At what level are significant problems found
Country
End-user
equipment
LAN
Access
network
Metropolitan
network
National
backbone
International
connectivity
Cyprus
Yes
Yes
Yes
Czech Republic
Minor
Minor
Minor
Estonia
Hungary
Minor (1)
Latvia
-
Yes (4)
Yes (1)
Yes (3)
Yes (2)
-
-
-
-
Yes (1)
Yes (1)
Yes
Lithuania
Malta
Yes
Poland
Slovakia
-
Yes (1)
Yes
Slovenia
Yes
Yes
Yes(2)
Yes (1)
Albania
Bosnia and H
Yes
Bulgaria
Croatia
Yes
Macedonia,
FYR
Yes (4)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (2)
Yes (1)
Yes
Yes (3)
Romania
Yes (1)
Serbia and M
Yes
Turkey
Yes (3)
Minor
Yes (1)
Yes (1)
Yes (1)
Problem areas in the policy, funding and economic environment
Country
Lack of
Government
support
Cyprus
Yes
Lack of
University
Support
Lack of
Researcher
awareness
Lack of NREN
Funding
Yes
Czech Republic
Yes
Estonia
Yes
Yes
Hungary
Some
Some
Latvia
-
-
-
-
Lithuania
Yes
Malta
Yes
Poland
Yes
Slovakia
Some
Slovenia
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Albania
Yes
Yes
Bosnia and H
Yes
Yes
Bulgaria
Yes
Yes
Croatia
Yes
Yes
Macedonia, FYR
Yes (3)
Yes (4)
Romania
Yes
Minor
Serbia and M
Turkey
Yes
Yes (5)
Yes
Yes (1)
Yes
Yes
Some
Some
Problem areas in the policy, funding and economic environment
Country
Lack of National
infrastructure
Cyprus
High cost
Telecomms
Shortage of
managerial
skills
Shortage of
Technical
Skills
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Czech Republic
Estonia
Yes
Hungary
Yes
Latvia
-
-
-
-
Lithuania
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Malta
Poland
Slovakia
Yes
Slovenia
Yes
Albania
Yes
Yes
Bosnia and H
Bulgaria
Yes
Croatia
Yes
Macedonia, FYR
Yes (2)
Yes (1)
Romania
Yes
Yes
Yes
Some
Yes
Serbia and M
Yes
Yes
Turkey
Yes
Yes
Yes
Findings and recommendations
Digital Divide exists
 The depth of the digital divide varies very greatly from
country to country
 There are four countries in eastern Europe with a high
overall standard of research networking. Reasons include:
– Good support for research networking at government level
– Access to dark fibre where/when necessary
– History of participation in joint European projects
 The majority of countries fall very far behind those in


western Europe
The consequences of this digital divide are serious
Those countries without an adequate research network will
suffer from “research exclusion”
Findings and recommendations
Access to dark fibre is vital
 Access to dark fibre enables the NRENs in small
eastern European countries to upgrade the capacity
of the backbone and access links one hundred-fold
without spending much more on the infrastructure
 At the present moment this is the main step which
could be taken to close the digital divide.
– It seems that in most eastern European countries the fibre
is already laid.
– In countries with a liberalized telecommunication market
it is not difficult to get the fibre.
– There are encouraging examples that this was also done in
the countries with monopoly in telecommunications
– Could the EC make recommendations in this respect? _
Findings and recommendations
The case for research networks still needs to be made
 Lack of awareness of the importance of research
networking / at government level as well as at
academic level / is a matter of concern
 Sometimes it is supposed that the ordinary Internet
will solve the problem. Not every one recognizes that
without high capacity research network research
exclusion is inevitable.
 Problems are also known to exist where
– the NREN is not formally established as an independent
body or
– where there are several NRENs with indistinct
responsibilities and without necessarily economy of scale
Findings and recommendations
Participation in Joint Projects
 NRENs in “eastern Europe” have approximately
the same number of technical experts as NRENs in
“western Europe”
 Those NRENs which succeeded in getting
appropriate infrastructure to build high capacity
networks are also very active in joint European
projects
 Joint projects are important for eastern European
NRENs as well as for the whole research
networking community in Europe
Findings and recommendations
Role of the European Commission
 Financial contribution in joint projects
(GÉANT, SEEREN)
 NREN participation in EU projects has an
exceptional influence on:
– achieving minimal standards
– raising awareness of research networking
– getting funds from other sources
 Proposals
– Introduction of special programs for least developed
countries
– Political support in NRENs efforts for getting access to the
fibre in cases where fibre is not available on the market
Findings and recommendations
Role of TERENA
 Promote knowledge transfer
 Many NRENs from eastern Europe are not well enough
developed to gain from its technical projects
 Compendium, papers, staff visits are highly appreciated
 Membership fees for TERENA members is
prohibitively high for the least developed countries
 Should cooperation with CEENet be pursued as it is
seen as a good organizer of technical, managerial and
policy workshops on a very small budget and with good
understanding for the situation in least developed
countries.
Summary
1. Digital divide in research networking provision exists
2. The depth of the digital divide varies very greatly from
country to country.
3. The digital divide between most developed and least
developed countries is getting bigger.
4. If uncorrected, will prevent the goal of equal opportunity
for researchers.
A. Access to dark fibre is vital
B. Awareness of the importance of research networking at
government level is important.
C. Participation in joint projects is very valuable.
D. Could the European Commission and TERENA do more
to close the digital divide ?
Is it necessary to hear such complaints
from European researchers ?
“We do not have the capacity required to
participate or collaborate in advanced services
projects or application projects requiring high
speed bandwidth, and this hinders research and
academic activity in our country”