gÉant annual review 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Annual Review 2015
GÉANT
The leading collaboration on e-infrastructure and services for research and education
A membership organisation that acts with and for its members to further research and education networking in Europe and globally
Owned by our core membership
• 36 National Members - European national research and education network (NREN) organisations
• One Representative Member – NORDUnet, which participates on behalf of five Nordic NRENs
• Eleven Associates - commercial organisations, multi-national research infrastructures and projects
3
Foreword 4 Membership map 5
1 Strategy and vision 6 Purpose and Passion 6
The GÉANT project 8
2 Creating world-class user experiences 11 Supportingscience 11
Supportingthearts 15
Supportingeducationandlearning 16
The NREN service matrix 17
Drivingtrustandidentity 17
NRENactivityhighlight:Swedentakeseduroamoffcampus 20
DevelopingtheGÉANTnetwork–thebestitcanbe 21
Stayingaheadintechnologicalleadership 23
3 Providing exceptional value for money 26 Value-added services 28
GÉANT Learning 30
NREN Compendium 30
NRENactivityhighlight:Educationusecase:HEAnet 33
4 Building the community 36 Fosteringcommunitycollaboration 36
Eventparticipation 39
Internationalrelations 40
GÉANTactivityhighlight:TNC15–bringingthecommunitytogether 44
5 Running an efficient, cost-effective organisation 45 Network-relatedsystemsandenhancements 45
Corporatesystems,processintegrationandstreamlining 47
Sharingwithpartners 49
Financial statements 51
Contents
4
I am honoured to have been entrusted as chair of the GÉANT board, when elected in
November 2015.
GÉANTandEuropeanNRENshavelongbeenatrustedpartneroftheEuropeanCommission,building
andoperatingnetworksinEuropeandaroundtheworld,leadingcollaborativeinnovation,federated
service-deliveryandsupportforknowledge-sharing.TheEuropeanCommission’snewambitionforthe
nextyearsisthatallresearchinEuropehasaccesstoworld-classsupercomputing,datastorageand
analysistosupportresearch-driveninnovationecosystems.
Withtheannualreport2015,weillustratethepivotalroletheGÉANTcommunityalreadyhasin
realisingthis,notonlythroughoursupportofmanyworkprogrammesandinitiatives,butalsothrough
theserviceswejointlydevelop,buildandoperatetothebenefitoftheEuropeanandglobalresearch
andeducationenvironment.TheseachievementspositionGÉANTwelltowardstheEuropeanCloud
Initiative,inwhichGÉANTisconsideredafoundingelementofthesocalledEuropean
DataInfrastructure.
In2015,wehavealsoinvestedrenewedvigourintoourrelationshipswiththedifferent
ECdirectorates,withstaffandcommunitymembersbyidentifyingandpursuing
opportunitiesforourcollaboration,usingourcommunity’sexpertise,channelsand
resources.
Theseachievementshelptofurtherourcollaborativeeffortsandindoingso,tohelp
securetheroleofeachNRENwithinitsownnationalinterestsandstakeholderbase.
Christian Grimm
Chairman
The GÉANT General Assembly elected a new Board of Directors and a new Chair of the Board on 25-26 November 2015. From left to right and front to back: Alberto Pérez, Dorte Olesen, Marko Bonač, Valter Nordh; Ivan Marić, Erik Huizer, Sabine Jaume-Rajaonia, Christian Grimm (Chair), Raimundas Tuminauskas.
Foreword
ICELAND*RHnet
SWEDEN*SUNET
NORWAY*UNINETT
FINLAND*CSC
ESTONIAEENet
LITHUANIALITNET
DENMARK*DeiC
UNITED KINGDOMJISC
NETHERLANDSSURFnet
IRELANDHEAnet
GERMANYDFN
BELGIUMBelnet
FRANCERENATER
LUXEMBOURGRESTENA
CZECH REPUBLICCESNET
SWITZERLANDSWITCH
AUSTRIAACOnet
POLANDPCSS
BELARUSUIIP NASB
SLOVAKIASANET
HUNGARYHUNGARNET
BULGARIABREN
SLOVENIAARNES
CROATIACARNet
ITALYGARR
ALBANIAANA
MONTENEGROMREN
SERBIAAMRES
ROMANIARoEduNet
MACEDONIAMARnet
GREECEGRNET
SPAINRedIRIS/RED.ESPORTUGAL
FCT|FCCN
MALTAUniversity of Malta
TURKEYULAKBİM
CYPRUSCynet
ISRAELIUCC
MOLDOVARENAM
AZERBAIJANANAS
ARMENIAASNET-AM
ADVA Optical Networking
Alcatel-Lucent
Ciena Corporation
Cisco Systems
*CSC (Finland)
EMBL
*DeIC (Denmark)
Level 3 Communications
Coriant GmbH
European Space Agency
Tata Communications
ASSOCIATES
Google UK Ltd
ECI Telecom GmbH
CERN
*UNINETT (Norway)
*RHnet (Iceland)
*SUNET (Sweden)
REPRESENTATIVE MEMBER NORDUnet*
NATIONAL MEMBERS 1 per country
LATVIAMinistry of Science and Education
GEORGIAGRENA
ownCloud
5
Membership map as per 31 December 2015
6
Purpose and Passion
Purpose and passion are two things that make the research and education networking
community unique.
Alongwithmanyinourcommunity,weatGÉANTbelieveourpurposeistomakeadifference.
Unlikemanyprofessions,oursisn’tobsessedwithprofits.Ourworkissomuchmorefulfillingthanthat;
wemakeadeepandlastingimpact.BybringingdistancelearningtoremotecornersofEurope,
childrenhavetheopportunitytolearnaprofessionthatwillallowthemtoonedayprovidefortheir
families.Bymakingcomputingresourcesavailabletoclimatescientists,wecanhelpmitigatethe
effectsofglobalwarming.ByconnectingentrepreneurstoresearchersandNRENs,wewillhelpdrive
theEuropeaneconomyforwardinasustainableway.
Andlikeourcommunity,weareanorganisationfullofpassionatepeople–passionateaboutwhatwe
do,servingourcommunity,achievingourpurpose.Werealisethatwemustalldoourjobs,notjust
well,butextremelywell.Anythingless,andourchildrendon’treachtheirpotential,scientistsdon’t
makebreakthroughs,andmillionsremainjobless.
AstheinauguralCEOofthenewGÉANTAssociation,itismyresponsibilitytoputallthepiecesin
placetomaximiseourimpact–tomakeEuropeanresearchandeducationnetworkingthebestinthe
world.
Togetthere,we’llbefocusingonfourhigh-levelobjectivesin2016:
• deliveringaworld-class,end-to-enduserexperience;
• providingexceptional‘ValueforMoney’;
• buildingandstrengtheningthecommunity;
• runninganefficient,highlyeffectiveorganisation.
1•Strategyandvision
Steve Cotter, CEO GÉANT
Supporting our membership,
serving the community
6
7
Thiswillrequirecreativity,dedication,andhardwork,buttogetherwiththecommunity,wecan
achieveourpurpose.
Gettingtherewillrequiregoal-setting.Therearetwotypesofgoals:‘OrganisationalGoals’
and‘CommunityGoals’.Thinkofthemas‘MeGoals’and‘WeGoals’.AtGÉANT,wewillfocuson
WeGoals.
MeGoalsareaboutaccomplishingsomethingbyourselves,forourselves.However,ourpurpose
istoliftthecommunityandwithouttheNRENs,wedon’texist.Therefore,GÉANTmustcontinueto
provideserviceswhichsupportEuropeanNRENstobe/becomebetterNRENs.That’swhyWeGoals
willtakepriority.
Thepayoff?Realimpact.Andresilience.Itislikeintheoldfable‘TheFather,HisSons,andTheBundle
ofSticks’thatteachesusthatsticksinabundlecan’tbebroken,butstickstakensinglycanbeeasily
broken.Thesameappliestoourcommunity–strengthisintheunion.
WhenwesetWeGoals,andgivecontext,meaningandpurposetothem,weinspireothersto
joinus.WeGoalspromptpeopletojumpinandevensacrificeforasharedvision.Why?Thereward
ismuchmorethantheachievementofthegoalitself.It’sthebond,therelationshipandthestronger
foundationwecanrelyonforthenextchallenge.
Howcoolwillitbetosay‘We’vebuiltthistogether.”Iexpecttosaythatoftenin2016.
Steve Cotter
CEO GÉANT
"There are two types of goals:
‘Organisational Goals’ and ‘Community
Goals’. Think of them as ‘Me Goals’
and ‘We Goals’. At GÉANT, we will focus
on We Goals."
– Steve Cotter, CEO GÉANT
8
Co-fundedbytheECandEurope’sNRENs,theflagshipGÉANTProjectrepresentsasubstantial
proportionoftheorganisation’swork.Together,webuildandoperatethe500Gbpspan-European
researchandeducationnetwork,undertakecollaborativeresearchprogrammes,anddevelopand
deliveraportfolioofinnovative,federatedservices,includingconnectivity,trustandidentity,cloud,
real-timecommunicationsandmediaservices.ThecurrentphaseoftheGÉANTproject,GN4-1,marks
thestartoffundingfromtheEuropeanUnion’sHorizon2020researchandinnovationprogramme.
• Thesuccessfultwo-yearGN3plusprojectended30April2015,havingbeenextendedbyone
month.ItconsolidatedGÉANT’spositionasthebest-connectedR&Enetworkintheworld,which,
togetherwithitsassociatedservices,madeadifferencetoinnumerableresearchcommunitiesand,
ultimately,totheEuropeancitizen.ThefirstOpenCallsprogrammewasanewinitiativeforthe
GÉANTProject,whichbroughtfreshideasfromthirtynewpartnersandtwenty-onenewresearch
projectstotheJointResearchActivities.
• Thetwelve-monthGN4-1phaseoftheGEANTprojectstartedon1May2015,markingthefirst
stepinimplementingtheactionsdefinedinthe68-monthFrameworkPartnershipAgreement
(FPA).TheFPAistheinstrumenttodeliverworld-leadingnetworkingandemphasisesthevitalrole
ofNRENs.TheProject’sobjectiveistoprovideastable,thoughinnovativeenvironmentforthe
growthofGÉANTastheEuropeanCommunicationsCommonsfortheEuropeanResearchArea
(ERA)andprovidingthebestpossibledigitalinfrastructuretoensurethatEuroperemainsatthe
forefrontofresearch.
The GÉANT Project
Accelerating research, driving innovation and enriching education
"The collaborative efforts of the project
were recognised by the EC, as it achieved a
fourth consecutive “Excellent” rating in the
GN3plus EC Review."
– Tryfon Chiotis, Head of the GÉANT
Project Office
9
• InpreparationforthenextphaseoftheGÉANTProject(GN4-2),whitepaperswerepreparedby
groupsofActivityLeadersandmembersoftheGÉANTProgrammePlanningCommittee(GPPC)to
informaboutfuturework,andNRENpartnersfedbackprioritisationoftheservicesandinitiatives
thatshouldbeincluded.ActivityLeaderswereappointed,theworkprogrammewasdraftedand
invitationsforparticipationwereissued.ThroughouttheGN4-2phase,GÉANTwillmaintainthe
operationalexcellenceoftheestablishedGÉANTservices,andcontinuetodriveinnovation,while
stillachievingeconomiesinthecostsofthebackbonenetwork.
GN4-1andfutureprojectswithintheframeoftheFPA
arepartoftheEC’sExcellentSciencee-infrastructures
programme,withavitalroletoensurethatHorizon2020
projectparticipantsarefullyabletocollaborate,share
andaccessdata,discussandlearntogether,andtesttheir
innovationsacrossthenetworkunimpeded.Aninitiative
isunderwayforthee-infrastructurestoworktogetheron
disseminationmaterialsandonactivitiestopromotean
integratedservicesportfoliototheresearchcommunity.
Stability for Users – The GÉANT Framework Partnership Agreement
On23April2015,theGÉANTConsortiumandtheECsigneda68-monthFrameworkPartnershipAgreement(FPA)to
contributetotheeffectiveEuropeanResearchAreabymakingEuropethebest-connectedregionintheworld.
TheAgreementaimsto“...make every European researcher digital, increasing creativity and efficiency of research and bridging
the divide between developed and less-developed regions.”
Six“actions”underpintheFPA:
- drivetheevolutionofthenetwork;
- supporttheknowledgecommunity;
- providesecurity,trustandidentity;
- deliverGÉANT’scollaborativeecosystem;
- developthehumancapitaloftheGÉANTpartnership;
- ensurethelong-termfutureoftheGÉANTinfrastructure.
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GÉANT Project* funded activities
Network Europe:terabit-readynetwork,interconnecting41countriesvia37NRENsand
NORDUnet(representingfiveNordiccountries)
Global:reachingafurther66countriesoutsideEuropethroughinterconnectionswith
regionalnetworks
Services GÉANTconnectivity:IP,Plus,Lambda,Open,VPN,Testbeds,eduroam,eduPERT,
perfSONAR
Trust,Identity&Security:eduGAIN,eduPKI,FaaS
CloudsCatalogue:guidetoserviceprovidersandprocurementassistance
Real-timecommunicationsandmultimedia:eduCONF,eduOER
Joint research programmes Networkarchitectures,networkservices,trustandidentity,OpenCallprojects
Community development CampusBestPractice,GreenTeam,training,CommunityAwards,supportfor
taskforcesandspecialinterestgroups
*GN3plus and GN4-1
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Whether we are serving a member, researcher, educator or innovator, GÉANT aims to always
deliver a service and experience that does what it says on the tin (and more).
Westriveforgreatinteractionsinourcollaboration,supportanddevelopmentactivitiesandworkhard
toreallyunderstandwhatourmembers,projectpartners,andtheirconstituentsneedthatwecan
provide.Thereisalwaysmoretolearnanddeliver.
Supporting scienceGÉANTdeliversrealvalueandbenefittosocietybyenablingresearchcommunitiesacrossEuropeand
therestoftheworldtotransformthewaytheycollaborateonground-breakingresearch.
A focus on earth observation
Apriorityfor2015wastoengagewiththeearthobservationcommunity.Theatmosphere,oceans
andlandscapesrequireanewlevelofunderstandingtohelpmakeinformeddecisionsaboutnatural
hazards,energy,climate,healthandotherenvironmentalandsocietalchallenges.Analysinginformation
fromthousandsofair,water,seismicandmeteorologicalsensorsisdata-intensivework.TheGÉANT
communityprovidesthehighbandwidththatnetworkscientistsandresearchersneedtocollaborate
andstudytheEarth’sphysical,chemicalandbiologicalsystems.
On22-23January,GÉANTandEGIhostedanEarthScienceWorkshop in Amsterdam
(TheNetherlands)fortheearthsciencesresearchcommunitieswiththeEuropeane-infrastructure
providers,EUDAT and PRACE.
TogetherwithNRENpartners,GÉANTassistedmanyresearchprojectsandorganisations,including:
• Copernicus(earthobservationandmonitoringprogramme);
• EUMETSAT(monitoringweatherandclimatefromspace);
• GEO(GrouponEarthObservations);
2•Creatingworld-classuserexperiences
“We’ve been proactively engaging with
our user communities and collaborators,
and working closely with NRENs to develop
and deliver a range of networking and
value-added services.”
– John Chevers, Chief Business
Development Officer, GÉANT
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• EIDA(theEuropeanIntegratedDataArchive);
• ESA(EuropeanSpaceAgency).
SSO for EIDA: facilitating the archiving and accessing of seismic data
TheEuropeanIntegratedDataArchive(EIDA)isadistributeddatacentre,whichsecurelyarchives
seismicwaveformdataandmetadatagatheredbyEuropeanresearchinfrastructures.Itprovidesthe
geosciencesresearchcommunitieswithtransparentaccesstothosearchives.GÉANT(underGN4-
1)providedEIDAwithatailoredAAI(AuthenticationandAuthorisationInfrastructure)solutionthat
includedaServiceProviderprototypeandtheset-upofanIdP(IdentityProvider)forthemainnode,as
wellasintegrationofallnodesinthenationalIdPandeduGAIN.
Theresult?Seismologistsarenowabletoaccessglobally-gathereddataviasinglesignon.EIDAisthe
biggestcommunitywithintheEuropeanPlateObservingSystem (EPOS);thesolutionthatworksfor
themisscalableandcouldbeadaptedforthewholeEPOScommunity.
Multicast for EUMETSAT: ensuring delivery of meteorological data
EUMETSATisanintergovernmentalnot-for-profitorganisationthatsupplies
weatherandclimate-relatedsatellitedata,imagesandproducts.Itoperatesasystem
ofmeteorologicalsatellitesgatheringaccurateandreliablesatellitedataonweather,
climateandtheenvironmenttwenty-fourhoursaday,365daysayear.
EUMETCastisEUMETSAT’sprimarydatadisseminationservice.Itisthe
EuropeancomponentofGEONETCast,theglobalnetworkofsatellite-baseddata
disseminationsystemscoordinatedbyGEO.
Inspring2015,thefirstphaseofaEUMETCastTerrestrialDemonstrationservice
usingGÉANTwasestablished.ThedataisdisseminatedviaIPmulticastfrom
EUMETSATHQinGermany,simultaneouslyreachingclientsitesacrossEurope
usingtheinfrastructureandservicesprovidedbyGÉANTandtheNRENnetworks.
Itisenvisagedtoreachselectedsitesin31Europeancountriesby2018.
13
Conceptually,MulticastallowsthedisseminationofthesamedataovertheIPinfrastructure
ofanetworkfromasingledatasourcetomultipleendsitesatthesametime.Technically,
enduserscanaccesstheserviceviatheirrespectiveNREN.
Throughouttheentireimplementationprocess,GÉANTactedassinglepointofcontact
andcoordinatorbetweenEUMETSATandtheNRENpartners.GÉANTsupportedthe
implementationoftheEUMETCastTerrestrialDemonstrationservicefurtherbyprovision
ofacentralisednetworkandoperationscentreandnetworkservicemanagementusinga
specificallydevelopedmonitoringandreportingplatformandfirstlevelsupportincluding
thecoordinationofanomaliesbetweentheinvolvedNOCs.
ThisusageofexistingnetworkcapacitiesbyGÉANTandtheinvolvedNRENswasseen
asamajorstrength.ThisincludedhowGÉANTandtheNRENsaddressedthespecific
demandsformonitoringandprovidedtechnicalservicesupport.Thesewhereimplemented
bydeployingnetwork-levelmonitoringfunctionsanddevelopingarelatedweb-based,
nearlyreal-timemonitoringplatform.Bothallowanefficientescalationprocessincaseof
anomalies.
Extending LHC’s network
ToimprovetheLHC(LargeHadronCollider)userexperience,GÉANThelpedtosetuptheLHC
OpenNetworkEnvironment(LHCONE)inAsia-PacificandBrasilin2015.WorkingcloselywithTEIN,
ThaiREN,RedCLARA and RNP,GÉANTstaffdesignedandconfiguredtheGÉANTnetworksothatit
openedupLHCONEtousersinLatinAmerica(RedCLARA)andAsia(TEIN).Thiswasthesinglemost
successfulattemptatprovidingamulti-domainnetworkserviceforasciencecommunity.
Strenghtening ties with the European Space Agency
Aseriesofstrategicdiscussionstoimprovemutualunderstandingandstrengthentherelationship
between the EuropeanSpaceAgency and European NRENs (RedIRIS,SURFnet,GARR,andDFN) led
tomoreopportunitiestoworkwithESA,which,inturn,enablesresearcherstomakeuseofESA.
EUMETSAT supplies weather and climate-related satellite data, images and products – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – to the National Meteorological Services of many European countries and other users worldwide.
14
Networking expertise for SKA: creating the largest radio telescope
Theworld’slargestradiotelescope–SquareKilometreArray(SKA)–is
beingbuiltbyaninternationalresearchproject.Itwillbemanytimes
moresensitiveandhundredsoftimesfasteratmappingtheskythan
today’sbestradioastronomyfacilities.GÉANT’snetworkingexpertise
iscrucialtotheSKA’sdesignandplanningphase.Twocomplementary
telescopescoveringdifferentsectionsoftheelectromagneticspectrum
willbebuilt,oneattheMurchisonObservatoryinWesternAustraliaand
theotherintheKarooinSouthAfrica. IncollaborationwithSANReN(SouthAfrica)andAARNet(Australia),
GÉANThasbeenleadingthedesignandspecificationofthemulti-
terabitnetworksrequiredinternallybytheSKAradiotelescopes.These
willmovetheinformationdigitisedbytheantennastothecomputersystemsthatextractthesignals
fromthenoise,andthenontotheHighPerformanceComputers(HPCs)thatconvertthedataintosky
maps.
TherearethreeverydifferentnetworkingrequirementswithintheSKAproject,eachwithitsown
specificchallenges:
• transportingreal-timedatafromindividualantennae(upto100Gbpseach)tothecentralsignal
processors,whichrequireshundredsoflinksacrossaradiusofover100kmandextremely
accuratetimingfortheoperationoftheantennae;
• transportingthisdata(nearly5Tbps)totheHPCcentre800-900kmawayinCapeTownorPerth;
• providingaccesstothisdataforresearchersacrosstheglobe.
Some of the KAT7 dishes in the Karoo that, with MEERKAT, form part of the SKA precursor Photo credit: R. E. Hughes-Jones, GÉANT
15
Crossing boundaries between technology and culture
Supporting the Arts Overtheyears,GÉANThasrespondedtothecommunity’sdemandsforexploring
culturalandartisticchallengeswithnetworkingtechnology.
Network Performing Arts Production Workshop 2015
InMay,GÉANTandInternet2co-organisedaNetworkPerformingArtsProduction
Workshop,hostedbyJISCandtheRoyalCollegeofMusicinLondon.Itwasthemost
successfulworkshopintheseriestodate,withthelargestnumber
ofparticipants,several‘firsttimeever’demos,andaground-
breakingeveningperformancebyRCMstudentstoanaudienceof
over400people.Forthefirsttime,theaudiencewitnessedtheuse
ofPolycomandLOLA(lowlatency)technologiesinamultimedia
symphony.
CERN and GÉANT unveil ‘Music of Physics’ at Montreux Jazz Festival
Anotherexciting‘artmeetssciencemeetstechnology’eventtookplaceatthe
world-famousMontreuxJazzFestival.Usinglivedata,thesoundoftheproton
collidersfromCERN’sLargeHadronCollider(LHC)
wasbroughttolife,withimprovisedaccompaniment
fromfamousjazzpianist,AlBlatter.
The Montreux Jazz Festival poster announcing the ‘Music of Physics’ performance
16
Supporting education and learning Onlinecommunicationsarecrucialtoresearchandeducation.Students,researchersandinstitute
staffrelyone-learningservicesandaudioandvideoconferencingtolearnandshare.Thisisarapidly
developingareaandGÉANTisworkingtosupportandfosterinnovationforthenationalresearchand
educationnetworking(NREN)organisationsandtheircommunities.
Developing real-time communications
Enabling communication and collaboration across the community
AnewserviceactivityintheGÉANTProjectlooksafterallservicedevelopments,pilotsandproduction
roll-outsintheareasofreal-timecommunicationsandmultimediamanagement,inordertostreamline
effortsinthecommunityandsafeguardastructuredwayforward.
eduOER - a search hub for Open Education Resources
eduOERsupportsaccessbyuserstomultimediacontent(e.g.,lecturerecordings,webinars,audio-
visuallearningobjects,animations)thatispublishedacrossmultiplerepositories,promisingawider
poolofstudentsandresearchersforcontentproviders,whoarekeentoopenupaccesstotheir
repositories.HavinggrownfromtheseedofanideaintheTaskForceonMediain2014,theinitiative
todevelopanOpenEducationalmultimediaResource
(eduOER)waspickedupbytheGÉANTProject.
Conference materials archive:allsessionrecordingsforTheNetworkingConference(TNC)backto2001
areindexedineduOERandcanbeaccessedbyamuch
wideraudience.Soon,eduOERwillalsoindexrecordings
fromtheNORDUnetconferencesandtheResearch Data
Alliance(RDA)events.
Training resources:morethan160multimediatrainingmaterialsfromPRACE(PartnershipforAdvanced
ComputinginEurope)havebeenindexedoneduOER.
Othere-infrastructuresarefollowingsuit.
“Through eduOER, the European NREN
community can build easy sharing and
access to a wealth of resources, greatly
enhancing the richness of materials
available to students and researchers,
serving minority populations, improving
the teaching and learning process and
potentially lowering the cost of higher and
adult education.”
– Peter Szegedi, GÉANT Project
Development Officer
17
NRENum.net growth
Interconnecting multiple dialling methods for real-time communications
Seven new members joined the NRENum.netservicein2015:Mexico,Ecuador,ElSalvador,Uruguay,
CzechRepublic,NorwayandSriLanka,bringingthetotalnumberofcountrycodedelegationsto
43.Theservicenowlistsover200,000phonenumbersunder43countrycodesandisanessential
supportserviceforVoIPandvideoconferencing.
The NREN service matrixThe NREN service matrixprovidesacomprehensiveoverviewofalltheservicesthatGÉANTNRENs
offernationally,fully-integratedwiththeCompendiumofNRENs’data.Itisatooldevelopedtohelp
NRENswithserviceportfoliostrategy,toidentifygapsandsynergies,andtohelpusersidentify
servicesavailabletothematnationallevel.
Driving trust and identityGÉANTprovidesservicesthatbuildtrust,promotesecurity,andsupporttheuseofonline
identities,througharangeofactivitiesandinternationalcollaborations.
Identityisanincreasinglycriticalcomponentofresearch(data)infrastructures.Witha
decadeofexperienceinauthenticationandauthorisation(AAI),thereputationofthe
GÉANTcommunitygoesfromstrengthtostrength.TogetherwearedrivingAAIprojectsand
solutionsonaglobalscale:AARCproject,eduroam,eduGAINandREFEDS.
The AARC project bringstogetheraconsortiumoftwentyorganisationstofurtheracommon
goaloffederatedaccessandinter-operableAAIs.AARCfollowstwomainpathstoachieve
itsvision:
•improvingtheadoptionoffederated
accessamongdifferentcommunities;
•designinganAAIframeworkbuilton
existingproductioninfrastructures
toenablesingle-sign-onamong
e-infrastructures.
“The service matrix is an
invaluable tool and its
very existence, setting
out all this data in such
a simple way, impressed
many of the ministry and
university people on our
Board.”
– Martin Bech, DeiC
AARC project
Project title Authenticationand
AuthorisationforResearchand
Collaboration
Topic Adressingchallengesof
interoperabilityandfunctional
gapsinauthenticationand
authorisationstructures
Start 1July2015
End 30 June 2017
Programme H2020
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“The composition of the consortium, with so many parties represented - NRENs,
e-infrastructure providers and libraries - will enable us to progress on some very
critical technical and policy areas.” – Licia Florio, AARC activity leader
AARCofferstraining,bestpracticesandvalidationsoftechnicalworkforresearchers,
institutions,serviceprovidersandinfrastructures.In2015,AARCdeliveredaninitial
trainingpackage,recommendationsontheMinimalAssuranceLevelProfiletosupport
low-riskresearchuse-cases,andkickedoffanumberofpilotsforlibrariessothatthey
canprovidefederatedaccesstoresources.
eduGAIN
Unlocking global research and education collaboration
TheuptakeoftheeduGAINserviceinterconnectsidentityfederationsaroundtheworld,simplifying
accesstocontent,servicesandresourcesfortheglobalresearchandeducationcommunity.eduGAIN
support,developmentandpromotioninEuropeisprovidedthroughtheGÉANTProject.GÉANT
participatesintheMAGIC and TANDEMprojects,whicharehelpingtopromoteeduGAINuptakein
otherworldregions.
• Federations:37
• Newmembersin2015:GIFfromGeorgia,LEAFfromMoldova;KIDfromOmanandFEBASfrom
Belarus(bothvoting-onlymembers).
• IdentityProvidersandServiceProviders:2,600(10percentincreasein2015,nowcovering50
percentofallIdPs)
• FederationasaService(FaaS):pilotstagewithsevenNRENs
• Support:providessupportforNRENSinbuildingtheiridentityfederations
REFEDS – happy 10th birthday
The voice of research and education identity federations worldwide
GÉANTprovidessecretariatsupportforREFEDS,theneutralforumwhereallidentityfederation
operatorsmeetandagreeonbestpracticesintheareaoffederatedaccess.
19
REFEDSlaunchedtwocampaignsin2015:
• to help promote entitycategoriestoIdPsandSPs;
• to provide guidanceonhowtojustifytheuseofentitycategoriesaccordingtotheEUregulations
ondataprotection.
Europe leads eduroam onwards and outwards
Seamless Wi-Fi access for research and education around the world
eduroamhasseenhugegrowthoverthelastfiveyears,andin2015theGÉANTcommunitycontinued
togrow,sometimesbyinvitingpublic,commercialandcityWi-Fiinitiativestooffertheservice.
eduroamcanbefoundinairports,citycentresandotherpublicspacesthroughoutEurope,notably
Luxembourg,Norway,Sweden,Switzerland,andTheNetherlands.
•Territories:76(upfrom69in2014)withan
additionaltwenty-onepilotroamoperator
initiativesunderway
•Newroamingoperators:Trinidad&Tobago,
China,Qatar,UnitedArabEmirates,Ugandaand
Lebanon
•Authentications:doubledto180millionper
month
•AnewNREN:eduroamprovidedthetipping
pointforthedecisiontoestablishanNRENin
Lebanon.Lebaneseeduroammembersagreed
tojoinforcesanddevelopanNRENtofurther
expandeduroamandotherservices.
eduroam territories at the end of 2015
20
The implementation and use of eduroam in Sweden has been a great success. eduroam
operates in most Swedish universities and colleges, has more than 100,000 unique devices
authenticated per month, and a potential user base of 500,000 individuals in higher education.
Now Sweden is moving to new markets.
SUNET(TheSwedishresearchandeducationnetwork
organisation)partneredupwithThe Cloud to provide
eduroamoff-campusinplaceswherestudentshangout
throughexistingaccesspoints.
• SUNETfirsttargetedtravelhubs,suchasairportsand
railwaystations,andtodayprovideseduroamin934
locationsthrough16,146accesspointsalloverSweden:
fromuniversitiestomunicipalitiesandcommercial
venues,coveringcitycentres,railwaystations,airports,
ferryterminals,municipalbusesandlibraries,hotels,fast
foodrestaurants,cafés,gasstationsandmalls.
• PärWeilow,ProductOwnerformobilesolutionsat
SwedaviaAirportTelecomAB,theSwedishairport
operator:“We offered free Wi-Fi connections to all airport
visitors from May 2012 and although we gave quite
generous amounts of data, customers complained about the
data limitations. As soon as we launched eduroam in March 2015 the complaints almost disappeared.
Overall, airport visitors are a crowd that expect excellence, and Wi-Fi is an extremely important part of
the experience. So, today we are very happy to be able to offer eduroam together with SUNET and The
Cloud.”
Swedentakeseduroamoffcampus
NREN activity highlight
The Netherlands: eduroam for school visitors
Institutionscanoffereduroamtovisitorsbyusingtheeduroam
VisitorAccessfeature.IntheNetherlands,forexample,the
ROCMNschoolgroupstartedofferingeduroamtovisitorsfrom
February2015,throughreceptiondesksinallschoolbuildings
acrosssixtowns.Guestaccountsaregiventoindividuals,and
duringevents,groupaccountsaremadeavailable.
Frank Pinxt, ICT Manager at ROC MN: “Visitors are very
happy with this service, and it works great!”
Links:tocheckeduroamcoverageinspecificcountries,go
to http://eduroam.xx,wherebyyoureplacethexxwiththe
applicablecountrycode,forexamplehttp://eduroam.nl and
http://eduroam.no.
21
Europe’s essential terabit-ready network
Developing the GÉANT network – the best it can beTheGÉANTnetworkcontinuestosetthestandardsforspeed,service
availability,securityandreach:500Gbpssuper-channelsarenowon
offertousers,withrapidscalabilityto2Tbpsandfarbeyond,butwe
donotrestonourlaurels.Instead,wecontinuouslystrivetoimprove
ourlevelofservice,implementupgradestothenetworkandengage
intwo-waycommunicationwithourcommunityexpertstoobtain
feedbackandideasforfurtherimprovement.
Overtheyear,theteamfocusedonfindingcostefficiencies,staying
aheadofuserneeds,increasingnetworkperformanceandoperational
effectiveness,andsupportingnetworkinnovationforthedevelopment
offuturenetworkenhancements.
• 100percentavailabilitywasdeliveredforIP,Plus,Lambda,L3VPN
andGÉANTOpenservices.
• Morethan200engineeringchangesweremadetooptimisethe
network.
TheGÉANTnetwork,thebackboneoftheEuropeanresearchandeducationcommunity,
reachesmorethan100countries–anaveragetransferrateof180Gigabitsofdatapersecond
or1.9PB(1,900Terabytes)perdaywithapeakactivityof300Gbps.Ifwelookatacomparison
ofallroutedIPtrafficacrossournetwork,thisisestimatedbyourtrafficstatisticexpertstohave
grownfromovernearly117PetabytesofdatainQ1of2015tonearly156Petabytesofdatain
Q4of2015,anincreaseofover33percent.
22
• Atestandresearchfacilitywassetup,forevaluatingandcertifyingsoftwareandhardwarebefore
itgetsdeployed.
• IPaccessbandwidthincreasedby19percent:fourNRENsupgradedtheiraccessconnectionto
100Gbps,fiveNRENsupgradedto10Gbps;andfivenew100Gconnectionswereaddedto
GÉANTOpen.
• GÉANTstaffcoordinatedthedeliveryof59networkservicesforNRENsin2015,establishing
servicesacrossmultipledomains,ensuringservicesweredeliveredmoreefficientlyandaccurately.
• Terabitlinecardandalienwavetrialssupportednetworkinnovationforthedevelopmentoffuture
networkenhancements.
• 100percentuptimewasachievedforsoftwaredevelopmentsupportsystems.
• GÉANTTestbedsService(GTS)completedthefirstphaseinitsdevelopment,androlledouttofour
citieswiththreemoreplannedanddemoswereperformedatkeyindustryevents.
Network service operations
Supporting the GÉANT networks - ensuring reliability, security and integrity
In2015,theGÉANTNetworkOperationsteamconsolidatedtheGÉANTnetworkinfrastructureto
matchthecapacityrequirementsofpartnerNRENswithprovisioning.
• ResilientnodesinLondonandMarseillewereexpanded,andconnectivitytothePoznańPoPatthe
SupercomputingandNetworkingCenterwasenhanced,usingCBF(charge-basedflooding).
• WedeliveredstronglyontheESNetExtentiontoEurope(EEX)servicetoESNetandservices
deliveredtoEUMETSAT.
• State-of-the-artnetworkmonitoringsystems:tworeportingportalswerecreatedforESNETand
theANAprojectstodisplayavailabilityandtrafficutilisationdatafortheirservices.Thesetools
keepthecommunityupdatedonthestatusoftheseservices.
• SecuritymitigationthroughNSHaRP:theNSHaRPprocessprovidesamechanismtoquicklyand
effectivelyinformaffectedusersandtomanagemitigation.During2015,theNSHaRPsecurity
servicemanagementwasenhancedwiththedeploymentofNetFlowAlerts,plusanewservice
deskandanOTRS(OpenTechnologyRealService)ticketingsystem.
23
•FirewallonDemandenhanced:threatstotheGÉANT
networkaremitigatedinvariousways.In2015,theFirewall
onDemandtoolwasaddedtothetoolkitandwasdeployed
ontheGÉANTnetwork.Trainingwasprovidedonsecure
codingandsecurityauditswereundertaken.NineNRENs
currentlyuseFirewallonDemandaspartoftheirDDoS
mitigationstrategy.
Staying ahead in technological leadershipTheGÉANTnetworkhasmovedtowardsseparationofthe
control/managementplanesandthedataplane.Thisseparation
ismadepossiblewiththeuseofdiscretemanagement
systemstomanagetheJuniperMXIP/MPLSroutersandthe
InfineraDTN-Xopticaltransmissionequipment.Whilethisis
animportantstepforwardinevolvingtheGÉANTnetwork
architecture,thissolutionisbasedinherentlyonmanagementsystemsthataffectvendorlock-in.
Tobeabletocontinuouslyintroducethenewfeaturesmostneededbytheresearchandeducation
community,GÉANTisdevelopingitsownSoftwareDefinedNetworking(SDN)operatingenvironment.
Thiswillinvolvebothin-housedevelopmentandworkingwithexistingopen-sourceSDNinitiativesto
furtherevolveSDNcontrollersanddevelopnewservices,implementedasapplicationsrunningontop
ofthesecontrollers.
Tostayontopofthegameinthenetworkingarea,GÉANThaspreparedthenetworkevolution
planforthenextthreeyearsandinitiatedtwomajorstudiesthatarecurrentlyongoing:theLayer1
InfrastructureStudyandtheMulti-DomainNRENTransitNetworkStudy.
24
Software Defined Network
GÉANTstaffledtheworkonGÉANTbackbone-
relatedusecases.
• SDN-IP
•SDNBoD
• Transport SDN
GÉANThasbeenleadingthedevelopmentofanSDN
strategy.TogetherwithCorsa,InfineraandOn.Lab,the
CTOteamhavedesignedatransportSDNapproach
thatwillallowGÉANTtomanagebothlayer2/3and
opticallayerequipmentusingthesamecontroller.
GÉANT - helping develop standards across research and education networking
GÉANTisheavilyinvolvedincreatingstandardsandpoliciesthatsupportresearchandeducation
networkingandservices.TwogoodexamplesofthisaretheCloudServiceProviderconnectionpolicy
andtheNSIConnectionServicestandards.
AtrialconnectivitypolicywasformulatedtofacilitateconnectionofcloudproviderstoNRENor
GÉANTnetworknodes.ThepolicydefineshowCloudServiceProviderscanbeconnectedtoGÉANT
orNRENs.Thismeansthat,forthefirsttime,GÉANThasapolicyenablingustoconnectService
Providersdirectly,ifnecessary.ThepolicydirectlybenefitstheHelixNebulaInitiativeanditsmembers
ESA,EMBL,CERN,byprovidingthemwithaccesstoCloudSPsviaGÉANTandNRENnetworks.
Thisalsomeansthatscientistsandeducatorswillhaveeasieraccesstocommercialproviders’research
andeducationservices.ThepolicyensuresthatNRENsarenotobligedtoconnectSPswheretheyare
unabletorecovercosts.
GÉANTcontinuestoworkonhelpingtodefineNSIConnectionServicestandardstosupport
thegrowingneedformulti-domainpoint-to-pointservices.Theseservicesgofarbeyondthe
capabilitiesofcommercialserviceprovidersanddemonstratehowresearchandeducationnetworking
organisationscanworktogethertodeliveruniquelypowerfulservicestothecommunity.
The CTO team has been working very closely with different vendors to work on SDN use cases and has built on the work carried out in the GN3plus Open Call DyNPaC (Dynamic Path Computation Framework) to evolve the GÉANT Bandwith on Demand service to a vendor-independent implementation.
25
Cloud Service Strategies
Researchandeducation,ingeneral,issettobenefitsubstantiallyfromthegrowthincloudservices.
Theseservicesofferimprovedflexibilityandcostsavingsacrossthecommunity.Inordertomaximise
thebenefitsofcloudservices,GÉANTisleadingarangeofactivities.
• AcollectiveNRENcloudstrategyguidewascompletedwithNRENsastrustedadvisors,brokers
andproviders.
• The GÉANTcloudcataloguebecameavailablewithfourteenserviceslisted.
• Collaborationoncloudswithothere-infrastructureprojectsacrossEuropeissettoexpand.
• Progresshasbeenmadeondevelopingrelationshipswithmajorcloudserviceproviderstoreduce
dataingressandegresscharges.
• TheInfrastructureasaServiceframeworktenderwillofferNRENsandinstitutionsaccesstocost-
effectiveIaaSservices.ThismajorpieceofworkhasseenGÉANTworkingwithNRENsandService
Providerstodevelopastrongunderstandingoftheneedsofallstakeholders.
Open Cloud Mesh project
GÉANTisastrongadvocateoffederatingon-premisesync-and-sharesolutionsinanopen,
standardisedway.Inthisway,filesandfolderscanbesyncedandsharedbetweendifferent
administrativeclouddomains,inthesamewaythatemailscanbesentandreadwithdifferentemail
systems.
Inordertoprogressinthisarea,GÉANTlaunchedtheOpenCloudMeshproject,incollaborationwith
ownCloud and CERN,whichshareddraftspecifications.DuringtheOpenCloudMeshdemonstration
on18November,userswereabletosyncandsharefilesandfoldersbetweenindependentservice
domainsoperatedbytheUniversityofMünsterinGermany,UniversityViennainAustria,SWITCH
(Switzerland)andAARNet(Australia).
26
By continuously listening to our community and seeking out ways in which we can add value
– be it the provision of additional support, refinement of services and their delivery, or gaining
savings by harnessing combined demands – GÉANT is in a permanent cycle of improvement to
assist our members in adding value for their constituents.
Access to expertise
AcrosstheGÉANTorganisationandcommunity,thereisprovenexpertiseinwinning,runningand
administeringECprojects:procurement,disseminationanduserengagement,networkengineering,
research,andsecretariatservicesforcollaborations.Membersareabletogainthebenefitofthis
expertisethroughinformalknowledge-sharingorbyamoreformalarrangementifspecificassistanceis
required.
NREN interests and EC Influence
GÉANThasstayedabreastofECdevelopmentsandopportunities,andhascoordinatedtheeffort
oftheNRENcommunitytopositionourcollaborationasnearlyaspossibleatthecentreofthe
deliberationsinordertoinfluencedevelopments,withthefollowingresults.
• Horizon20202016-17WorkProgramme:developingourcombinedpositiontowardsthe
proposedResearchInfrastructuresandcoordinationofNRENinterventionatnationallevelacross
theEUandbeyondresultedinamendmentsbeingmadetotheECWorkProgramme.
• Horizon20202016-19WorkProgramme:ECfundingforGÉANToperationsanddevelopment
workcontinuestobecombinedinasingleprojectanditsflexibilityretained,inorderto
incorporatetechnologydevelopmentsintheoperationalplatform.
• e-InfrastructuresConcertationinitiative:CoordinatingGÉANT’sinvolvementintheEChas
assuredusaplaceintheeditorialgroupworkingwiththeECtodevelopservicedescriptionsof
consolidatede-infrastructures.
3•Providingexceptionalvalueformoney
27
• IntelligencegatheringhasraisedGÉANT’sprofilewithintheEContheEuropeanOpenScience
CloudandotheraspectsoftheDigitalSingleMarketpolicies,suchasOpenEducation,Security
andTrust&Identity.
• GÉANTcontinuouslymonitorsdevelopmentsinEUpolicyareas,suchasdataprotectionandthe
ConnectingEuropeFacility.
GÉANT Open Call results exceeded expectations in all areas
ThefirstGÉANTOpenCall(2014-15)wasaresoundingsuccess.Itfundedtwenty-onenewproject
ideasatthecuttingedgeofinnovation,andbroughtthirtynewprojectpartnersfromindustryand
academia.Freshideas,newexpertiseandnewusesofthenetworkcamewiththem,feedingintothe
researchprogrammesasaninnovationpipeline.
Externalevaluationsconfirmedthehighqualityofinnovativeresearchworkundertaken,
with70percentofprojectsscoringveryhighly(thirteenormoreoutoffifteen)andfour
projectsreceivingmaximumscores.
Collaboration opportunities
GÉANT’sNRENmembershavetheopportunitytobenefitfromandengagewitharangeof
projectsaccordingtotheirresourcesandinterests.BelowisalistofGEANT’sportfolioof
projectsin2015.
Networkingprojects
GÉANT Project - Europe
EaPConnect - Eastern Partnership countries
EUMEDCONNECT3–theMediterranean
CAREN2–CentralAsia
AfricaConnect2-Africa
Trust&Identity
AARC
REFEDS
Collaboration
MAGIC
TANDEM
28
Value-added ServicesTrusted Certificate Service
Animportant,establishedvalue-addedserviceofferedbyGÉANTisTCS,theTrustedCertificate
Service.Overtheyear,twenty-eightNRENsmadeuseofTCS,issuing31,626certificates,acrossa
rangeofeighteentypes.Theservicewasre-tendered,takingNRENfeedbackintoaccountandan
enhancedversionlaunchedinJuly2015,withanewsupplier,DigiCert.Thissimpler,moreattractive
serviceoffersbundleswithcertaintypesofcertificate.
ownCloud agreement
Backin2014,GÉANTsecuredagooddealformembersandtheiruserswiththeopensource-based,
on-premisesfilesync-and-shareprovider,ownCloud.Thetotalnumberoflicensespurchasedgrew
from80,000in2014to100,000inthesixmonthstoJune2015.Thisbroughttheunitpricedownto
1.90europerlicenseperyearfor2016.Themorelicensesarepurchasedundertheagreement,the
“The Open Call projects have proven to be
a good investment, with over 75 percent
of projects continuing their work and many
wanting to continue to work with GÉANT,
including their use of the testbeds. Over 40
scientific papers were published as a result
of the programme, and Open Call projects
participated in more than 100 events,
raising GÉANT’s profile internationally,
including at the IETF and IEEE forums.”
– Annabel Grant, Open Call leader
Open Call Spotlight on: Secure Enterprise Networks Simple and Easy (SENSE)
The SENSEOpenCallprojectsoughttoimprovetheusabilityofeduroamwhilstmaintaining
securitythroughaddressingIEEE802.1Xsupplicants.TheSENSEprojectprovidesabenefitfor
developersandadministratorsinthenetworkaccessnicheoftheITindustryby:
• havingcreatedtoolstoverifyoperationsand
performanceofEAPsupplicants;
• providingmetricstoassesssecurityandusability;
• providingguidanceandstandardisationfortheindustry
regardingnetworkauthenticationconfiguration
metadata.
Manyofitsideasandresultsaregenuinelynewandpush
theenvelopeinthisareaoftheITindustry.Thefullwork
areadescriptionsandlinkstotheresultscanbefoundon
the SENSEhomepage.
29
cheapertheunitpricewillbeaccordingtothescaleagreed.Intotal,over2014and2015,morethan
400,000licenses(250,000byGWGD)werepurchasedbysixteenorganisationsthroughtheGÉANT
agreement.
TheownCloudframeworkiswidelyusedwithinthecommunity,suchasinCERNbox,SURFdrive,
CloudStor,GARRbox,SWITCHdrive,AustriaCloud,andmanyothers.Attheendof2015,GÉANTand
ownCloudagreedanotherspecialdiscountfornewparticipantsjoininginDecember.
Community communications channels
GEANTprovidesmembersandthewidercommunitywithanumberofcommunicationstoolsthrough
whichtheycansharetheirnewsandevents.
• PeaR newsletter:thecommunitynewsletterforandaboutthecommunitywaspublishedweekly.236storieswereissued,contributedbyeighteenEuropeanNRENs,onenon-EuropeanNRENand
ninee-infrastructureandresearchprojects.
• CONNECT: threeissuesoftheGÉANTcommunitymagazinewerepublished.Copieswerehandedoutatkeyevents,senttomembersandglobalpartnersonrequestandavailableonline.90feature
articleswerewritten:twenty-twoservices-related;threeopinionpieces;sixuserstories;fourteen
global-related;twenty-threecommunity-submitted;twenty-twoopencall/technicallyrelated.
Onlinereadershipaddedto2,613readsand14,051impressionsforthethreeissues.Additionally,
over3,000copieswereshippedtoNRENsandglobalpartnersanddistributedatevents,suchas
TNC15,SC15andICT2015.
• EventR: theGÉANTeventsplanningsystem,EventR,isforusebythecommunityandaresourceforGÉANTstaff.Throughincreaseduse,weareastepclosertoaunifiedresearchandeducation
communityeventscalendar.Withfederatedlogin,EventRisalsousedasaneventmanagement/
registrationinterface.
In 2015, 185 events, such as training courses, task force
meetings, conferences and seminars were organised by the
community. In total, these events hosted 4431 participants
of 455 different organisations.
The CONNECT innovation issue
In2015,aninnovationissueoftheGÉANTCONNECT
magazinewasissued,tosharetheOpenCallresearchresults
withthecommunity.FifteenoftheGÉANTOpenCalls
contributedpapersofanacademicstandardtothisissue.
30
GÉANT LearningThemissionofGÉANTLearningistosupportGÉANTexcellencethroughpersonalgrowth,discovery
andthesharingofknowledge.Torealisethisobjective,coursescontinuetobedevelopedthatrange
fromonlinetocoachingandface-to-facetraining.ThesesolutionsareavailableforGÉANTemployees,
variousprojectparticipants,suchasGÉANTProject,AARCandtothewidercommunity.
GÉANTLearningsolutionsofferarangeofknowledgeandexpertiseandcanbebroadlystructured
aroundthreekeyareas:
• leadershipandpersonaleffectiveness;
• technicalmanagementexpertise;
• technicaltraining.
Forinstance,inthecourseof2015,theManagingPerformanceinVirtualTeams course was developed
tofocusonmanagingteamsthataregeographicallydistributed.MPiViTdeliveredknowledge,skillsand
toolsformanagingperformance,meetingfacilitationandcoaching.ItalsodeliveredAdobeConnect
throughanexperienceofavirtuallearningenvironment.Thereweretwenty-fourparticipantsonthe
coursefromtenNRENs.
Equally,GÉANT’sflagshipcybersecuritycourse,calledTRANSITS,washeldthreetimesduring2015
andtrainedover70participantsfromvariouscountriesandsecurityteams.Thecourseoffersbasic
(TRANSITSI)andadvancedtracks(TRANSITSII).Anoteworthyfeatureisthatthecoursehasbeen
createdthroughacollaborativeeffort,whichisoneoftheprioritiesofGÉANTLearning.
NREN CompendiumTheannualNRENCompendiumisoneoftheresourcesbywhichGÉANTNRENsshareinformation
andbenchmarkeachother.Theonline Compendium tooldocumentstheworkthatisbeingdone
byNRENs,examiningthedifferentcontextsinwhichtheyoperateandexplainingimportanttrends
inresearchandeducationnetworkingthatconcernthem.GÉANThasuniquedataforEuropeand
beyondgoingbackto2001,andthus,itservesasanauthoritativereferenceforpolicymakers,
funders,NRENsandtheirusers.
Jim Buddin
Itwaswithgreatsadnessthatwehad
tosayafinalgoodbyetoourfriendand
colleague,JimBuddin,whosuddenly
passedawayon12September2015.Jim
startedatTERENAin2003andhiswork
tookhimfromsupportingtheEnabling
Grids For E-SciencE (EGEE) Project to
coordinatingprojectconferencesand
organisingworkshops,tobecoming
trainingcoordinatorApril2013.Jim
playedguitar,rodeamotorbike,spoke
Spanish,andwasastalwartmember
ofAmsterdam’sEnglish-language
improvisationalcomedycommunity.
Hisdedication,humourandpersonality
continuetobemissedbyusall.
31
The 2015 edition shows some interesting trends.
Jump in connectivity
Modest increase in cloud services
Topthreein-servicetypesare:
•InfrastructureasaService;
•filestorageandbackup;
•SoftwareasaService,collaborationservices,
videoconferencing.
SomeNRENsarebuildingtheirowncloudservices,
whileothersoffercloudsolutionsfromcommercial
vendorsandsomeusebothmodels.
Increased attention to security
Also worth noting
• Growthinservices.Thetopthreeinthegrowthofservice
typesareInfrastructureasaService(IaaS),filestorageand
backup,andSoftwareasaService,collaborationservicesand
videoconferencing.
• TherewasalmostuniversaladoptionofeduGAINacross
GÉANTNRENmembers.
32
• eduroamcontinuedtogrow.
• 56%oftheGÉANTpartnerNRENsarecurrentlyactiveindeliveringcloudservicesandafurther
22%areplanningtobeinvolved.
• ThereisgrowinginterestinprovidinganddevelopingWebRTCsolutions.
• ManyNRENsprovidemorethanjusttheunderpinningnetworkservices.
• Thereisamovetowardshybridmodelsofprovision–fromsolelyinternaltomixedinternaland
externalservices.
• e-infrastructuredevelopmentscausenewanddifferentdemandsonNRENsandtheirservice
portfolios.
33
Educationusecase:HEAnet
Establishedin1983byIreland’sUniversities,withthesupportoftheHigherEducationAuthority,
GÉANTmember,HEAnet,providesessentialconnectivityandICTservicesacrossalllevelsofthe
Irisheducationsystem.Their100Gbit-capable,resilientnetworkconnectsallIrishUniversities,
InstitutesofTechnology,publiclyfundedthird-levelcollegesandresearchorganisations,inadditionto
approximately4,000schools.
VLE Hosting
HEAnetprovidesamanagedMoodleVLE(anopen-sourceVirtualLearningEnvironment)service
tohelpclientsdealwiththeincreasingcostandcomplexityofprovidingacontinuouslyavailable,
highlyinteractiveVLEexperience.VLEsarepivotaltothedeliveryofclasses,tutorialsand
educationalcontentforbothteachersandlearners,leadingtoincreasingdemandforfastcontent
deliveryandlowlatencyinteraction.
HEAnetdeploysdistributedstorageandserverresourcestoprovideascalable,fault-tolerantand
fastplatformforthisMoodleservice,deliveredoveraverylowlatencynetwork.Theprincipal
benefitsforclientsaretheabilitytoscaletheirservicewithoutworryingaboutinfrastructure,
andthecapabilitytotakeadvantageofoptimisationsandeconomiespertainingtoamulti-client
operatingenvironment.
Themanagedserviceallowsclientstodedicatemoretimetothedevelopmentofonlineteaching
andlearningtools,andlesstimeonmanagingthetechnicalaspectsofit.Thisenablesclientsto
betterconcentrateonthedevelopmentofeducationalcontentandthecorebusinessofdelivering
education.HEAnetmanagesthetechnicalcomponents,thusensuringthattheserviceisoptimised
tomeettheneedsoftheclient.
A National Education Network for Shared ICT Services
NREN activity highlight
34
Media Hosting
HEAnethasbeenhostingvideosforlecturersandstudents
formanyyears.Theservicedeliverssimplicityforusers,with
allpopularmediaformats(andlivestreaming)supported.
Theserviceprovidesasimple(federated)userinterfaceto
all,andallowsuserstouploadunlimited-lengthcontent,
whichtheycansharewithintheirinstitution,orthewider
world.TheserviceleveragesthefunctionalityofFileSender
tomakesureverylargefilescanbeaccommodated.
In2015,HEAnetintegratedtheservicewiththeVLEMoodle
tomakeiteveneasierforlecturerstouse,andstaffare
currentlyworkingtoaddsupportforaBlackboardplugin.The
servicehasquicklybecomethego-toplacetokeepallvideo
contentforeducators,withself-developedmultimediacontent,
suchasvideolecturesandtutorialsbecomingquitepopular.
Similarly,studentsfindtheserviceanexcellentrepository
foralltheirvideocontent,andquicklylearntouseitas
amultimediaportfoliomanager,andtomakepodcasts
forprojects.Videoproductionexpertshavealsoadopted
theserviceforitsstraightforwardadaptivetranscoding
capabilities,andthebridgeitprovidesfromvideofilesto
afullyfeaturedonlinestreamingservice,whileretainingall
licencingrightsforthecontentowners.
Schools
HEAnetfirstextendeditsnetworkconnectivityservicestoIreland’sschoolsin2005.Underthis
programme,HEAnetprovidedallofIreland’sprimaryandpost-primaryschools(approx.4,000
schools)withhigh-availabilityInternetandnetworksecurityservices.Schoolsareprovidedwitha
portfolioofservices,includingnetworkmonitoring,IPmanagement,amanagedrouter,securityand
filteredInternetaccess,inadditiontowebhostingandblogservices.
HEAnet connectivity and shared servicesGraphic: HEAnet
35
In2009,HEAnetwasappointedtomanageanewhigh-speednetwork,providing100Mbit/sto
Ireland’s750post-primaryschools.Followingasuccessfulpilot,thisprogrammewasextendedto
allpost-primaryschoolsnationwidebytheendof2014.
ConnectingschoolstotheHEAnetnetworkbuildsontheinvestmentmadeinhighereducation
andupto59,000teachersand884,000studentsusetheschoolsnetworkonadailybasis,
enablingstudentstolearnandcollaborateonline.
Theprovisionofhigh-speedbroadbandtoIreland’spost-primaryschoolsaffordsagreater
opportunityforschoolstoembedtechnologyintheteachingandlearningprocess.Thisopens
thedoortoafaster,richer,moreinteractiveandmoreinformativeInternetexperiencethanwas
possiblebefore,andthestreamingofvideos,plays,movies,animation,documentaries,concerts
cannowbeseamlesslyincorporatedintotheteachingday.
TheservicesfeaturedaboveillustratethatHEAnethasextendeditsrolebeyondthatofanetwork
provider,tothatofanNRENthatprovidesadiverseportfolioofsharedservicestoitsclientbase.
Today,HEAnetisavaluedproviderofICTsharedservices,offeringawiderangeofservicesacross
alllevelsoftheIrisheducationsystem,andservingclientneedsinatrusted,collaborativeandcost-
effectivemanner.
36
4•Buildingthecommunity
GÉANT’s raison d’être is to act for and with our members to further research and education
through our networking and services. A fundamental goal is to provide collaboration and
(human) networking opportunities, which support and develop European NRENs in their quest
to be the ICT cornerstone of their national communities.
Fostering community collaborationSupportingcollaborationacrosstheresearchandeducationnetworkingcommunityandworkingwith
thecommunityisacoreattributeofGÉANT’smission.
Task forces
Gettingthecommunitytogetherandfosteringcollaborationhappensinmanyways.GÉANTfacilitates
taskforcesandspecialinterestgroupsintheareasofwebreal-timecommunications(TF-WebRTC),
datastorageinfrastructures,applicationsandservices(TF-Storage),informationsecuritymanagement
(SIG-ISM),computer incident response (TF-CSIRT),mobilityandnetworkmiddleware(TF-MNM),
marketingcommunications(TF-CPR),managementofserviceportfolios(TF-MSP),andnetwork
operationscentres(SIG-NOC).Thegroupsareopento
anyonewhocancontributewithappropriateexpertiseand
manpower.In2015,morethan600participantsjoined
thesetaskforceandspecialinterestgroupmeetings.
International initiatives
Global CEO Forum
GÉANThasplayedaroleintheGlobalCEOForum,
contributinginareas,suchassecurity,knowledgesharing,
AttheendofNovember,anew‘greenhouse’SpecialInterest
Group (SIG) was launchedtosupportopen-sourcesoftware
developmentandtokeepitsustainablewithintheNREN
community.SIG-Greenhousecanofferadviceandguidance
onlicensing,legalagreementsandgoodpracticeforcode
management.Thegroupalsohelpstoprovideaframeworkfor
managingdonationstoopen-sourcesoftwareprojects.The
groupattractedinitialfundingfromNLnetandwillcontinueto
growwithinthecommunity.
37
globalnetworkarchitectureandmobility.Thegroupconsistsofexecutiveleadersfromarangeof
leadingnationalandregionalresearchandeducationnetworksfromaroundtheworld.TheCEO
Forum’sobjectiveistostimulateandaccelerateglobalimplementationandadoptionofnewnetwork
solutionsandservicestocreateadditionalvaluefortheglobalresearchandeducationcommunity.
In2015,theGlobalCEOForumwasinstrumentalinexpandingeduGAINintoaglobalservice.
The Case for NRENs web portal
During2015,inresponsetodemandfromregionalnetworks,GÉANTcoordinatedthedevelopment
ofaweb portalwithresourcestohelpNRENsandRRENsarguethecaseforresearchandeducation
networkingwithkeystakeholders.Globalexperiences,bestpracticesandatoolkitwithguidance
materialaresharedfromthesite.ThisinitiativecomplementsanactivityofTF-MSP,focusingon
argumentsinsupportofNRENsinEurope.
In The Field Stories blog
Aninspiringandexcitingcollaborativeeffortthatcametofruitionin2015istheIn The Field Stories
blog.Kick-startedbyAARNetwithsupportfromTF-CPRandtheGlobalPRNetwork,theblog
wasjointlydevelopedandeditedbyGÉANTandNORDUnetteammembers.Thiscommunityblog
publishedmorethanfiftystoriesbytheendoftheyear.
Fortyorganisations(NRENsandRRENs)acrosssixcontinentsprovidedarticlescoveringadiverse
rangeoftopics:supportingIndia’sDepartmentofAtomicEnergy,genomicsresearchpavingtheway
forpersonalisedcancertreatment,howweatherandclimateresearchaffectsourdailylifeandmore.
Itisagreatblogforallwhowanttoseehowresearchandeducationnetworkinghasareal,positive
impactaroundtheworld.
Workshops
DDoS workshop
Inresponsetocommunityrequests,GÉANTofferedaworkshoponDDoS(DistributedDenialof
Service)mitigation,hostedbyACOnetinVienna.Morethan50representativesoftwenty-four
organisationsfromaroundtheworlddiscussedawiderangeofissuesconcerningDDoSandhow
tomanagesecurity.Follow-upmeetingswithproviderswereundertakenimmediatelyfollowingthe
workshop.
38
WISE: Joining organisations in information security
GÉANTispivotalinbringingtogetherothere-infrastructureorganisationsontopicsofhighrelevance
totheresearchandeducationcommunity.InOctober2015,WISE (WiseInformationSecurityfor
collaboratinge-Infrastructures)wasborn.Thegoalistobuildaglobaltrustcommunityinwhich
securityexpertsshareinformationandwork
together,creatingcollaborationamongdifferent
e-infrastructures.
Thefirstthree-day‘WISE’event was held in
Barcelonaon20-22October2015,hostedby
theBarcelonaSupercomputingCentre.Itwas
organisedthroughthejointeffortoftheGÉANT
groupSIG-ISM (Special Interest Group on
InformationSecurityManagement)and
ofSCI,the‘SecurityforCollaborationamong
Infrastructures’groupofstafffromseverallarge-
scaledistributedcomputinginfrastructures.
Theworkshopbroughttogetherfourbige-infrastructures-EGI,EUDAT,GÉANT and PRACE - as
wellasnationalresearchandeducationnetwork(NREN)organisations,usercommunitiessuch
as HEP/CERN and theHumanBrainProject,andotherinitiativessuchasXSEDE,NCSA,andCTSC,
inordertofacilitatetheexchangeofexperienceandknowledgeoninformationsecuritymanagement
andothertopicsofrelevance.
Earth Sciences workshop and handbook
CreatinganimprovedmutualunderstandingbetweenGÉANTandthee-infrastructuresontheone
hand,andtheearthsciencesectorontheotherhandwasoneofthespearheadsfortheGÉANT
BusinessDevelopmentteamin2015.InJanuary2015,theteam,togetherwithothere-infrastructures,
helditsfirstuser-focusedworkshopwithEuropeanearthsciencecommunityresearchers.Intotal,
eightusercommunities,researchinfrastructuresanddataprovidersattended,includingEGI,EUDAT
and PRACE.Theearthsciencesresearcherswereabletoengagewithalle-infrastructuresandleft
Attendants of the ‘WISE’ event, held in Barcelona on 20-22 October 2015
39
withamuchbetterunderstandingoftheservicesoffered.Userswereabletodiscusstheirneedsand
problemswithGÉANTandthee-infrastructuresdirectly,leadingtoabetterunderstandingoftheir
requirements.
GÉANTalsoproducedanupdatedversionofadedicatedEarthscienceuserhandbookforGEO
(GrouponEarthObservations)andwasappointedtoleadanewNetworkArchitectureWorkPackage
intheGEOWorkProgramme.Allthisraisesawarenessandvisibilityofresearchandeducation
networkingandensuresthatGÉANTandNRENarchitecturesarecentraltotheearthobservation
community.ThisworkcomplementsandbuildsoninitiativeswithCopernicus,ESAandEUMETSAT.
Event participationParticipationateventsisanintegralpartofthecommunicationsandoutreachprogramme.60staff
representedGÉANTatmorethan35externalevents,withalargeboothatICT2015andSC15.
GÉANT at ICT 2015: featuring MD-Paedigree and CARDIOPROOF
ICT 2015ranfrom20-22OctoberinLisbon,andshowcasedthebest-in-classresultsofexisting
EuropeanICTresearchandinnovation-advancedproductsfromindividualcompaniesthatstarted,
havegrownandbenefitedfromEuropeanfunding.GÉANTexhibitedintheECVillageunderthetitle
‘OpenScience’,featuringtwohealthuserprojectsasguests(MD-Paedigree and CARDIOPROOF),and
receivedseniorECofficials,AugustoBurgueñoArjonaandCarlosMoedas,atthebooth.
GÉANT at SC15: featuring InfiniCortex
GÉANTalsoparticipatesinbringingtogetherresearchcommunitiesbyefficientlyaggregatingglobally
distributedHPC(HighPerformanceComputing)resources:
InfiniCortexisaworld-wideinitiativethatplacedGÉANTinacentralroleinacutting-edgenetwork
demonstration.ThishighlightedthatGÉANTcanprovidemuchmorethanbusiness-as-usual
networkingandcementedrelationshipswithorganisationsinAsiaandEurope.Itprovidedanexcellent
showcase at the important SC15 exhibitionintheUS.
40
International relations LookingbeyondtheGÉANTorganisation,awidevarietyofliaisons,
relationsandcollaborationsexistonaglobalscale.Successful
examplesofprojectsintheinternationalarenaaretheEastern
PartnershipConnectproject,AfricaConnect,MAGIC,TANDEM,
ORIENTplus.TheUnitedNationsTechnologybankandDenguefever
workshopsalsocontributedtoourrelationshipswiththeglobal
researchandeducationcommunity.
Eastern Partnership Connect
EaPConnect will enable GÉANT to reach out to a
newregionandpooloftalents,integratinghighly
specialisedcountriesinareassuchasphysics
and earth sciences into the European research
community.Indoingso,EaPConnectalsofulfilsthe
EUwishtobringtheEasternPartnershipcloserto
Europebybuildingabridgeofknowledgebetween
thetworegions.
Project title Eastern Partnership Connect
Topic Interconnectingtheresearchandeducation
communitiesacrossArmenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,
Georgia,MoldovaandUkraineandwiththeir
European counterparts
Start 1July2015
End 30 June 2020
Programme FundedbyDG NEARandco-foundedbythe
EaPConnect NREN partners
Pierre Bruyère, Chairman of GÉANT Board of Directors, and Gerhard Schumann-Hitzler, Director at the EC’s Directorate-General for Neighbo urhood and Enlargement Negotiations signing the EaPConnect contract on 11 June 2015
TogetherwithRENATER,PSNC,TEINandtheGÉANTNetworkOperationsteam,theBusinessDevelopmentteam
carriedoutasuccessfultestofdeployingcutting-edgeHPCfabrictechnologyovertheGÉANTbackboneandtheinter-
continentallinkstoAsiaatvariousexhibitionsduring2015.Thisculminatedinacomplete,around-the-worldtopology,
showcasedatSC15inAustin,whichwasheldbetween16and19November.Thetestdemonstratedtheabilityof
researchandeducationnetworkstodeploythemostadvancedtechnology,anditnurturedcollaborationwiththeTEIN
community.
41
AfricaConnect2
AfricaConnect2wassignedbytheECinDecember.Itisapan-
Africanproject,carriedoutthroughthreeregionalclustersandin
collaborationwithASREN(NorthAfrica),theUbuntuNet Alliance
(SouthandEastAfrica)andWACREN(WestandCentralAfrica).
Theprojectwilllastthreeandahalfyearsandhasatotalcontract
valueof€26.6million.ItwillallowGÉANTtobuildoutitsAfrican
reach,furtherincreasingtheopportunityfortheEuropeanscience
communitytoengageandcollaboratewiththeirAfricancounterparts.
MAGIC
GÉANT became a partner in the TANDEM and MAGICprojects,andtheInternationalRelationsteam
wasinstrumentalinthedecisionthatMAGICshouldextendtoasmanyworldregionsaspossible,and
insupportingthediscussionswithprospectiveglobalpartners.
MAGIC,ledbyRedCLARA,buildsonthesuccessesoftheELCIRA project and aims to improve the
abilityofresearchersandacademicsaroundtheworldtocollaborate.MAGICwillexpandtheglobal
reachofeduroamandidentityinfrastructuresthroughitspartners,whichincludeLatinAmerica,the
Caribbean,Europe(includingGÉANT),WestandCentralAfrica,EasternandSouthernAfrica,North
AfricaandtheMiddleEast,CentralAsiaandAsia-Pacific.
Project title AfricaConnect2
Topic Developmentofhigh-capacityInternetnetworksacross
theentireAfricancontinentandconnectingthemto
theEuropeanGÉANTnetwork.
Start 1May2015
End 31 December 2018
Programme Co-fundedbyDG-CONNECTandtheregional
partners
42
It will also establish middleware to enable NRENs to share services and
real-timeapplicationsforinternationalandinter-continentalresearch
groupsviaacommonmarketplace,andprovidesupporttoglobaluser
groups.MAGICalsocontinuestodeveloptheColaboratorioplatform,
whichmakescollaborationtoolsavailabletoendusers(e.g.,web
conferencing,
filetransfer,wiki,
andcommunity
management).
MAGIC kick-off meeting at RENATER offices, Paris, France; 11-12 June 2015
TANDEM
The TANDEMprojectsupportsdialoguebetweentheEuropeanandAfricanresearchandeducation
networks,withspecialattentiontoWesternandCentralAfrica.Thescopeistopromotecooperation
byexploitingtheinterconnectionbetweenGÉANTandthe
establishedAfricanregionalnetworks.Thisprojectaimstoprepare
WACRENinthedeploymentofe-infrastructures,answeringend
users’needsandtakingintoaccountpolicy,financial,regulatoryand
technicalconstraints.Theprojectworksinveryclosecollaboration
withAfricaConnect2.
Project title MiddlewareforcollaborativeApplicationsandGlobal
vIrtual Communities
Topic Acooperationproject,whichaimstosignificantly
improvetheabilityofresearchersandacademics
aroundtheworldtocollaboratetogether
Start 1May2015
End 30 April 2017
Programme H2020
Project title TransAfricanNetworkDevelopment
Topic e-infrastructurepolicydevelopmentandinternational
cooperation
Start 1May2015
End 30 April 2017
Programme H2020
43
ORIENTplus
Anew10GbpslinkbetweenBeijingandLondonprovidesdirect,high
capacityEU-Chinaconnectivityandisjointlyfundedandmanagedby
GÉANT and CERNETforatenyearperiod.Thisfollowsonfromthe
ORIENTplusproject,whichendedinDecember2014.
United Nations Technology Bank
GÉANT'sworkinthedevelopmentofNRENs
throughtheEC’sDEVCOprojectshasbeen
recognisedattopleveloftheUN.Cathrin
StöverandDorteOlesenworkedwiththe
UNHighLevelPaneltowardsthecreation
ofaTechnologyBankforthe48Least
DevelopedCountries.TheHLPsubmittedthestudy,provingthefeasibilityoftheTechnologyBank,to
UNSecretaryGeneralBanKiMooninOctober2015.Inthisdocument,theUNpromotesNRENsin
emergingcountriesasvehiclestodeliverscienceandinnovationfordevelopment.
Dengue fever workshops
GÉANTwasinstrumentalindevelopinginnovativeworkshopsinJapanand
Malaysia,bringingtogetherclinicalpractitioners,medicalresearchersandNREN
ICTexpertstohelpunderstandandtackleDengueFeverintheAsia-Pacificregion.
Theadoptionofthissuccessfulapproachhasbeenadoptedinotherworldregions,
notablytheCaribbeanandAfrica,andtheinitiativehashelpedextendthese
workshopstoaddressingotherinfectiousdiseases.
Dengue Fever Workshop at APAN40 in Fukuoka, Japan in March 2015
Signing of CERNET/GÉANT MoU on 15 September 2015 in Brussels. The MoU with CERNET shows the commitment to genome projects, LHC collaborations, and radio astronomy
Handover of the Report of the High Level Panel of Experts on Technology Bank and Science to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
44
TNC is the annual GÉANT community event, to which all NRENs
from worldwide partner organisations come together to share the
latest results and developments, nurture relationships, and discuss
opportunities to collaborate.
In2015,TNCwashostedinPortobyFCT|FCCN,Portugal’sunitforthe
operationoftheNationalResearchandEducationNetworkwithinthe
fundingagencyforscienceandresearch.Theeventwasattendedby
667participantsfromarecord59countries.Theyweretreatedtosix
technologydemonstrations,achoiceof137presentationsacross36
sessions,andsevenBoFs.
• The TNC15programmecommitteeoffifteenpeoplefromacrossEuropeanandinternational
NRENsandotherorganisationscreatedaTNCFellowshipgranttosupportemergingNRENs’
attendanceatTNC(seephoto).
• ApanelsessionshonethespotlightonwomeninICTtohighlighttheimportanceofgender
equality,andanimpromptuBoFwasheld,inwhichNREN-WiT(WomeninTechnology)was
founded.
Morethan70percentofparticipantsoftheconferencewhorespondedtotheevaluation
questionnairerateditveryhighly.ThemostpopularsessionswerethoseonAAI,storage
andclouds,andstrategy
andregulations.
TNC15–bringingthecommunitytogether
GÉANT activity highlight
SURFnet, NORDUnet, SWITCH and FCT|FCCN kindly contributed funding to invite representatives from geographic regions across the world. Each region nominated attendees who could benefit from the GÉANT community support. From left to right: Carlos Guzman (CEDIA), Almaz Bakenov (National Information Technology Center Kyrgyzstan), Gyöngyi Horváth (GÉANT), Cathrin Stöver (GÉANT), Hean Samboeun (CamREN), Reiner Campillo (RADEI), Douglas Kunda (ZAMREN)
45
5•Runninganefficient,cost-effectiveorganisation
GEANT’s aim is to get the most out of every contribution that our members, funders and
partners put in. This attitude, to work in an as efficient manner as possible and to ensure that
money is well spent, is reflected in many ways, not least in our continuous improvement
programme.
Continuous improvement programme
Threemajorprojectstookplacewithintheorganisationtopursueefficienciesandcostsavings,
withoutcompromisingservicequality:
• network-relatedsystemsandenhancements;
• corporatesystems,processintegrationandstreamlining;
• sharingwithpartners.
Network-related systems and enhancements Overtheyear,networkoptimisationachievedperannumcost-efficienciesof400,000euros,witha
further580,000savedthroughre-procurementofroutes.Planswerealreadybeingactionedthatare
settodelivernetworksavingsinGN4of2.1millioneurosperyear.Othercost-savingmeasureswere
thereplacementoftheNetworkMonitoringSystem(NMS)andthealienwavetrial.
Replacement of the NMS
ThepurposeoftheNMSistoidentify,diagnoseandfixanynetwork-relatedissues.Thenewsystem
thatwasintroducedin2015ismoreaccurateinidentifyingtherootcauseofanincident.
• Theaveragerepairtimeisimprovedsinceengineerscanbemoreefficientinrestoringtheservice.
• Thecommunitybenefitsfromgreaterlevelsofserviceavailability.
• Thenewdatawarehouseandreportinginfrastructureallowsautomaticandadhocreportstobe
generatedandpublishedtothecommunity.
46
• Thiskeepsthecommunitybetterinformedandallowstheorganisationtoreviewthebusiness
intelligencetoassistincapacityplanningandsubscriptionupgrades.
-Hamburg alien wave trial – Sharing infrastructure costs
GEANTusers’dataiscarriedontheGÉANTbackboneover500Gbpssuperchannels.Thesechannels
aremadepossiblewiththeuseofInfinera’sintegratedphotoniccircuittechnology.In2012,GÉANT
rolledoutourEurope-widedarkfibrefootprint,litusingtheInfineraDTN-Xequipment.Weare
nowfocusingonachievingthebestpossiblevalue
fromthisinvestment.In2015GÉANTworkedwith
SURFnettocarryoutafieldtrialcarryinganalien
wave500GsuperchanneloverSURFnetfibre.This
trialwassuccessfulandshowedthatsuperchannels
can be carried over alien waveswithnoreductionin
performanceonthesharedspectrum.
The GÉANT dark fibre (green) and the SURFnet dark fibre (yellow) between Amsterdam and Hamburg
We determined that this parallel infrastructure offered an opportunity for the GÉANT community to save on costs by removing one fibre route and then sharing the spectrum on the remaining fibre. This system has been successfully transitioned into production and is used to carry a 100Gbps IP trunk and 3 x 10Gbps services. Our operational experience is showing that the performance of this infrastructure-sharing arrangement is equivalent to GÉANT-owned dark fibre.
The figure at the right shows a break-even level of 3 x100G services. Once service exceed this point, the spectrum-sharing solution (grey line) is cheaper than even the most competitive commercial solution available on the market (brown line) and is much cheaper than the GÉANT-owned fibre (blue line).
47
Corporate systems, process integration and streamliningEfficient governance
ThefirstefficiencybroughtinbytherestructuringofTERENAandDANTELtd.isourconsolidated
andunifiedgovernancestructure,whichunifieswhatwasformerlyembracedbytheNREN-PC,the
TERENAGeneralAssembly,theDANTEshareholders,andtheGN3plusAssembly,eachonewithits
respectiveExecutiveBoard.Atthesametime,theGÉANTgovernancehasstreamlineditsstructure
ofcommitteesandclarifiedtheauthorityofthemanagement.Onaday-to-daybasisin2015,staff
throughouttheorganisationconductedanumberofintegrationprojectstoprovideincremental
savingsacrosstheboard.
One GÉANT web presence
InNovember2015thenewGÉANTwebsitewasrolledout,replacingtheinterimGÉANTAssociation
Over-the-network for IP trunks
Inthepast,IPtrunksintheeastofEuropewerebuiltasshowninFigure0.1,where
theIPtrunksfollowthefibreanddaisychaintherouters.Thisarchitecturewas
simple,butdidnotdeliverthemostefficientuseofrouterinterfaces.Theavailability
ofthePXM(a200GEthernetswitch“onablade”intheInfineraDTN-X)card
meansthatitisnowpossibletorapidlyright-sizetheIPtrunksbetween100G
interfaces.
Figure0.2showstheplannedIPtrunkstobebuiltontheeasternringusingthePXMcard.Bybuildingthetrunks
tofollowthetrafficdemandratherthanthefibre,thecostofrouterinterfacesisreduced.Becausethesolution
usesa100GbpsinterfacebetweenthelocalrouterandtheDTN-X(InfineraDWDMequipment),theIPtrunks
canberapidlyre-configuredtorespondtochangingdemands.
Figure 0.2: Implementation of IP trunks using PXM
Figure 0.1: GÉANT IP trunks in the east of Europe
48
websiteandseparatesitesforDANTE,TERENAandtheGÉANTProject.Thenewresponsivewebsite
combinesalltheelementsofthetwocompaniesintoonesite.AsGÉANTdevelopsitsportfolioof
servicesandactivities,thissitewillbethecoreresourceforallitsactivities,andactasagatewayto
directsitevisitorstootherweb-basedandonlineresources.
Single point of contact
GÉANTstreamlinedtheinteractionwithNRENs,providingthemwithasinglepointofcontactfor
informationandservicerequests,helpingtomaintainveryhighsatisfactionlevelswiththePartner
Relations Service.
GÉANT Central Authorisation Management System
TheGÉANTCentralAuthorisationManagementSystem(CAMS)providesanelegantsolutionto
manageaccessrightsforthe530GÉANTProjectparticipants.Inthepast,GÉANTProjectparticipants
hadtorememberdifferentsetsofcredentialstoaccessthoseservices.Thankstofederatedidentity,
participantscannowlogintomostoftheseservicesusingthecredentialsissuedbytheirhome
organisation.Thisaddressestheauthenticationissuesverywellbutnarratesonlyhalfofthestory;the
term,'identitymanagement',isincompletewithoutproperauthorisationmanagement.
TheGÉANTCAMSaddressesauthorisationmanagementbycentralisingauthorisationdata,butatthe
sametime,decentralisestheaccessmanagementforthesedata.ThisapproachnotonlyallowsGÉANT
servicestofocusonthecorefunctionalitywhileleavingaccessrightsmanagementtothesystem,but
atthesametimereducesoverheadonthecentralIT.
Projectparticipantsandothercommunitymembersbenefitfromthesystem;onceregisteredwith
thesystemthroughinvitation/self-enrolment,theycanaccessGÉANTservices,suchastheProject
Intranet,SYMPA,andtheWikiseamlessly.
Tofurtherenhancecost-effectiveness,GÉANTCAMSintegratesnicelywithSharePoint2013.
ThesystemdemonstratesoneofveryfewimplementationsavailableworldwideforSharePoint2013,
ActiveDirectoryFederationServiceandGrouperintegration.OnceallGÉANTservicesareintegrated
withGÉANTCAMS,wewillbeabletoprovideanexcellentuserloginexperienceforallGÉANT
services.Theintegrationworkisstillinprogress.
49
Otherachievementsintheareaofraisingefficiencyincluded:
• theimplementationofanEnterpriseServiceBus(ESB)tools,whichallowcorporatesystemsto
exchangeinformation;
• theimplementationofadatawarehouseandreportarchitecturetofacilitatetheacquisitionof
businessintelligence;
• theinitiatingofstorageandDNSreplacementprojects.
Sharing with partnersAdvanced North Atlantic consortium
GÉANTengagedwiththeAdvancedNorthAtlantic(ANA)consortiummembersinordertobeable
toparticipateandassistinestablishingsharedoperationalandfinancialprocesses.TheresultingANA
partnershipwasestablishedasoneofthepathfinderexercisesfortheGlobalNetworkArchitecture
(GNA)initiatedbytheGlobalNRENCEOForum.TheANApartnershipmodelsorganisational,business
andtechnologicalcollaborationforamoreintegratedglobalnetworkarchitectureforresearchand
education.
Copernicus – achieving cost reductions and supporting NREN services
AspartoftheCopernicus project,theGÉANTBusinessDevelopmentteam,togetherwithDFN,
achievedanagreementinJune2015withESAtoconnecttheirdatacentreinGermany,whichhosts
SentineldatatoGÉANTviaDFN.ContractswereexchangedinOctober2015andtheconnection
becameoperationalinearly2016.
Priortothis,Copernicustrafficwasbeingcarriedviacommercialnetworks,makingitmore
challengingforNRENsanduserstoaccess,andtheagreementtodistributeviaGÉANTtook
significantlobbyingeffort.
Benefits
• Forthefirsttime,researchandeducationusersworldwideareabletoaccesstheCopernicusdata
viaGÉANTandNRENs,resultinginhighperformanceaccessatlowcost.
• GÉANTNRENsnolongerhavetopayforcommoditytrafficinordertoreceivetheCopernicus
datathattheirusersrequire.
50
• TheagreementhasbroughtnewbusinesstoDFN,whoreceivedafinancialcontributionfromESA
forconnectivity.
Multi-domain monitoring
TheconvergedperfSONARmulti-domainmonitoringservicehasbroughtwiderdeployment(over
1400endpointsbytheendoftheyear)andhasreducedoperatingcostsforeachpartner,whilst
CMon–theMultiDomainCircuitMonitoringSystem–hasmovedfromdesigntopilotphase,with
deploymentsinfourNRENs.
51
2015 2014 (restated)
€000 €000
Fixed assets
Tangiblefixedassets 6,165 7,684
Current assets
Cashatbankandinhand 42,949 33,843
Debtors 8,405 9,373
51,354 43,216
Total assets 57,519 50,900
Group equity
General reserve 7,338 7,047
SecretaryGeneralreserve 301 301
Futuresubscriptionreserve 13,750 10,900
21,389 18,248
Provisions 1,004 1,105
Short-term liabilities 35,126 31,547
Total equity and liabilities 57,519 50,900
Financial statements
52
2015 Budget 2015 2014 (restated)
€000 €000 €000
Income
GÉANT project 32,698 32,203 31,631
DevCo projects 4,312 4,920 6,323
Membershipfees 1,141 1,148 1,121
Otherincome 1,565 1,453 1,221
GÉANT World Service 971 657 753
Interest received 35 50 40
40,722 40,431 41,089
Project expenditure 25,154 30,767 28,172
Gross operating result 15,568 9,664 12,917
Other expenditure
Personnel costs 9,043 8,481 7,905
Otheradministrativecosts 2,762 2,583 2,690
Restructuringcosts 387 572 439
Depreciation 187 208 243
Financial expenses (112) 33 (192)
Total other expenditure 12,267 11,877 11,085
Non-operatingincome - - 301
Taxation 160 - 973
Result before appropriation 3,141 (2,213) 1,160
Transfer to specific reserve
SecretaryGeneralreserve - - (301)
Futuresubscriptionreserve (2,850) 2,200 (2,450)
Result 291 (13) (1,591)
53
ThefinancialresultsoftheGÉANTAssociationarepreparedaconsolidatedbasisandincludethe
resultsofitssubsidiary,GEANTLimited,aprivatelimitedcompanyincorporatedintheUnited
Kingdom.
2015wasthefirstfullyearofoperationsundertheGroup’srestructuredgovernancethatcommenced
inOctober2014aftertheAssociationacquiredamajorityshareholdinginGEANTLimited.The
Associationcurrentlyowns95.31%(2014:93.43%)ofthesharesinGEANTLimited.
Totalincomein2015amountedto€40,722k(2014:€41,089k)andisinlinewithbudgetprojections
(€40,431k).Projectexpenditureamountedto€25,154k(2014:€28,172k)andislowerthanbudget
projections(€30,767k)duetoacompliancechangeinthedepreciationpolicyadoptedbythe
Association’sUKsubsidiaryandotherunderlyingnetworkcostreductions.
Otherexpenditureamountedto€12,267k(2014:€11,085k)representinga2%adversevariance
againstbudget(€11,877k)primarilyasaresultofexchangeratefactorscausedbyunderlyingGB
poundpayrollandrentalcostsasaresultoftheGroup’soperationsintheUnitedKingdom.
Againstadeficitbudgetof€2,213k,andasaresultofdecreaseinprojectexpenditures,theyear2015
endedwithanetsurplusbeforeappropriationof€3,141k(2014:€1,160k),resultinginatransferof
€2,850ktothefuturesubscriptionreservetobeusedforinvestmentsinfutureyears.
ActivitiesdescribedinthisAnnualReportreceivegenerous
supportfromtheEuropeanCommissionthroughDG-CONNECT,
DG-DEVCOandDG-NEARco-fundedprojects.