Geneva 2005 ARENet 1

September 25-27 2005 CERN

Geneva, Switzerland

International Workshopon

African Research and Education Networking

Oliver B. Popov

CEENetCentral and Eastern European Networking

Association

Geneva 2005 ARENet 2

Unique events

• July 2002 – a unique type of Workshop – NREN Creation “Flying” Workshop• Three countries and three cities in seven

days• Czech Republic (Prague) – CESNet• Poland (Warsaw) – NASK/POL-34• Estonia (Tartu) – EENet

• NREN Creation Cookbook (in Russian and English)

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Champions above all

• “But most importantly perhaps one needs product champions. For only these individuals can create all other conditions.”

Peter A. J. Tindemans (Yaroslavl, June 1998)

• The participants of this Workshop are champions – past, present and future

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• 24 member NRENs (countries)• Offices in Vienna (AT) and Warsaw (PL)• General Assembly and Management Committee• Secretariat• www.ceenet.org• The primary mission of CEENet is to co-ordinate

the international aspects of the academic, research and education networks in Central and Eastern Europe and in adjacent countries.

CEENet

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• NATO (www.nato.org)• Public diplomacy

division• Information Security

Panel (formerly Computer Networking Panel - NIG, ANW and ARW)

• Open Society Institute (OSI www.osi.org)

• Cisco Systems

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Wrong directions ...but

• Fragmented efforts – partial or no results at all (everyone wants to be in charge)

• Present and work in a unified and coordinated way – nothing looks more discouraging than to see signs of internal fighting and disagreement

• Problems with no regulation or lack of “real” one, transparency, corruption

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Misplaced competitive behavior

• Ministries and agencies (government)• Research and education community (users)• International organizations• PNOs and other ISPs (including virtual

Telecom monopolies), but one must work together – so talk to the “devil”

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Misconceptions

• NREN will disturb the market• Unfair to the other providers due to the

exclusivity of the well- defined user groups• NREN has a lot of “political” power and

influence

• Lack of political capacity, will and awareness amounts to a cocktail of arrogance, ignorance and incompetence

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Outside assistance

• Should• Identify the right people• Be very focused• Start with equipment, expertise, and

training – catalytic funding• Help in lobbying and raising the awareness

• Localization of the standards does not mean producing multiple standards

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Goals and Objectives

• Similar problems similar solutions• Three types of educational events, where we

discuss, exchange and disseminate ideas and best practices on

• The technological know-how for building the essential infrastructure

• Management strategies and policy issues for stability and sustainability

• Strong belief that sustainability = technological competence + managerial vision + appropriate policies + public awareness

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Sustainable NREN

• Appropriate with respect to • Human resources • Technology

• Nationally based, internationally oriented

• Inclusive (if possibly include many segments in addition to the primary users – the academic community)

• Find young and vigorous politicians and educate and entice them for your work – stress content and public recognition, not fiber, copper, switches, …

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Sustainable NREN

• Extensions• NGOs (they have helped to start up many

academic networks)• Community networks (non-for-profit) • Individual users (such as independent artists)• All of this may require a small fraction of your

bandwidth, but will provide you with ample support and fiercely fight for your existence

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Workshops on Network Technology

• Strategy• Always have a combined team of lecturers

• From the CEE countries for promoting self-sufficiency, recognition and continuous training

• From the EU and USA for state-of-the-art updates • To expose the participants to the leaders in the ICT

industry, best possible and yet affordable and suitable technology

• To explore the intended and unintended social and humanistic consequences of the ICT and to reassert the maxim that we

Connecting machines… to connect people

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Workshops on Network Technology

• EngiNe, NetKnows, WirEd – three tracks• Warsaw – 1995, Budapest – 1996, Zagreb –

1997, Bratislava – 1998, Budapest – 1999, Budapest - 2000, Budapest – 2001, Budapest 2002, Budapest 2004, Ohrid 2005

• Never limited to its members – for the last two years we have had participants from Afghanistan

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Workshops on network technology

• In 2002, 2004, and 2005 technology workshops with a single track – EngiNe tailored to a specific audience – an educational extension of the Silk Project (satellite, wireless, and security topics respectively)

• First Virtual Silk Connection became operational during the workshop in 2002

• The side-effect from the WirEd track - Running a pre-workshop distance courses in all three tracks – a very effective instrument both for the selection and the preparation of the potential participants for the f2f event.

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Management and Policy

• Workshops on Management• Yaroslavl – 1998 (co-organized with TERENA)• Ohrid – 2000 • Zagreb – 2002• Chisinau - 2004

• Workshops on Policy• Tartu – 1997 (CEENet Tartu Declaration)• Tbilisi – 1999 (CARENA and MoU)• Bishkek – 2001• Flying – Prague, Warsaw, and Tartu - 2002• Baku – 2003• Varna – 2003 (with TERENA and SEEREN)

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Projects

• Co-operates with Cisco Systems on the expansion and upgrading of their Cisco Networking Academies in the CEE and FSU regions

• ALaRI – recruitment and selection of students for a graduate programme at the UL in embedded engineering systems

• @DULINE – Distance education in creation and design of distance education courses and tutoring on-line

• ICT4ICT – modeling ICT diffusion in CEE and developing countries and validation via pilot projects in two countries of SEE and Caucuses

• It is about to start the EU funded Porta Optica

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Declarations, MoUs and statements

• CEENet Tartu Declaration (May, 1997)• CARENA and MoU (Tbilisi, April 2000)• SEE and MoU (Thessalonica, October, 2000)• Varna Statement (September 2003)

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The Essence of the CTD

• Seven parts • Preamble• The challenges• The current situation • The goals and the objectives to be reached• The means to achieve these objectives• The list of problems, and• The set of recommendations

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Recap and lessons learned

• With respect to CEENet• Keep it small in everything except your

aspirations• Modest membership and reasonably sized

administration• Focus on few goals and strive for excellence in

achieving them• Induce fairness – one vote per one member• Replicate your success models • Educate on all levels – from network engineers and

administrators, to policy and decision makers.

• We have “educated” more than thousand people and build an invaluable human network

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Recap and lessons learned

• ICT, networking and the Internet are mosaic of efforts – so you need every stone to complete the picture.

• Technology has indeed the potential to induce a leapfrog effect – in 1992 both Poland and Czech Republic had between 19.6 and 56 Kbps for their Internet connectivity – today their NRENs are among the leaders in deploying and using fiber

• Sense of “déjà vu” – 25.09.05• Never forget that networking is about sharing

and communication is about understanding, and finally

• Hope that the old guard of politicians will fade into history, and will be replaced by the “Internet” generation of decision makers.

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Many thanks to

• The organizers, in particular the hospitality of CERN and Olivier Martin on the prep work

• The sponsors• The participants for their attention