Post on 27-Dec-2015
Research and Education Networks in Africa - An Update
Boubakar BarryAssociation of African Universities
Research and Education Networking Unit
eGY Africa Planning WorkshopAccra, 24-25 November 2010
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About the AAU
Established in November 1967 in Rabat, Morocco. Based in Accra, Ghana
200+ member institutions in all African sub-regions
General Conference once every 4 years, with election of the Board – Last GC: Abuja, May 09
Conference of Rectors, VCs and Presidents once every 2 years
Several programmes and services (QA, Mobility, Leadership and Management, HIV/AIDS, DATAD, Gender, R&E Netwg,...)
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11th General Conference in February 2005 in Cape Town, SA: four-year Core Programme approved
Prominent among other foci: support for the development if ICT for HE in Africa
Strong mandate to the Secretariat to assume focal point role for ICT initiatives for African higher education institutions
Focus on R&E Networking for collaboration and improvement of access to information and knowledge
AAU and R&E Networking (1)
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The REN UnitWith support of IDRC and PHE in Africa: set up of a REN Unit within the AAU Secretariat
Activities also funded by ACBF
Activities: Establishment of strategic partnerships Participation in relevant events Organisation of workshops (awareness raising, policy dialogue and capacity building); LEDEV Development of policy guides Clearinghouse on R&E networking and ICT policySupport to REN establishment processes in Africa
AAU and R&E Networking (2)
Strategic partnershipsCollaboration with various partners in and
outside Africa to achieve AAU goals
Many informal, ad hoc collaboration activities
Collaboration formalized with a couple of partners through MoUs:AfNOG (capacity building)
AfriNIC (number resources)
UbuntuNet Alliance (promotion of RENs)
IMPACT (cybersecurity research)
Internet2 (interconnection)
NAV6 (IPv6 deployment)
Why RENs?Provision of bandwidth for high-demanding applicationsSharing of (scarce) resources, incl. bandwidthSharing of critical applications (DNS, security, etc.)Improvement of access through blended learning (w/
eLearning applications)Reduction of telecom and travel spending through VoIP
and videoconferencing in private networkEnabler for collaboration at national and international
levelsReduction of researchers’ isolation and creation of critical
massesParticipation in global research projectsMeans for more Diaspora participation
Development in African R&E networking
Eastern and Southern AfricaUbuntuNet Alliance: established in 2005 with
support and important role of the AAUAAU appoints Chairperson of UA’s Board
Substantial progress in membership and networks development in UA (from 5 NRENs in 2005 to 12 to date)
UA taking advantage of new fibre infrastructure in the region
More important development expected next year Drivers: infrastructure development and competition,
implementation of AfricaConnect
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1.1. Eb@le (Democratic Republic of Congo)Eb@le (Democratic Republic of Congo)
2.2. EthERNet (Ethiopia)EthERNet (Ethiopia)
3.3. KENET (Kenya)KENET (Kenya)
4.4. MAREN (Malawi)MAREN (Malawi)
5.5. MoRENet (Mozambique)MoRENet (Mozambique)
6.6. RENU (Uganda)RENU (Uganda)
7.7. RwEdNet (Rwanda)RwEdNet (Rwanda)
8.8. SomaliREN (Somalia)SomaliREN (Somalia)
9.9. SUIN (Sudan)SUIN (Sudan)
10.10. TENET (South Africa)TENET (South Africa)
11.11. TERNET (Tanzania)TERNET (Tanzania)
12.12. ZAMREN (Zambia)ZAMREN (Zambia)
UbuntuNet Alliance Members (June ’10)
Development in African R&E networking (2)
West and Central AfricaStill lagging behind in the continent (no NREN, until
recently)
Efforts necessary at both regional and national levels
Process of establishing WACREN started end 2006AfNOG (May 2006), AAU regional workshop (Nov. 2006)
Process revived at consultative meeting held in Nov 2009 in Accra
AAU mandated to set up Task Team to drive WACREN formation process
Task Team of 5 persons, each leading a working group, established
Development in African R&E networking (3)
West and Central Africa (cont'd)Task Team and WGs looking at following issues:
Governance and admin. structure, FinancingInfrastructure and regulatory issuesImplementation strategy and partnershipsCapacity buildingContent and Applications
Request to the AAU to assist in incorporating WACREN (target: October 2010)
WACREN incorporated in August 2010 (see www.wacren.net)
GARNET (Ghana) incorporated in September 2010
Development in African R&E networking (4)
Northern AfricaFirst region in Africa to have benefited from EC
funding for connection to global REN through GEANT: EUMEDConnect
In its second phase (ending 2011)
Not really a regional REN: individual links to GEANT
Direct links between the NRENs envisaged for quite a while, but not established yet
New initiative aiming at having an pan-Arab REN: ASREN (Arab Scientific Research and Education Network)
ChallengesPopulation: ≈1,000M (15% of world population),
but:Telephone penetration: about 5% (mobile: 38%)Sub-Saharan Africa: <2%World average: ≈25%About 9% Internet penetrationWorld average: 27%North America: nearly 80%Only 2% of IP address space (IPv4)Only 0.2% of world’s total Internet capacity
Challenges (2)Generally, lack of clear and coherent national ICT Policies
taking into account both regional issues and R&E specific needs
Inadequate telecommunications regulatory environment Lack of competition in many countries Use of costly technologies (satellite)High cost of bandwidth (average of US$3,000/Mbps/month)
Deficient power supplyHuman capacity development (training and retention of
highly skilled network engineers)
Opportunities
Decision makers, telecom regulators and private sector (telecom operators) more receptive to REN message
Diversification of players for international connectivity (competition)
Bandwidth prices are coming down as new infrastructure get active (e.g. in Eastern and Southern Africa)
Willingness of development partners to support REN initiatives
Support from international REN community/family
What next?Awareness raising - what can infrastructure and
advanced communications services do to enhance education, research and social benefit
Policy dialogue among all stakeholders and players
Identify champions and disciplines that can immediately benefit
Convince governments and funding agencies of the wisdom of investing in infrastructure, applications and collaboration environments
Start small, scale up; not all institutions will be ready at the same time