EUMEDCONNECT2 FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions – November 2008
What is EUMEDCONNECT2?
EUMEDCONNECT2 is the regional research and education network for the Mediterranean, connecting researchers, academics and students in seven countries across North Africa and the Middle East. Via direct links to the pan-European network GÉANT, EUMEDCONNECT2 connects users to their counterparts in Europe and the rest of the world, providing the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries with a gateway to global collaborative research and education.
How is EUMEDCONNECT2 funded?
EUMEDCONNECT2 is part-funded by €4 million from the European Union’s regional European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI South), representing around 50% of the total cost of the network. The remaining funds are provided by the Mediterranean partners.
EUMEDCONNECT2 and its services are free at point of use.
How many users are connected to the EUMEDCONNECT2 network?
EUMEDCONNECT2 currently supports a community of around 2 million users at approximately 700 institutions in 7 countries. Its direct links to Europe’s GÉANT network create a potential user base in excess of 35 million.
What are the origins of EUMEDCONNECT2?
EUMEDCONNECT2 builds on the success of its predecessor project, EUMEDCONNECT. Launched in 2004 under the European Commission’s Euro-Mediterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) programme, which aimed to develop an inclusive Information Society in the region, EUMEDCONNECT created the first regional data-communications network for the Mediterranean. The project officially ended in December 2007 but, thanks to the ongoing interest of the European Commission and the commitment of the project partners, a smooth transition to EUMEDCONNECT2 has been ensured. The importance of the network’s seamless continuation was highlighted at a major EU-MED e-infrastructures event in Brussels in October 2007 and further endorsed at the EUROMED ICT Ministerial Conference held in Cairo in February 2008.
Why do we need EUMEDCONNECT2?
EUMEDCONNECT2 maintains in a more cost-effective way the high-bandwidth connectivity established by its predecessor and continues to serve the growing number of projects for which the network has become an essential infrastructure. The advanced connectivity allows researchers to run data-intensive applications at speeds that are unavailable or unaffordable over the commercial Internet.
EUMEDCONNECT2 promotes digital inclusion, providing wider access to cutting-edge network resources and reducing the digital disparity between the Mediterranean and Europe. It also furthers regional integration by linking research and academic communities throughout the Mediterranean.
Many of the applications supported by this state-of-the-art infrastructure have a high societal impact, thus contributing significantly to population welfare and sustainable development in the region.
In addition, many of today’s global challenges, such as climate change or epidemic diseases, require global collaboration to tackle their specific local impacts. EUMEDCONNECT2 fully integrates Mediterranean researchers into the global Information Society to help identify and deliver local solutions.
How is EUMEDCONNECT2 organised?
EUMEDCONNECT2 is a network of networks. It provides international connectivity between national research and education networks (NRENs) in the region. Each NREN provides connectivity to universities and research centres in its own country. EUMEDCONNECT2 connects partner NRENs across the Mediterranean to create an integrated regional research community.
How is the EUMEDCONNECT2 network constructed and managed?
EUMEDCONNECT2 has dedicated points of presence (PoPs) at Catania, Sicily and at Nicosia, Cyprus, and operates at speeds between 34 Mb/s and 155 Mb/s. Routing equipment at the two hubs has been provided by Juniper Networks. Some partners are connected to the network virtually via links through the GÉANT network. The network is managed 24x7 by a dedicated network management centre based in Paris.
Does EUMEDCONNECT2 interconnect with other world regions?
EUMEDCONNECT2 has fast, direct connections to the pan-European GÉANT network. GÉANT in turn has connections to other world regions, including North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, thus creating a global gateway for research collaboration.
How does EUMEDCONNECT2 represent value for money?
Like the original EUMEDCONNECT network, EUMEDCONNECT2 has been brought into service quickly and efficiently, using an established European model for research networking. Without EUMEDCONNECT2, many partners could not secure cost-effective access to high-bandwidth capabilities. The integrated approach to international connectivity offers significant savings compared to deploying multiple connections between individual Mediterranean partners and Europe. Building upon the success of this regional backbone concept, similar initiatives have been launched in other parts of the world, notably TEIN2/TEIN3 in Asia-Pacific and ALICE/RedCLARA in Latin America. EUMEDCONNECT2 is co-ordinated on behalf of the European Commission by DANTE, which has experience in building and operating research and education networks around the world.
Who are the project partners?
The EUMEDCONNECT2 Mediterranean partners are Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia.
Other NRENs in the Mediterranean region can collaborate with EUMEDCONNECT2 partners via their direct GÉANT2 links.
The EUMEDCONNECT2 project is co-ordinated by DANTE, a not-for-profit organisation that also operates regional networking projects in other parts of the world.
Supporting DANTE in the project are the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of Cyprus (CyNet), France (RENATER), Greece (GRNET), Italy (Consortium GARR) and Spain (RedIRIS).
How long will EUMEDCONNECT run?
Launched in 2008, EUMEDCONNECT2 is scheduled to run until late 2010.
What plans are in place for networking after EUMEDCONNECT2?
The project partners are currently investigating the feasibility of extending the project beyond 2010, to build on the achievements of EUMEDCONNECT2 and its predecessor, and to address the question of sustainability. They plan to identify new funding sources and to develop organisational models to ensure long-term stability and continuity. Efforts are underway to set up a regional consortium – CAMREN – which will ultimately assume complete responsibility for the network.
What activities will use this network?
Any type of not-for-profit research and education activity can use the network. It is especially suited to data-intensive, bandwidth-hungry projects requiring reliable high-speed connectivity, but can equally be used to provide fast access to conventional web-based resources from all over the Mediterranean and other parts of the world. With 2 million potential users, the applications of the network are almost limitless.
What activities currently use this network?
The network is fundamental to data-intensive research that addresses problems to which the Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable, such as desertification and water shortage; it helps promote sustainable farming and supports innovative ways of providing broader access to healthcare and education.
Bandwidth-hungry applications include climate change research and impact studies, e-health, e-learning and e-culture. Many of these applications require distributed (grid) computing resources and can draw on the powerful EUMEDGRID, which is enabled by the underlying network infrastructure.
Many of the applications supported by EUMEDCONNECT2 are of high societal impact, bringing direct benefit to the general population.
How successful do you think the EUMEDCONNECT2 network will be?
EUMEDCONNECT2 builds on the proven success of its predecessor network. It maintains the high-bandwidth connectivity in a more cost-effective way, offering an improved and expanding service to a growing number of projects.
Since its launch in 2004, EUMEDCONNECT has been used by a steadily increasing number of activities, with many research disciplines coming to rely on the connectivity. EUMEDCONNECT2 has seamlessly migrated existing users onto its network, ensuring uninterrupted service for projects for which the network has become an essential infrastructure. A further increase in the number of collaborative programmes making use of the network is expected, and there is the potential to extend EUMEDCONNECT2 to other countries in the region. Creating closer working relationships with Europe will build international research communities to tackle issues of global importance and enable researchers in the Mediterranean to contribute to ground-breaking world-class projects.
Why should research and education communities use EUMEDCONNECT2?
EUMEDCONNECT2 is dedicated solely to the purpose of supporting research and education. It delivers high-bandwidth connections that are free from the congestion and expense of commercial Internet traffic. Once their host institution is connected, researchers, academics and students can benefit from advanced connectivity at no extra cost.
How do I connect to EUMEDCONNECT2?
To benefit from the EUMEDCONNECT2 infrastructure, prospective users should contact their local NREN, to establish whether their host institution is already connected. If it is, they are ready to use EUMEDCONNECT2! If it isn’t, the national network will advise them of the application procedure. Contact details for each NREN are supplied on the EUMEDCONNECT2 website: www.eumedconnect2.net
