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Supporting Research with Collaborators in Hard to Network Parts of the World -

Track session and BoF notes from Fall 2002 Internet2 Member Meeting

Session took place on Monday, October 28, 2002
4:45 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Wilshire Grand, Los Angeles, CA

BoF followed on Tuesday, October 29, 2002
7:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.

The track session featured presentations from three projects working to connect researchers with data, facilities and other researchers in Africa, southeastern Asia, southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Technology used, lessons learned and a dialogue on expanding advanced networking connectivity for the worldwide research community will be discussed. Presenters included:

• Julia Royall, National Institutes of Health
• Cathrin Stover, DANTE
• Suguru Yamaguchi, WIDE Project, Japan

Presentations from session included:

• "Relationships and Partnerships Supporting Reesearch with Collaborators in Hard to Network Parts of the World: An African Example" [ppt] - Julia Royall, National Institutes of Health
• "Supporting Research with Collaborators in Hard to Network Parts of the World - European Activities" [ppt] - Cathrin Stöver, DANTE
• Suguru Yamaguchi, WIDE Project, Japan

A follow up BoF took place. Presentations made during the BoF included:

• "Satellite Project" [htm] - Bob Dixon, OARnet
• "NATO Science Committee Computer Networking Panel" [ppt] - David MacNeil, CANARIE
• "The Network Startup Research Center" [ppt] - Zita Wenzel, USC, NSRC

NOTES from BoF

• Heather Boyles of Internet2 provided an introduction to the session and described goals as:
  • sharing information about initiatives underway in various areas
  • sharing information about facilities/data/researchers that need to be reached
  • discussing any possible role for the Internet2 community in this area.

Several people volunteered information or comments on the issues:

• Micah Beck from the University of Tennessee described his interest in deploying storage technology not reliant on tcp. He pointed out that places particularly lacking in bandwidth could benefit most from supplementing what bandwidth they have with storage capabilities. He said he is looking for partners in places where the technology could be particularly effective.
• Harvey Newman from CalTech said he thought first and foremost that sharing information could be a major accomplishment in itself in this area. He provided a number of illustrative charts showing the digital divide between areas being maintained. One solution may be to share model cases from areas/countries that have been able to close the gap quickly, e.g. Slovakia which transitioned from a very poor network to gigabit ethernet-based network in a few months. How do we get these stories shared?
• Bob Dixon from OARnet described the Internet2 Commons as well as a small satellite trailer which his group has built and would be demonstrated that afternoon at the USC campus. The mobile unit is using Tachyon satellite and is part of the ADEC-Tachyon project funded by NSF. Currently, it would take $50,000 to replicate. More information can be found at the website http://www.oar.net/index.cfm?PageID=78AF8EEA-577A-11D6-BCB300A0CC271CB6
• David MacNeil from CANARIE described work of the NATO Science committee and its projects in the former Soviet Union countries. The Silk Road Project covers mostly the "stan" countries of Central Asia. The project works with local institutions. A presentation is available here
  Two things are needed:
  • The structure of the project requires a partner from one of NATO countries (although no money is available for the partner)
  • Cooperation, dollars from other organizations.
• Zita Wenzel from USC and the NSRC described the work to help build national research networks in some of the countries in the Silk Road Project, and they do now partially exist in some of the countries. The project wanted to increase existence of NRNs for national and interregional cooperation. Zita didn't get time to describe in detail the NSRC activities, but she's made a presentation available here for review
• Artur Serra from InterCat2 described the World Summit on Information Society, the first part of which will be held in December 2003 under the aegis of the ITU. Artur is working in the civil society working group trying to bring the perspective of universities into the discussion. He'd like to foster collaboration and political awareness at WSIS. If anyone is interested in participating, please get in touch with Artur.
• Jim Kennedy from the Gemini Project described a success story in getting infrastructure to hard to reach places. The Gemini observatory - with sites on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Cerro Pachon in Chile - is using H.323 communications to and between the observatories now based on the infrastructure that has been put in place to the observatories (with the University of Hawaii for Gemini North and through the AMPATH exchange point in Miami for Gemini South). Their was some discussion of other observatory facilities such as the European Southern Observatory which is still using satellite although anticipating migrating to fiber based connectivity.
• Dany Vandromme from RENATER described the French Department and Territory areas that RENATER is trying to reach with networking capabilities for research and education. A presentation is available here.
  The capabilities include:
  • French Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion (DOM - Department)
  • New Caledonia, University of French Polynesia, Mayotte (TOM - territories)
• Anthony Cooper from South Africa described a project there using wireless local area network to reach remote hospitals for telemedicine. He described a need for help in convincing governments of the need for this infrastructure.

Some discussion then took place:

• Jim Williams thought the interest was obvious in the topic. He suggested following-up in the context of member meetings higher level discussions with partners/organizations of partners and bringing together coordinating agencies to sharpen their focus on how they fund some of these projects.
• Micah Beck suggested Internet2 can be supportive logistically to bring this group of people together, but then asked what the common interest was. We should formulate cogent joint interest: perhaps help in presenting to Internet2 and partner organizations the need to get to key projects/areas
• Julia Royall said she was amazed to hear about Silk Road network similarities to MIMcom project. There is a big need for research networks in hard to reach places. Internet2 can play a role in bringing together those of us doing that work; way to further that work in collegial and concerted effort. Julia suggested there are a set of issues on efficient use of bandwidth; not just throwing more bandwidth at some of these projects/areas
• There was discussion of whether information existed in summary form somewhere about what infrastructure is available/costs in different areas
• David MacNeil pointed out that bulk buying of bandwidth can be used. The Silk Road project was able to buy much cheaper than individual countries could buy.