THE MAGAZINE FROM THE GÉANT COMMUNITY | ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

HUMAN BRAINPROJECTGÉANT AND THEWORLD'S MOSTAMBITIOUSNEUROSCIENCEPROJECT

CONNECT INTERVIEW:WE SPEAK TOMARYLINE LENGERTOF THE EUROPEANSPACE AGENCY

DATA INTO MUSIC:TRANSFORMINGVOYAGER SPACECRAFTDATA INTO AMUSICAL DUET

FEDERATINGSERVICES:EDUGAIN FURTHEREXPANDING ITSGLOBAL FOOTPRINT

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CONNECT is the quarterly magazine from the GÉANTcommunity; highlighting key areas of interest, updates on the project and its vital work supporting European researchand education. We give insights into the users who dependon the network, and the community that makes GÉANT whatit is. We welcome feedback at connect@geant.net

Published by the GÉANT (GN3plus) project, under the NA2 Communications Activity Task 1 | Editors: PPaauull MMaauurriiccee ((TTaasskk LLeeaaddeerr)) aanndd TTaammssiinn HHeennddeerrssoonn ((MMaarrkkeettiinngg OOfffificceerr))..

Hyperlinks: CONNECT is produced as a digital magazine also made available in print. To view the digital edition and benefit from hyperlinks to further information, please see: http://connect.geant.net

For digital or printed subscriptions/unsubscriptions email connect@geant.net

eedduurrooaamm®® iiss aa rreeggiisstteerreedd ttrraaddeemmaarrkk ooff TTEERREENNAA aanndd aallll ootthheerr bbrraanndd,, ccoommppaannyy aanndd pprroodduucctt nnaammeess aarree ttrraaddeemmaarrkkss ooff tthheeiirr rreessppeeccttiivvee oowwnneerrss..

continues its Q&A series (page 8)with a look at the team that helps toensure GÉANT project participantsare fully equipped to keep pushingthis excellent project forward; and wespeak to the software developers(page 26) who recently honed theirskills at a very special summerschool!

Finally, preparations are underwayfor GÉANT’s participation in theTERENA Networking Conference(TNC2014) which welcomes a globalaudience, many of whom areinterconnected by GÉANT, and atwhich representatives of our OpenCall program – an initiative to driveinnovation and engage with industry –will be present. For more information,see page 14 and the upcoming Aprilissue of CONNECT which will focuson TNC.

Until then, we hope you enjoy thisissue and as always we welcomeyour feedback. You can reach us atconnect@geant.net

more diverse range of disciplines andapplications: from data sonificationtechniques which turn data intosounds to improve detection (page 3);low latency technology to enablemusicians across the world to playtogether as if standing inches apart(page 6); to nuclear fusion energyresearch to seek sustainable energy(page 48).

It’s therefore more important thanever that GÉANT continues to beguided by users, so CONNECT spoketo Maryline Lengert of the EuropeanSpace Agency (page 4) to betterunderstand her role as Chair ofGÉANT’s International User AdvisoryCommittee (IUAC) and what it meansfor the project. The IUAC also includesa representative from the Human BrainProject, an EU flagship initiative whichis helping to put Europe at theforefront of research, and which wefeature on page 10 of this issue.

Behind the network, services andinnovation are the people who makeGÉANT what it is. CONNECT

EEddiittoorrssPaul Maurice & TamsinHenderson

WWEELLCCOOMMEE FFRROOMM TTHHEE EEDDIITTOORRSS

Welcome to the firstCONNECT of 2014! Thisyear promises to beanother busy one, as

GÉANT continues its ‘excellent’ work(see page 2) in supporting Europeanresearch and innovation, linkingresearchers, students and innovatorsacross the world with the bestconnected network, and increasinglysupporting them with advanced user-focused services from the GÉANTServices Portfolio (see pages 16-20).

More and more research projects,universities and institutes are comingto rely on GÉANT and cover an ever

CONNECT NEWS

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CONNECT NEWS

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As an accessible way to demonstrate the power of highspeed networks for research and education, GÉANTincluded a fascinating demonstration at the NASA booth,at Supercomputing (SC13) in November. DomenicoVicinanza, who is GÉANT’s Network Services ProductManager and also holds the role of Arts and HumanitiesManager combined data sonification techniques and alove of music to transform 36 years’ worth of NASAVoyager spacecraft data into a fantastic musical duet.

WWHHAATT IISS VVOOYYAAGGEERR?? Launched in 1977, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are nowdecommissioned but still recording and sending live datato Earth. They continue to traverse different parts of theuniverse, billions of kilometres apart. Voyager 1 left oursolar system last year, becoming the first human-madeobject to enter the previously unexplored interstellarspace. It is claimed to have travelled further than anyone,or anything, in history. To learn more, search on NASAVoyager.

Commenting on the duet, Domenico said: “I wanted to compose a musical piece celebrating the

Voyager 1 and 2 together, so used the samemeasurements (proton counts from the cosmic raydetector over the last 36 years) from both spacecraft, atthe exact same point of time, but at several billion kmapart. I used different groups of instruments and differentsound textures to represent the two spacecraft,synchronising the measurements taken at the same time.”

The result is an up-tempo string and piano orchestralpiece. You can listen for yourself at GÉANT’s SoundCloudchannel: https://soundcloud.com/GEANT-sounds

PPRROOFFIILLEE RRAAIISSIINNGG The musical score has now been made available throughGÉANT’s social media sites, and the world’s media haveflocked to the story – including coverage in the UK’smainstream titles The Guardian, The Telegraph and theDaily Mail (a combined audience of nearly 40 million), aswell as on BBC Radio 2 and the Today Programme onBBC Radio 4. Further afield, coverage appeared in techstalwarts GigaOm, Wired, ANSA, New York Times Scienceand many more, representing a further 5 millionreadership.

The popularity of this story (and Domenico’ssonification of the Higgs-like Boson) reinforces the public'scontinued fascination with science and outer space, andhow, by making high profile scientific events such asthese more accessible and fun, it raises the profile of bothscientific discovery as well as underlining the role ofGÉANT and other high speed networks in supporting them.

HHOOWW WWAASS IITT DDOONNEE?? 320,000 measurements were first selected from eachspacecraft, at one hour intervals. Then that data wasconverted into two very long melodies, eachcomprising 320,000 notes using different samplingfrequencies, from a few KHz to 44.1 kHz.

The result of the conversion into waveform, usingsuch a big dataset, created a wide collection ofaudible sounds, lasting just a few seconds (slightlymore than 7 seconds at 44.1kHz) to a few hours (morethan 5 hours using 1024Hz as a sampling frequency).A certain number of data points, from a few thousandto 44,100 were each “converted” into 1 second ofsound. Using the grid computing facilities at EGI,GÉANT was able to create the duet live at the NASAbooth at Super Computing 2013 using its superfastnetwork to transfer data to/from NASA..

PictureCourtesy of NASA

0302 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

For the second year running, theGÉANT project, which operatesthe high-speed data networkserving 50 million research and

education users across Europe, hasreceived ‘Excellent’, the highestpossible rating in a EuropeanCommission review. This puts GÉANTin the top 10% of all EC-fundedprojects.

The review focused on the GÉANTproject (GN3) which ran from 2009 to2013, and is succeeded by the currentGÉANT project, GN3plus.

The GÉANT network is among theworld’s most advanced networkinginfrastructures. It interconnectsEurope’s National Research andEducation Networks (NRENs) andprovides worldwide connectivity tosome of the biggest science projectsof our time: from nuclear fusionresearch to sequencing the humangenome, health, high-energy physics,deep-space research, food securityand geohazards.

Research and innovationincreasingly relies on massiveamounts of data and the remote teamswho collaborate on that data, makingthe 500Gbps GÉANT network and itsassociated services vitally important.

Matthew Scott and Niels Hersoug,Joint Project Managers of GÉANTsaid:

“The last four years have seen astep change in how the network andits services facilitates innovation withinthe European R&E community. Thisgives us the ability to remain one stepahead of growing data needs. It is anincredible achievement from all theproject participants and fantastic tohave all that effort formallyrecognised.”

The achievements of the GÉANTProject (GN3) have been summarisedin a 4 page paper – to view a PDFcopy visit the Media Centre atwwwwww..ggeeaanntt..nneett

It articulates a 2020 vision for Europeanresearch and education networking andidentifies an action plan. The report isused to strongly influence EuropeanUnion (EU) policy regarding ICT and therole and continued development of e-Infrastructures in achieving the vision ofthe European Research Area.

05

CONNECT NEWS

MMEEMMBBEERRSS OOFFTTHHEE IIUUAACC AARREE::CCEERRNNThe European Organization forNuclear Research

CCLLAARRIINNCommon Language Resourcesand Technology Infrastructure

EELLIIXXIIRR Unites Europe’s leading lifescience organisations inmanaging and safeguarding themassive amounts of datagenerated every day by publiclyfunded research

EEMMBBLLThe European BioinformaticsInstitute

EESSAAEuropean Space Agency

EEUUDDAATT European Data Infrastructure

EEUUMMEETTSSAATT Monitoring weather and climatefrom space

HHuummaann BBrraaiinn PPrroojjeeccttUnderstanding the human brain

IITTEERRThe search for fusion energy

JJIIVVEEJoint Institute for VLBI in Europe

PPRRAACCEE Partnership for AdvancedComputing in Europe

CONNECT NEWS

GÉANT exists to facilitateinnovation and discoverythroughout Europe. Theprojects’ terabit network has

transformed the way researcherscollaborate, and is now as much a focusfor European innovation as the researchitself.

To ensure this vast, transformativeproject continues to stay one stepahead of user needs, GÉANT hasbrought together 11 key members fromthe international research community toform the International User AdvisoryCommittee (IUAC).

Meeting every quarter, the IUACprovides valuable external user input toassist with the development of futurepolicies and practice within GÉANT. Itsgoal? To give European researchers thecutting-edge infrastructure they need forharnessing big data in their search toaddress society's grand challenges.

Here Maryline Lengert, Chair of theIUAC explains how.

PPLLEEAASSEE TTEELLLL UUSS AABBOOUUTTYYOOUURR KKEEYY OOBBJJEECCTTIIVVEESSFFOORR TTHHEE IIUUAACCLooking at the committee composition, I think that the International UserAdvisory Committee could be quiteinstrumental in supporting GÉANT inbeing recognized as an innovationengine for connectivity. I expect thegroup to provide challengingrequirements to the GÉANT project,leading to edge of technology servicesfor the research environment. Thiscommittee can also help GÉANT toprepare for the Big Data explosion andexplore the way towards long-termsustainability.

WWHHAATT DDOOEESS TTHHEE IIUUAACCMMEEAANN FFOORR TTHHEE GGÉÉAANNTTPPRROOJJEECCTT??The IUAC has been newly created. It’sthe first time the GÉANT project hasinvolved users in its governance, whichwill bring a new perspective withconcrete challenging use cases.

The committee covers knowledgeand expertise of large internationalcollaborative projects and institutionsthat request the implementation ofmany-to-many cross-border (acrossnational borders) relationships. Theserequirements call for a new connectivityservice paradigm.

As a group, we can help inprioritising the investment required toreach our connectivity needs, proposingtrade-off between innovation andextension, between network andservices.

FFRROOMM AA UUSSEERRPPEERRSSPPEECCTTIIVVEE,, WWHHAATT DDOO YYOOUU SSEEEE AARREE TTHHEEBBIIGGGGEESSTT CCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESSFFOORR GGÉÉAANNTT??The biggest challenge I can see as aninternational user, is to have seamlesscross-border connectivity that allows usto access computing power (includingGrid, Cloud and HPC), data repositoryand tools spread all over the planet. Thisfederated environment will put strongrequirements on connectivity, securityand integrity, in particular in the big datacontext.

As stated in the GEG report* –Knowledge without Borders: “GÉANTshould act as the Europeancommunications commons where talentanywhere is able to collaborate with theirpeers around the world throughinstantaneous and unlimited access tothe right resources”.

As members of the IUAC members,we will do our best to contribute, helpingGÉANT to reach this ambitiousobjective.

WWHHAATT AARREE YYOOUURRTTHHOOUUGGHHTTSS OONN TTHHEEFFUUTTUURREE OOFF RREESSEEAARRCCHHNNEETTWWOORRKKSS AANNDD HHOOWWTTHHEEYY SSUUPPPPOORRTT UUSSEERRSS??Research networks require connectivityof large data volumes over largedistances. Future research networksneed to bring together globally spreaddata sources to be usable securely onresearch work benches, at any time.Despite the ever increasing datavolumes, high speed data access needsto be ensured.

Future research networks will notremain in an isolated R&D environment.Research and industry need to worktogether to benefit the European Marketand to bring sustainability in the researchsector. There should be activetechnology transfer from research to theICT industry to help build a secureoperational network relying on bothpublic and private assets.

Finally, the Internet of things willsoon enter the research domain callingfor the need for integration of wirelessand wired-connected data transfer, aswell as machine to machinecommunication. A lot of challengingwork ahead of us!

*The GÉANT Expert Group (GEG) report“KKnnoowwlleeddggee WWiitthhoouutt BBoorrddeerrss” waswritten by independent group of expertsappointed by the EuropeanCommission.

04 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

CONNECT NEWS

IINNNNOOVVAATTIIOONN BBYY DDEESSIIGGNNGGÉÉAANNTT NNEETTWWOORRKK SSHHAAPPEEDD BBYY SSCCIIEENNCCEE

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Interviewby TamsinHenderson,MarketingOfficer, DANTE

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07

FEATURE

LLooLLAALoLA (LOw LAtency audio/visualsystem) was developed by GARR - theItalian National Research and EducationNetwork (NREN) - and its cohorts.GÉANT helped deliver the project’svision and today, LoLA and partners canbeam performers to each other with alatency of 20-50 milliseconds; roughlythe time it would take the sound toreach a musician on one side of a stageto the other, but with video.

eeMMUUSSIICC eMusic is a project coordinated by theCzech NREN, CESNET, under theGÉANT Innovation Programme. It aimsto demonstrate a novel use of theGÉANT bandwidth on demand (BoD)service to support e-Learning andremote access to cultural performances.It is hoped the impact will openpossibilities for teachers and students,and artists in general. New educationparadigms could be developed,integrating traditional face-to-facetraining with remote sessions. This iswhere the global exchange ofexperiences can truly widen horizons.

AASSTTRRAA In 2006, GÉANT worked with theASTRA (Ancient instrumentsSound/Timbre ReconstructionApplication) project which recreates thesounds of ancient musical instrumentsusing highly data intensive physicalmodelling programs.

GÉANT provided the bandwidthrequired to harness the power of gridcomputing to greatly accelerate themodelling process, bringing to life theEpigonion and Barbiton to produce afascinating insight into music history.

DDAATTAA SSOONNIIFFIICCAATTIIOONNGÉANT recently demonstrated thepower of its networks by sonifying datafrom NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2spacecrafts, to an awe-struck audienceat the NASA booth at Supercomputing2013.

The project used data sonification -representing data by means of soundsignals – itself increasingly used toaccelerate scientific discovery; fromepilepsy research to deep spacediscovery. See page 3 for more.

MMIIXXIINNGG AARRTT AANNDDTTEECCHHNNOOLLOOGGYY Even world-class artists’ are increasinglyembracing digital art. David Hockney,free of having to carry paints and pencilseverywhere he goes is now exhibitinghis iPad art. Add high-speed networksto the mix and you have a powerful toolconnecting artists with multiplecomputing resources.

Partly developed by artists, partly byengineers, e-Art reimagines therelationship between people and art andallows studios to tap into geographicallydispersed, rich and varied talent poolswithout the need for a fixed location.

HHIIGGHH--SSPPEEEEDDNNEETTWWOORRKKSSRREESSHHAAPPIINNGG OOUURRWWOORRLLDDThe unstoppable juggernaut thatis Massive Open Online Coursesor MOOCs, is another way inwhich high-speed networks arereshaping our world. Learning isno longer only for those who canafford it, or for those who liveclose to a specific institution.Here virtual communities shareresources, using peer review orcrowd sourcing for guidance, in away that is flexible, open and free.

And, with technology anddata needs continually changingand improving, we’re likely to seeeven bigger changes as the worlddiscovers new ways ofcollaborating through the sharingof data over high-capacitynetworks. It seems we’re onlyjust scratching the surface withwhat can be creatively andtechnologically achieved.

HHOOWW DDOOEESS GGÉÉAANNTT SSUUPPPPOORRTT ee--AARRTTSS??

06 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

FEATURE

AALLLL TTHHEE WWOORRLLDD’’SS AA SSTTAAGGEE!!HHIIGGHH--SSPPEEEEDD NNEETTWWOORRKKSSAARREE TTRRAANNSSFFOORRMMIINNGGGGLLOOBBAALL AARRTTSS AANNDD HHUUMMAANNIITTIIEESS

MMEERRGGIINNGG AARRTT AANNDDTTEECCHHNNOOLLOOGGYYE-Culture and e-Arts are digitalising thetraditional arts, bringing us video art, netart and even ‘serious gaming’. Peoplecan interact across the globe in realtime, sharing vast amounts of digitalinformation such as manuscripts,artefacts or paintings.

From remote auditions to expertmaster classes, just think of thepossibilities! World-class orchestras cancollaborate with laptop musicians acrossdifferent time zones. Beyoncé couldperform at Glastonbury without steppingon a plane! Carbon footprints willreduce. Air miles will drop. And let’s notstop at music. Remote, digital stagesenable dancers not only to perform butto interact with each other. Newlanguages can be developed in theperforming environment.

BBEEIINNGG ‘‘VVIIRRTTUUAALLLLYY’’PPRREESSEENNTTThe implications go far beyond arts andhumanities. Telepresence, thetechnology enabling a person to feelpresent at a virtual location, has benefitsto health (remote surgery), disasterrecovery (bomb disposal, mining),environmental research and so muchmore. The sky is the limit, in fact evendeep space research is usingtelepresence to place human dexterity in places too dangerous for the living.

In a world where resources are ever-shrinking and low-carbon livingcritical, very high-capacity networkssuch as GÉANT are closing the gapbetween those with knowledge andthose who need it, creating a globalstudio and classroom.

Have you ever tried singing Happy Birthday over Skype? It’s pretty dismal. So imaginecoordinating a live performance between groups of professional musicians in differentcontinents - made doubly nail-biting because they’re performing in front of a global audience. Oh, and did I mention they’re improvising? Noticing subtle variations in eachother’s tone and tempo is key to blissful audio rapture… or ear-splitting disaster.

Thanks to very high capacity networks such as GÉANT and high definition, low latencytechnologies, artists can now see and hear each other so well, the creative tension ispalpable. Today some truly jaw-dropping simultaneous collaborations are taking place, where distance is irrelevant and imagination the only barrier to what can be achieved. This is the future of performing arts across boundaries.

WordsTamsinHenderson,MarketingOfficer, DANTE

PictureOn-site andremotemusiciansperform togetherat TNC2013.

CONNECT INTERVIEW

WWHHYY AARREE TTHHEERREE TTWWOOGGÉÉAANNTT TTRRAAIINNIINNGGCCOOOORRDDIINNAATTOORRSS??JJiimm: We are a small but effective team.For years I have been organisingTERENA’s training events andworkshops for the research andeducation networking community. Mybackground is in logistics and eventsorganisation, and I recently attained aqualification in planning, designing anddelivering training.IIaann: My background is in learningdevelopment, with many yearsdesigning management and leadershipcourses. Our combined experience andexpertise means we can deliver effectivelearning experiences for GÉANT.

HHOOWW LLOONNGG HHAAVVEE YYOOUUBBEEEENN AA PPAARRTT OOFF GGÉÉAANNTT??IIaann: 3 years.JJiimm: I have worked for TERENA for 9years with a supporting role in GÉANT,but this is my first official project role.

WWHHAATT KKIINNDD OOFF TTRRAAIINNIINNGGDDOO YYOOUU PPRROOVVIIDDEE??JJiimm: It can be specific technical trainingor more general training for a wideraudience.IIaann: For example, in 2013 we rancourses in ‘Secure Coding forDevelopers’, to raise awareness ofcoding-related security issues; andseparately in ‘Leading High PerformanceVirtual Teams’, which gave ActivityLeaders and Task Leaders usefulleadership and communications skills.Jim: We have also recently startedGÉANT Showcase sessions. These areweekly webinars in which projectparticipants learn about different aspectsof the project. We think this can be areally useful communication tool withinthe project, and even for people outside it. Afterwards we post the videoon GÉANT TV so the wider communitycan access and learn from theshowcases. So far we've covered OpenCalls, the terabit network and eduPERT.

HHOOWW AARREE TTHHEE NNEEWWSSHHOOWWCCAASSEE WWEEBBIINNAARRSSGGOOIINNGG??IIaann: Very well! We are continuallydeveloping the format and ensuring itmeets the requirements of viewers, andof course we always welcome moretopics! JJiimm: It's potentially a really exciting wayto open up collaboration opportunitiesand to improve ‘human networking’across what is a very large project.

WWHHAATT IISS IINNVVOOLLVVEEDD IINNDDEESSIIGGNNIINNGG AA TTRRAAIINNIINNGGCCOOUURRSSEE??IIaann: Time is the most underestimatedfactor. People tend to use the 'Death byPowerPoint' approach. We're very keento move past that and for effectivetraining much more is required.JJiimm: There are a number of techniques,lots of studies and plenty of approachesto choose from. Finding the best fitaccording to the training requirementstakes time. We look at specificknowledge gaps and how best to deliverthe required messages and make themstick.IIaann: We also work with external trainersand providers to tailor courses as muchas possible to GÉANT needs.

HHOOWW DDOOEESS TTHHIISS WWOORRKKIINN PPRRAACCTTIICCEE??JJiimm: We consult Activity Leaders andthe Product and Project managementteams to assess needs, and projectparticipants have the opportunity tosuggest training. IIaann: For GÉANT services or products,we work with Activity or Task leaders todevelop a course that provides therequired knowledge transfer. All requestsgo into a 6-month rolling plan. ‘Train thetrainer’ is another part of our role, whichassists the spread of knowledge withinthe NREN community.JJiimm: We can negotiate special ratesfrom training providers and help spreadtake-up throughout the project. We canusually also help with funding fordelegates and trainers to attendcourses, hiring external trainers andcourse materials and so on.

WWHHAATT AARREE TTHHEE MMAAIINNCCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESS??IIaann: I think it's the fact that GÉANTproject participants are spread acrossEurope, and therefore we have to findlocations to suit the maximum numberof trainees. Creating space in people’sdiaries so we can help them design andrehearse effective, engaging trainingsessions can also be a challenge. JJiimm: Communication is also a big issue.We need to allow plenty of time forpotential attendees to hear about thecourses and book travel, so it’s anotherreason to plan well ahead.

09

WWHHAATT DDOO YYOOUUEENNJJOOYY MMOOSSTT AABBOOUUTTYYOOUURR WWOORRKK??JJiimm: The people. Thiscommunity is so broad and ismade up of some incrediblytalented people.IIaann: Working with colleaguesfrom different countries andcultures

LLAASSTT MMOOVVIIEE YYOOUUWWAATTCCHHEEDD??JJiimm: Bugsy Malone. I neverrealised how freaky the kidssinging with adult voices waswhen I first watched it! IIaann: The secret Life of WalterMitty

WWHHAATT AARREE YYOOUURREEAADDIINNGG??JJiimm: The Long War by TerryPratchet and Stephen BaxterIIaann: Bill Bryson; Notes from asmall island and Terry Pratchett;Dodger

WWHHAATT’’SS IINN YYOOUURRMMUUSSIICC LLIIBBRRAARRYY??JJiimm: Everything from jazz toclassical via Lady GagaIIaann: Most genres but I supposemainly 80’s rock Pink Floyd,Guns and Roses, Dire Straits

WWHHAATT DDOO YYOOUU DDOOFFOORR DDOOWWNNTTIIMMEE?? JJiimm: I make things in my shedand I do improvised comedy onFriday nights with easylaughs inAmsterdam, come along ifyou're ever in town!IIaann: I’m learning to play guitarand drums, really upsetting theneighbours in the flats where Ilive!

QQ&&AA TTRRAAIINNIINNGG AANNDD SSHHOOWWCCAASSEESS

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CONNECT INTERVIEW

08 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

FEATURE

Earlier this year, during apresentation at theInternational SupercomputingConference (ISC'13), Markus

from Germany’s Jülich ResearchCentre (FZJ) provided some insightsinto the complexities surrounding thisepic undertaking. He spoke about hiswork on simulating a circuit of thewhole-brain network and discussedhow specialized software can helprepresent the neurons and synapsesof the full circuit.

Diesmann is working on simulatingthe chattering that occurs between the86 billion interconnected neurons. Ineach cubic millimeter of brain tissuethere are already around 100,000neurons, and each one makes contactwith around 10,000 other neurons. Thismeans there are around 1,000,000,000contact points (synaptic junctions) thatallow neurotransmitters to pass toanother cell.

“The challenge is to organize thecomputer memory in such a way thatone can represent all these contactpoints,” explains Diesmann. “Eachnerve cell receives 50% of contactsfrom inside this cubic millimeter, butthe other 50% come from outside theirlocal network.” He continues: “Thismeans if you want to make usefulstatements about the activity in thebrain you also have to look at a largerarea. As each neuron is interactingwith 10,000 others, a simulation on asupercomputer will have the neuronsdistributed over different computenodes, and network communicationmust be highly optimized.”

Diesmann is fortunate to haveaccess to Europe's second fastestsupercomputer, JUQUEEN, a 5petaFLOPS system housed at FZJ,and has also used Japan’s Ksupercomputer, which in late 2011became the first computer to top 10petaFLOPS. “With K one can roughlygenerate 109 neurons, but the humanbrain has 1011 neurons, so withpresent technology you need acomputer 100 times larger than K,”says Diesmann. “The brain is of coursemore complex than our models andnobody knows how much detail we willhave to put into the model and whichlevel of description is sufficient.” Headds: “If you assume this level ofdescription, we require an exascalesystem and we are only two orders ofmagnitude away”.

However, the architecture of asupercomputer is still considerablydifferent to a natural neural networkbecause the brain’s wiring is in threedimensions. Compare the 10,000contact points of a neuron with thethree contact points of a basicelectronic transistor. “There is a hugeproblem in getting enough wiring onthese boards to represent a biologicalneural network,” says Diesmann. “Nohardware technology presentlysqueezes enough cable into thevolume, and this is one of the keytechnical barriers that we have today.”Only software simulations can map the3D connectivity of the brain on to theexisting standard computertechnology hardware.

NEST (NEural Simulation Tool) isopen-source software that canrepresent many neurons and theircontact points. It focuses on thedynamics of neural systems, ratherthan on the exact morphology ofindividual neurons. A computationalneuroscientist can representmathematical models of nerve cells,

““TThhee HHuummaann BBrraaiinnPPrroojjeecctt wwiillll bbee aa lleeaaddeerr iinn tthhee ccrreeaattiioonn ooff nneewwtteecchhnnoollooggyy ffoorr ssiimmuullaattiioonn,,ffoorr vviissuuaalliizzaattiioonn aanndd ffoorrbbiigg ddaattaa hhaannddlliinngg iinnEEuurrooppee.. TThhee HHuummaann BBrraaiinnPPrroojjeecctt wwiillll bbeeccoommee aammaajjoorr ddrriivveerr ooff IICCTT iinnEEuurrooppee..””

Prof. Thomas Lippert, Institute forAdvanced Simulation, JülichSupercomputing Centre, leader of the High Peformance Computingsubproject

synapses, and network structure in thecomputer and the software takes careof efficiently parallelizing the simulationon laptops, high performance clusters,or supercomputers. At the technicallevel there are two stages: the creationof the network and the simulation.Neurons in the central nervous systemgenerate voltage spikes called actionpotentials, with the timing of thesepulses transmitted to the other neuronsvia the synapses. NEST is ideal forbuilding networks of these spikingneurons.

The number of NESTpublications has exploded in the lastfive years. The NEST Initiative wasrecently set up as researchersbecome increasingly interested in full-scale networks, rather thanconcentrating on individual neurons orsmall circuits. The software still cited inthe majority of publications though isNEURON, which focuses on thedetailed description of individualneurons and small networks. NEST isefficient at memory usage and hasclever communication strategies forshipping the activity data from onenode to another. The idea is that youcan solve a few neurons in detailin NEURON, then analyze a largernetwork using NEST. The simulationengines can also be coupled for multi-scale simulations by MUSIC, whichallows simulators to exchange dataduring run-time. Using these softwaretools, Diesmann recently co-authoreda paper showing that the differences infiring activity in different cell types canbe understood on the basis ofanatomy.

11

FEATURE

TTHHEE HHUUMMAANN BBRRAAIINN::AA RREECCUURRRREENNTT NNEETTWWOORRKK OOFF NNEETTWWOORRKKSS

The Human Brain Project is an ambitious EUFlagship initiative to build a working computermodel of the human brain by 2023. The project,which will bring together over 80 universities,thousands of scientists, and unspeakably largeamounts of data in an enormous collaborativeeffort, will have a potentially massive impact inareas such as neuroscience, medicine and indeedfuture computing technology. The fastestsupercomputers that currently exist cannot getclose to simulating the brain’s ability to docomplex multiple tasks, and in doing so utilisemassively more energy. If future computing canlearn from the human brain, the impact on ICTcould be game-changing. The substantial budgetof €1.2 billion – half funded by the EU – shouldgive the HBP a head start over the US BrainResearch through Advancing InnovativeNeurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative announcedearlier this year.

For more information, see:wwwwww..hhuummaannbbrraaiinnpprroojjeecctt..eeuu

Editor’s note: The data handling requirements of aproject such as the Human Brain Project areimmense, and typical of such a large scalecollaboration. Expectations are that the HumanBrain Project will rely on Europe’s 500GbpsGÉANT network to speed data to collaborators,thereby helping this exciting project to accelerateits research results. Ralph Niederbergerrepresents the Human Brain Project on GÉANT’sInternational User Advisory Committee, helping toprovide the perspective of large and importantusers in shaping the GÉANT network.

Scientists from across the globe met in Switzerland inOctober for the launch of the Human Brain Project. Billed asthe world’s most ambitious neuroscience project, it seeks todevelop methods that will enable a deep understanding ofhow the human brain operates. The Human Brain Project,coordinated by Henry Markram of Ecole PolytechniqueFédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, has 135 partnerinstitutions and is co-funded by the EU with an estimatedbudget of €1.2 billion. The knowledge gained through theproject is expected to be a key element in developing newmedical and information technologies.

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10 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

Business Continuity is anincreasingly important elementof an organisation’s strategy.Recovery of IT infrastructures,

data, assets and facilities must beplanned for, so that a business canquickly resume mission-critical functionsin the event of natural, man-made orenvironmental events.

DANTE, the organisationresponsible for managing andmonitoring the day-to-day operations ofthe GÉANT network, operates from twoseparate locations in Cambridge, UK.The GÉANT Operations Centre is in aseparate location to the main DANTEoffices but less than a kilometre away.

If the Operations Centre were tobecome non-functional, disruption couldbe mitigated by moving to DANTE’smain offices and vice versa. But wheredoes the scope of a Disaster Recovery(DR) plan start and end? What wouldhappen if there was a major incident thatmade both offices non-operational?How would DANTE continue to provideservices that are critical to its NRENpartners and their research andeducation users for an extended period of time?

This was the scenario described bya panel of experts at the 2012 EuropeanCommission GÉANT project review.

Since then, a lengthy and complexDR exercise has been quietly underwayand at last year’s EC review, the resultsof the new strategy were well received.They are now being integrated into allprojects managed by DANTE.

Anand Patil tells us why you need asteady nerve to be Chief InformationOfficer at DANTE.

DDeefifinniinngg tthhee ssccooppee –– HHoowwlloonngg iiss aa ppiieeccee ooff ssttrriinngg??We provide 99.999% availability thatsupports our National Research andEducation Network (NREN) partners andlarge e-Science projects across Europe,such as CERN and EUMETSAT. Soproviding an uninterrupted production

service to the 50 million users reliant onthe network represents a vast challenge.The ability to monitor and manage thenetwork is critical to our businessoperations and therefore needs to behighly available.

When you try to consider everypossible disaster scenario, fromunreachable buildings to staff shortages,and lost data and hardware: they allimpact business continuity. We had tofactor in every underlying system andtheir inter-dependency - some of whichwere quite surprising - and look at theworst case situation for each. We alsohad to take into account HR factors andthe procedures required in the event of adisaster.

Our objective was to be able to runand manage the GÉANT network,without offices, for up to six months; thetime it would take to rebuild everythingfrom scratch. The scope of a DR plancan be infinite so we had to limit ourscope to the defined scenario namelythe loss of all our Cambridge offices.

SSoo hhooww ddiidd yyoouu ggoo aabboouutt tthhee pprroojjeecctt??We identified the people and coresystems essential for the day-to-dayrunning of the network and for theGÉANT operations centre staff tofunction effectively: email, instantmessaging and mobile communications,tools to monitor and manage thenetwork, etc.

Then the underlying dependenciesthat support these core systems. Forexample, the ConfigurationManagement Database (CMDB) whichprovides an inventory for our monitoringsystems and alarm managementdashboard. All of the above andeverything in between had to be madehighly available.

It was an obvious decision to movemission critical GÉANT applications andservice to the ‘cloud’. Despite our twolocations, we needed to widen thescope. So now, our OSS systems aredistributed across Europe. For instance,CMDB is based in France and theNetherlands. Two always-on systems,constantly replicating the other's data,so if one breaks down the other isavailable immediately.

There are still some systems that arein a single PoP. Anything that still has asingle point of failure is potentiallyvulnerable, for example if an entire POPgoes down or becomes isolated. So oursecond phase is to make these fewremaining systems highly available.

SPOTLIGHT

RReeccrreeaattiinngg aa rreeaall--lliiffee iissoollaattiioonn tteessttOnce we felt we had a robust design,next came the real test. Physicallydisconnecting the two offices tosimulate a real world disaster scenario,was a fairly terrifying but necessary step.

However sure you are of something,you can never be certain until you putthe theory to the test! It was a dauntingtask for the entire DANTE operationsteam, who were strategically located ininternet cafes, homes and offices acrossthe region ready to run through adetailed checklist on the day.

Thankfully only a couple of minorthings failed, but most were a successand we were able to iron these out intime for a repeat exercise the followingweek - yielding a 100% positive resultachieving the targeted ‘scenario’resiliency. It was such a relief to see allour hard work paying off.

We are now at a stage where wecan conduct proactive soft tests everysix months and hard tests once a yearto check on status. DR has become aneven more important part of ourstrategic planning now, right fromprocurement through to configurationchanges.

BBaacckk--uuppss ffoorr sscceennaarriioorreessiilliieennccyyIn the event of a disaster, we can use ameeting room in the London offices ofJanet - the UK NREN - as a temporaryoperations centre. Our goal is to be upand supporting the entire Europeaninfrastructure within just 4 working hours.

As I mentioned before, DRcascades to many areas. If someoneloses their phone or leaves their laptopat work when disaster strikes, we needstand-by options that can be configuredquickly while fitting around staff. Everydepartment could be affected, whichcould ultimately impact the businessoperation.

EEvveerryytthhiinngg iiss cclleeaarreerr nnoowwWe were constantly surprised at findingnew dependences as we went along, soit has been an invaluable exercise inimproving our capability to provide anuninterrupted service. We have identifiedour single points of failure. Delivered arisk assessment of our ability tomanage. Of course we haven’t solvedeverything but we are aware of themnow. We have a dependency system inplace, so naturally our impact analysis ismuch better. Everything is clearer now.

13

CONNECT CAUGHT UP WITH ANAND PATIL, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE, DANTE TO LEARN ABOUT DISASTER RECOVERY (DR) AT GÉANT.

TTHHEE GGÉÉAANNTT DDIISSAASSTTEERRRREECCOOVVEERRYY PPRROOJJEECCTT

WWHHAATT WWOOUULLDD HHAAPPPPEENN IIFF……

SPOTLIGHT

12 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

15

SPOTLIGHT

These speakers will be in goodcompany, as the list of keynotepresenters shows. TracyFuthey will address challenges

in bringing R&E into the cloud and neweducational 'mechanisms’; BarendMons will talk about big data andinformatics; Claire Boonstra will tackle‘education for the future’; StephenFarrell will report IETF’s response topervasive monitoring; Lord DavidPuttnam will talk about ‘Digital Citizensof Tomorrow’; and Martyn Dade-Robertson will present hiddendimensions of the web in strikingartworks.

The full TNC2014 schedule is nowavailable online at tnc2014.terena.org.

NNEETTWWOORRKKIINNGG WWIITTHH TTHHEEWWOORRLLDDTNC is widely considered to be the bestopportunity for experts and managersfrom research and education networkingorganisations, universities and industryrepresentatives to meet and exchangeideas. Last year, 650 visitors fromaround the globe attended, breaking allprevious records. The theme‘Networking with the world’ is thereforeperfectly suited to catch the spirit ofTNC2014.

EEAARRLLYY--BBIIRRDD DDIISSCCOOUUNNTTUntil 24 February it is possible to registerat a discounted price of € 550;thereafter registration will cost € 650.

PPAARRTTIICCIIPPAATTEE IINN TTNNCC22001144!!It is still possible to submit ideas forposter presentations and lightning talks.Students will also be invited to submit

poster proposals in a competitionsponsored by Cisco Systems and theInternet Society: the ten bestsubmissions will be rewarded with freeattendance at TNC2014, includingfinancial support for travel. The deadlinefor submitting posters, student postersand lightning talks is 16 April 2014.

There is also the opportunity to showdemonstrations or exhibits at TNC2014– contact: ttnncc22001144@@tteerreennaa..oorrgg

SSPPOONNSSOORRSSHHIIPPCompanies that want to gain exposurein, and build relationships with theEuropean research and educationnetworking community can sponsorTNC2014. Contact Gyöngyi Horváth:HHoorrvvaatthh@@tteerreennaa..oorrgg or +31 20 530 4485.

All registration, sponsorship andsubmissions information can be foundon the TNC2014 website:ttnncc22001144..tteerreennaa..oorrgg.

WordsKarim Mostafi,CommunicationsOfficer, TERENA

PictureMarinaVermezović,head of thedepartment foruser services ofAMRESdelivering apresentation inthe sessionFederation byDesign, atTNC2013.

Photo credit:TERENA

eduroam is aregistered trademarkof TERENA

14 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

GGÉÉAANNTT TTOO BBEE WWEELLLLRREEPPRREESSEENNTTEEDD AATTTTNNCC22001144

SPOTLIGHT

T he annual TERENA Networking Conference (TNC) is a great opportunity for GÉANT to showcase its activities and touch base with the research and educationnetworking community. At TNC2014, in Dublin, Ireland, 19-22 May, GÉANT will again play a significant role. GÉANT will contribute to the event with multiple papersin a ‘distributed session’. These will cover topics on networking architecture, testbed-as-a-service, monitoring, advanced networking, flexgrid, SDN virtualnetworks and applications, mobility and mobile security, eduroam, simplifyingfederation deployment, fighting network threats, cloud services, and lots more.

17

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November saw GÉANT inDenver at the annual SuperComputing event (now in its25th year) with over 10,000

attendees, this event is a majorshowcase for the latest innovations inhigh performance computing andnetworking.

At the booth, a demonstration of theBandwidth-on-Demand service showedHigh Definition TV services transmittedseamlessly across NREN networks, andthe GÉANT backbone from Europe tothe USA. This showed the ability toconfigure multi-domain Bandwidth-on-Demand services for high performance,time sensitive services. Thedemonstration used commerciallyavailable hardware and software totransmit HD video from Copenhagenand Dublin to Denver across the GÉANTBandwidth on Demand service.

Facilities such as this could be used totransmit HD video of lectures,demonstrations or performances toremote viewers without the need forexpensive hardware infrastructures.

“With its recently extended globalreach and multi-domain support,Bandwidth on Demand can offer a widerange of research teams cost-effectiveconnectivity for their internationalprojects,” Tangui Coulouarn Bandwidthon Demand Task Leader, GÉANT.

NNSSII 22..00 OOPPEENN FFOORR PPUUBBLLIICC CCOOMMMMEENNTTHistorically, connections acrossnetworks (including services such asBandwidth on Demand) have beenreserved and provisioned in a variety ofways. The most common approach ismanual provisioning – typicallyperformed by a network engineer. In

WWoorrddssKarl Meyer,Product Marketing andCommunicationsOfficer

recent years, networking communitieshave developed tools and protocols toautomate this process and to allow theuser or application to participate directlyin the creation process. Examples areOSCARS in the US and GLambda inJapan. These automated provisioningsystems, while being developedindependently by different groups havecommon elements, but are not fullyinteroperable.

The purpose of NSI is to define astandard protocol that will allow all ofthese systems to interoperate. NSI aimsto provide a protocol and environmentthat supports the management ofconnections that transit multiplenetworks operated by differentproviders. The NSI is a web-servicebased API that operates to deliver multi-domain circuits. NSI is made up of asuite of services, these include theConnection Service, Topology Serviceand the Discovery Service.

The NSI working group with theOpen Grid Forum has released the NSIConnection Service v2.0 for publiccomment. This is available athhttttpp::////rreeddmmiinnee..ooggff..oorrgg//pprroojjeeccttss//eeddiittoorr--ppuubbccoomm//bbooaarrddss//1188. The deadline forcomments is 15th April and commentsare welcome from across thecommunity.

NNEEWW BBOODD WWEEBBSSIITTEETo help promote the use of Bandwidthon Demand throughout the GÉANTcommunity a new website has beenlaunched at hhttttpp::////bboodd..ggeeaanntt..nneett. Thisprovides users with a much improvednavigation and a fresher look and feel.

SERVICES

CCAAMMPPUUSS BBEESSTT PPRRAACCTTIICCEERRUUNNSS SSEECCUURRIITTYY TTRRAAIINNIINNGG

On 6 December, the GÉANTCampus Best Practice(CBP) working groupsuccessfully gave security-

related training to a large group ofnetwork security experts from the EastEuropean network community. Theevent, held in Tbilisi, Georgia washosted by the local NREN, GRENA.

CBP team authors gave excellentlectures during the half-day session, andtalked about important topics such assecuring service access with DigitalCertificates, the legal aspects of WLANNetworks and provided an update on‘Centralized Cloud Firewall’.

To demonstrate the value of GÉANTservices to users, the CBP team alsohosted a presentation of GÉANTtechnologies including a mobileeduroam hotspot.

The training was organised inconjunction with the 11th CEENGINEtechnology workshop that was heldfrom 4-7 December. The event co-organized by CEENET/CEENGINE andGÉANT provided a number ofpresentations on security technologies,policies and general matters relevant toNRENs for over 60 participants from 16countries, with the majority representingEaP NRENs. This combining of eventsallowed the attendees from regionalnetworks, campuses and NRENs tohear about security themes in a broadcontext. The audience was activelyengaged in the CBP session and askedmany questions.

As a result of the workshop, furthersimilar training, including deepertechnical hands-on training activities,has been requested by EasternEuropean NRENs and the nextworkshop has been scheduled for endof May 2014 in Sofia, hosted by theBulgarian NREN (BREN).

WordsNadia Sluer,TERENA

PictureTbilisi, Georgia

Further informationMore information about the workshopand about the Campus Best Practiceactivities can be found on the GÉANTCBP webpageshttp://www.geant.net/Network/Campus-Best-Practice/

Campus Best Practice –sharing experience andexpertise across theR&E communityCBP aims to address key challenges for European campus networks. The CBPteam does this by organisingworking groups and providingan evolving and to-the-point setof best-practice documents(BPDs) for the community. Dissemination of results on a European level is a key objective.

16 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

SPOTLIGHT

19

SERVICES

SSUUCCCCEESSSSFFUULL EEDDUUPPEERRTTTTRRAAIINNIINNGG AATT EEGGIIDDEEMMOONNSSTTRRAATTIINNGG BBEENNEEFFIITTSS OOFF TTRROOUUBBLLEE--SSHHOOOOTTIINNGGPPLLAATTFFOORRMM TTOO AALLLL NNEETTWWOORRKK UUSSEERRSS

In September, GÉANT organised awell-received eduPERT trainingworkshop at the European GridInfrastructure (EGI) Technical Forum,

to provide users the support needed toimprove and troubleshoot end-to-endnetwork performance themselves. Thisis the first time eduPERT training hasbeen organised outside of the NationalResearch and Education Networks(NRENs) bringing the benefits to a wider community.

With scientists and researchersmore and more reliant on high-speednetworks to share and store data acrosscampuses and even continents, poornetwork performance can drasticallyimpinge output and drain resources.

MMOOSSTT NNEETTWWOORRKKIINNGGIISSSSUUEESS HHAAPPPPEENN IINN TTHHEE‘‘LLAASSTT MMIILLEE’’Nearly all degradations in networkperformance can be narrowed down tothe end of chain, occurring within theuniversity or laboratory and often on thelaptop or computer itself.

eduPERT is part of GÉANT’scommitment to helping network usersget the best performance from theirconnections. By providing a federatedPERT (Performance Enhancement and

Response Team) and a forum to shareknowledge, skills, tools and bestpractice to solve end-to-endperformance issues, this approach ishelping to grow the PERT community.

Alessandra Scicchitano, eduPERTTask Leader, said:

“We recently showed how one smallconfiguration on a user’s laptopincreased network speed by 20%. Thistype of knowledge sharing goes a longway to dealing with everydayperformance issues for scientists andresearchers.

By joining the eduPERT communityresearchers improve their end to endperformance experience and their abilityto monitor and troubleshoot the majorityof issues themselves. As a federatedcommunity, every piece of knowledge ispooled, incrementally improving theGÉANT service offering as more people join.“

WWoorrddssAlessandraScicchitano,eduPERT Task Leader

“I found the eduPERT trainingpertinent and useful. In thefuture, it would be interestingto have a two-level trainingsession: a 'beginner' level anda more 'advanced' level. The latter could addressfurther issues on the purenetwork layer, like switchingand routing technologies and performance, MTUsettings etc."

Gianfracco Sciacca, EGIresource centre manager atAEC-LHEP, University of Bern

"The eduPERT training givenat EGI Technical Forum inMadrid was useful andthorough. It covered differenttopics from how to tune theend host to how to measureperformance of the network.

I learned different thingsduring the training that I caneasily apply to my daily joband that can help me toreach better performance."

Miguel Gila, HPC SystemEngineer, CSCS Swiss NationalSupercomputing Center

EEDDUUPPEERRTT IISS AANN OOPPEENNCCOOMMMMUUNNIITTYYAnyone can join eduPERT to share andgrow knowledge of the networkingenvironment. Monthly phone calls andsummer workshops are available touniversities, laboratories andinternational projects, who areencouraged to sign up.

Find out more about eduPERThhttttpp::////wwwwww..ggeeaanntt..nneett//eedduuPPEERRTT

18 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

SERVICES

The number of online servicesand amount of content madeavailable to students andresearchers internationally

through the global GÉANT eduGAINinter-federation service has grown, with50% more federations joining orparticipating in the past year. Theservices available through eduGAINrange from academic journals andresearch tools to collaborative teachingenvironments, adding value to researchand education across Europe and theworld.

The DARIAH (Digital ResearchInfrastructure for the Arts andHumanities) project aims to enhanceand support digitally-enabled researchand teaching across the humanities andarts. An effort is underway to ensure thateduGAIN is the platform for connectingall services within DARIAH, as PeterGietz of the project’s e-infrastructureteam explains: “We see eduGAIN as thebest approach to achieve a much-needed Europe-wide Authentication andAuthorisation Infrastructure withinDARIAH. eduGAIN might need some

time to fulfil all requirements of researchinfrastructures, but I am very confidentthat this will be reached in theframework of a co-laboratory effort."

Online meeting services are alsogrowing as a result of inter-federationthrough eduGAIN. The e-meetingservice offered by SUNET, the SwedishNREN, has work ongoing to get itsAdobe Connect Pro tool connectedthrough eduGAIN. These online 'rooms'will benefit participants within theGÉANT project itself, and will beavailable in conjunction with theeduCONF service, which supports andfacilitates the pan-European adoption ofhigh-quality videoconferencing. Besidesholding meetings, project participantscan join in weekly GÉANT Showcasewebinars that help to keep theminformed about the wide variety ofactivities and developments within theproject.

TERENA, the association ofEuropean NRENs, is also usingeduGAIN for all its federated memberservices. These allow the sending oflarge files and access to tools for

WWoorrddssLaura Durnford,SeniorCommunicationsOfficer, TERENA

PictureThe eduGAINvideo shows thebenefits ofparticipating,including accessfor users to awider range ofservices as morefederations inter-federate.Youtube.com/GEANTtv

conference and event planning, forcommunity data gathering, forcertification and for sharing informationin a community wiki.

While the eduGAIN Task Leader,Brook Schofield (TERENA) is pleased atthe growing number of servicesconnected through eduGAIN, he isaware that much remains to be done torealise the service’s full potential: “Thereis still a much greater number of onlineservices that are not connected, but thefederation partners, eduGAIN team andthe enabling-users task within theGÉANT project will continue to worktogether to get them onboard andprovide the greatest possible value tostudents and researchers around theworld.”

For more information, see:TERENA: wwwwww..tteerreennaa..oorrggDARIAH: hhttttpp::////wwwwww..ddaarriiaahh..eeuu//SUNET e-meetings:hhttttpp::////wwwwww..ssuunneett..ssee//EEnngglliisshh//HHoommee//SSeerrvviicceess//EE--mmeeeettiinnggss..hhttmmll

EEDDUUGGAAIINN GGRROOWWIINNGG IINNVVAALLUUEE AASS MMOORREE SSEERRVVIICCEESSIINNTTEERR--FFEEDDEERRAATTEE

“GÉANT L3VPN offers the reliabilityand flexibility of the GÉANT IP servicecombined with the additional privacy ofa Virtual Private Network (VPN).Research projects, academic institutionsand organisations needing an additionallevel of security but without renouncingto the full 100Gbps capacity GÉANTcan offer, can now rely on a VPN servicewhich is designed for them”, DomenicoVicinanza, GÉANT Network ServicesProduct Manager.

With the launch of the L3VPNservice GÉANT and its partners haveprovided research projects with avaluable new networking tool to supportinternational collaboration across thecommunity.

For more details of the L3VPNservice can be found athhttttpp::////wwwwww..ggeeaanntt..nneett//SSeerrvviicceess//CCoonnnneeccttiivviittyySSeerrvviicceess//

GGÉÉAANNTT AANNDD TTEERREENNAANNEETTWWOORRKK AARRCCHHIITTEECCTTAACCTTIIVVIITTIIEESS AALLIIGGNN

GGÉANT activities in the areaof network architecturedesign, deployment andoperations were well

represented during recent back-to-backTERENA events: the NetworkArchitecture workshop and meeting ofTF-NOC (Task Force on NetworkOperations Centres), that were held inPrague in November, provided avaluable forum for knowledge transferbetween GÉANT Service Activities (SA)and Joint Research Activities (JRA) withcommunity members who are notdirectly involved in the project.

Workshop attendees heard thelatest updates on the GÉANT corebackbone services and the new Multi-Domain Virtual Private Network servicepilot. Engineers from DANTE talkedabout GÉANT IP and GÉANT Plusnetwork convergence issues and theconsequences for network operationsperformed by the GÉANT OperationsCentre at DANTE. GÉANT activityleaders from NORDUnet presented thelatest details about the Testbed as aService activity and delved into theprogress being made with defining thenetwork architectures for Horizon 2020.In return, several NRENs gave updates

on their national network architecturedevelopments and deployments.

TTEERREENNAA wwoorrkksshhooppss aanndd ttaasskkffoorrcceess aarree ggeenneerraallllyy ooppeenn ttoo aannyyoonnee..AAtt tthhee PPrraagguuee eevveennttss,, ppaarrttiicciippaannttssiinncclluuddeedd ssttaaffff ffrroomm rreeggiioonnaall nneettwwoorrkkss,,ccaammppuusseess,, ccoommmmeerrcciiaalloorrggaanniissaattiioonnss,, NNRREENNss aanndd tthhee uusseerrccoommmmuunniittyy.. NNeettwwoorrkk rreesseeaarrcchheerrssffrroomm tthhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff PPeerruuggiiaa,, IIttaallyy,,pprreesseenntteedd tthhee AAddvvaanncceedd NNeettwwoorrkkiinnggffoorr EEUU GGeennoommiicc RReesseeaarrcchh ((AARREESS))pprroojjeecctt,, wwhhiicchh iiss oonnee ooff tthhee GGÉÉAANNTTOOppeenn CCaallll wwiinnnneerrss aanndd wwiilllleexxppeerriimmeenntt wwiitthh ssppeecciiaall CCoonntteennttDDeelliivveerryy NNeettwwoorrkk ((CCDDNN)) aarrcchhiitteeccttuurreessaanndd uussee tthhee TTeessttbbeedd aass aa SSeerrvviicceepprroodduuccttiioonn ffaacciilliittyy.. AAtttteennddeeeessaapppprreecciiaatteedd tthhiiss eenndd--uusseerrppeerrssppeeccttiivvee aatt tthhee wwoorrkksshhoopp..

GGÉÉAANNTT AANNDD TTHHEE NNRREENNSS --RREEGGIIOONNAALL NNEETTWWOORRKKSSAANNDD CCAAMMPPUUSS IITTAt the TF-NOC meeting, which followedthe workshop, DANTE presented theoperational changes and enhancementsresulting from recent migration of theGÉANT network's optical platform.Following a recent reorganisation ofDANTE Operations and the resulting

WWoorrddssPeter Szegedi,TERENA

PictureThe TF-NOCworkshop washeld in Prague

transformation of the GÉANT AccessPort Managers group into a new GÉANTService and Technology Forum, acommitment was made to ensure thatDANTE and the GÉANT OperationsCentre are represented at all future TF-NOC meetings. The plan is to co-locatethe next TF-NOC and GÉANT Serviceand Technology Forum meetings inCambridge, UK.

AADDDDIITTIIOONNAALLIINNFFOORRMMAATTIIOONN::

TERENA Network ArchitectsWorkshops:hhttttpp::////wwwwww..tteerreennaa..oorrgg//aaccttiivviittiieess//nneettaarrcchh

GÉANT services:hhttttpp::////wwwwww..GGÉÉAANNTT..nneett//SSeerrvviicceess

TERENA TF-NOC:hhttttpp::////wwwwww..tteerreennaa..oorrgg//ttff--nnoocc

GÉANT Access Port ManagerInformation (restricted):hhttttppss::////iinnttrraanneett..GGÉÉAANNTT..nneett//SSAA11//AAPPMM

21

SERVICES

IP networking has provided the R&Eworld an effective, worldwide standardfor communication since itsstandardisation in 1982. The

ubiquitous nature of TCP/IP has meantthat virtually anyone, anywhere cancommunicate and collaborate withoutthe need for separate networkconnections or multiple pieces ofsoftware. The NRENs and GÉANTsupport this collaboration through theirnational and international IP networks.These IP services have been designedto provide general purpose transitservices between participating NRENsand other approved research andeducation partners and providers.

Many research projects require theadditional security and reassurance of aVirtual Private Network to ensure dataservices are isolated from general IPtraffic. For teams requiring support formany-to-many site connectivity a Layer

3 VPN (L3VPN) offers the solution.By creating a virtual IP network, all

sites on the VPN can communicateflexibly without the need to arrangeseparate networks whilst benefiting fromthe privacy and security of a privateinfrastructure.

GÉANT and the NRENs haveworked together to provide a uniquelyflexible and powerful service. Theservice allocates unique VLAN identifiersto each L3VPN to ensure data isolationacross the GÉANT network givingassured performance and security.

L3VPNs are ideal for many-to-many(peer to peer) or one-to-many (centralsite to satellite) environments whereeach site can be allocated bandwidthaccording to its own requirements. Eachsite can support bandwidths from155Mbps to 100Gbps (subject toavailability).

WWoorrddssKarl Meyer,Product Marketing andCommunicationsOfficer, DANTE

20 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

GGÉÉAANNTT VVPPNN SSEERRVVIICCEE OOFFFFEERRSSRREESSEEAARRCCHHEERRSS NNEEWWOOPPPPOORRTTUUNNIITTIIEESS

SERVICES

GGÉÉAANNTT MMOOVVIINNGG CCLLOOSSEERR TTOO FFEEDDEERRAATTEEDD IIDDEENNTTIITTIIEESSAACCRROOSSSS AALLLL SSEERRVVIICCEESS

The GÉANT community reliesheavily on SharePoint 2013 asan intranet platform to sharedocuments, create meetings

and access important projectinformation. With almost 300 projectparticipants, collaborating acrossEurope, it is a critical resource.

More and more GÉANT participantsuse federated identities provided by theirhome institution to access services.Thanks to eduGAIN, these federated

identities could also be used to accessGÉANT services. GÉANT aims tofederate SharePoint, so users canbenefit from improved security and end-user experience using eduGAIN.

eduGAIN is the GÉANTinterfederation service simplifying accessto content, services and resources forthe global research and educationcommunity. It aims to enable thetrustworthy exchange of informationrelated to identity, authentication andauthorisation between the GÉANTPartners' federations.

Teams across the project arecurrently working to integrate SharePointwith eduGAIN as a service provider andto decentralise user accountmanagement, while managing accesscontrol centrally.

Eventually the goal is that GÉANTparticipants will have only one set ofcredentials for all federated services. For

WWoorrddssMandeep Saini,Senior SoftwareEngineer, DANTE

most it will be the set of credentialissued and managed by their homeinstitution. This will not only makeaccess easier and more consistent, butalso minimize the set of log in details toremember and it will reduce themanagement overhead of GÉANT ITgreatly.

Federating SharePoint will allowusers to benefit from single sign-on(SSO) which will significantly enhanceuser experience and encourage moreusers to actively use the GÉANT Intranetas a collaboration platform.

GÉANT is working to develop thisservice first across the intranet andeventually as a template across all otherGÉANT services requiring AAI(Authentication and AuthorisationInfrastructure). The project isprogressing well and is likely to go intofull production in May. Watch this spacefor more information in our April issue.

CONNECT INTERVIEW

FFIIRRSSTT OOFF AALLLL,, HHOOWW IISS YYOOUURRRROOLLEE LLIINNKKEEDD TTOO GGÉÉAANNTT??I'm currently working as an Access PortManager (APM) for Ireland within GÉANTand as a Senior Network Engineer withNetwork Operations within HEAnet.HEAnet is one of 41 National Researchand Education Network (NREN) partnersin the GÉANT project, and wespecifically specialise in providing internetservices to research and educationorganisations throughout Ireland.

HHOOWW MMAANNYY PPEEOOPPLLEE AARREEIINNVVOOLLVVEEDD IINN SSEETTTTIINNGG UUPPSSCCIINNEETT??SCinet is created by a group of roughly130 volunteer engineers, who setup,maintain, monitor and tear down thisnetwork. Comprised mainly ofresearchers, developers and engineersfrom industry, government agencies andacademia all over the world, it takes overa year of planning to execute, threeweeks of high-intensity installation tosetup and a week to run.

Once the conference finishes, ittakes just 48 hours to tear it all downagain. As you can imagine, with theamount of effort required, preparationsfor SC14 to be hosted in New Orleansare already well under way.

HHOOWW BBIIGG IISS SSCCIINNEETT AANNDD WWHHAATT IISS IITT UUSSEEDD FFOORR??It is considered to be ‘the world’s fastestnetwork’, but I’ll let SC13’s stats do thetalking!

SCinet:• supported the needs of 10,000+

attendees• required $21 Million in donated

equipment• delivered 884 Gigabits of WAN

capacity• utilised 94 miles of Local Fibre• provided 200+ Wireless access

points• reached 2.391 million external

IPv4 addresses and 13,790 unique IPv6 addresses

Every year these stats grow, showingthat SCinet is always delivering thefastest state-of-the-art network possible.

WWHHAATT WWAASS TTHHEE MMAAXXIIMMUUMMOOBBSSEERRVVEEDD TTRRAAFFFFIICC DDUURRIINNGGTTHHEE CCOONNFFEERREENNCCEE??The peaks were approximately 211Gbps inbound, and 215 Gbps outboundfor all links combined. These wereachieved during periods of demonstrationactivity by conference participants.

HHOOWW DDIIDD HHEEAANNEETT GGEETTIINNVVOOLLVVEEDD??HEAnet is always keen to engage inknowledge sharing. TheSupercomputing conference provides aunique opportunity to work with many

different vendors, contributors,researchers and fellow NREN engineers.It's very beneficial meeting these peoplein a 1:1 capacity so both sides canascertain each other’s requirements andpoints of view. In many cases, we'vecome across the same troublesomeissues yet have resolved them differently.

HHAAVVEE YYOOUU DDOONNEE TTHHIISS BBEEFFOORREE??Yes, this was my forth year as a memberof SCinet. Through GÉANT, we begansupporting SCinet back in 2010 andhave followed it from New Orleans, toSeattle, followed by Salt Lake City andmost recently Denver for SC13.

WWHHAATT WWEERREE TTHHEE BBIIGGGGEESSTTCCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESS IINN TTHHIISSPPRROOJJEECCTT??As you can imagine, the SCinet networkis extremely complex, utilisingequipment and components fromnumerous vendors. The interoperabilityof the equipment is always a concern;making everything work seamlessly is achallenge. Further complicating theissue is the fact that many of thecomponents loaned to SCinet areengineering prototypes or alpha/beta-level components.

Yet SCinet is committed tooperating the network with the stabilityof a production-level network—a featthat is very difficult given thecompressed time frame for operation ofthe network. The ability for SC13attendees to utilise a state-of-the-artnetwork with next generationcomponents to demonstrate theirresearch activities is part of the allure ofthe conference.

WWHHAATT DDIIDD YYOOUU LLEEAARRNN FFRROOMM TTHHEE EEXXPPEERRIIEENNCCEE??I was part of the Measurement teamwithin SCinet. Using a series ofmeasurement tools: Cacti, ESX SNMP,Ganglia, Nagios, perfSONAR , NFsenand INMON, we were able to graph and

AARREE YYOOUU GGOOIINNGG TTOO SSCC1144??Following the success of last year,GÉANT will once again be exhibitingthe power of its 500Gbps networkat Supercomputing. Withdemonstrations from some of theworld-class research organisationsworking with GÉANT, visitors canlearn first-hand how the projectsupports European and worldwidescience and research.

monitor the network.Working closely with other SCinet

teams of Routing, Security, IT Services,Wireless and WAN transports, we wereable to troubleshoot and resolveconnectivity issues for exhibitors andattendees alike.

Identifying connectivity issues andpotential bottle necks is a challengingtask in itself. Doing so within a tight timeframe across many organisations andplatforms using various languages andmethodologies requires dedicated andhighly motivated individuals. It doeshowever provide like-minded engineersthe perfect environment to exchangeexpertise in their areas with others andto learn many lessons from the rapidimplementation of such a large network.

WWIILLLL YYOOUU BBEE AATTTTEENNDDIINNGGNNEEXXTT YYEEAARR??Sadly not, after four manic yet enjoyableyears, work for our own HEAnetconference and preparation for TNC2014 will take precedence. It has been agreat experience though.

For more information about SCinet in2014 visit:hhttttpp::////sscc1144..ssuuppeerrccoommppuuttiinngg..oorrgg//sscciinneett--ccoonnttrriibbuuttoorrss

For more information about HEAnet visithhttttpp::////wwwwww..hheeaanneett..iiee//

PictureThe SCinet team

Photo creditCourtesy of ACM

23

BBUUIILLDDIINNGG TTHHEE WWOORRLLDD''SSFFAASSTTEESSTT NNEETTWWOORRKK FFOORROONNEE WWEEEEKK OONNLLYY

QQ&&AACCOORRMMAACC ÓÓ CCIIAANNÁÁIINNSSEENNIIOORR NNEETTWWOORRKKEENNGGIINNEEEERR,, HHEEAANNEETT

CONNECT INTERVIEW

Every year for the duration ofSupercomputing, the world’sbiggest conference for the highperformance computing (HPC)community, SCinet volunteers buildthe world’s most unique, very highcapacity network to supportrevolutionary applications andexperiments that are a hallmark of the conference.

During its short seven-day lifespan,SCinet becomes the fastestcomputer network, linking researchand commercial networks aroundthe globe, and providing thebandwidth required to demonstratethe advanced computing resourcesat exhibitors’ home institutions and elsewhere.

CONNECT caught up with Cormac Ó Cianáin, Senior Network Engineer with NetworkOperations at HEAnet, one of theorganisations involved in theremarkable production of theSCinet network.

22 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

25

INNOVATION

With this in mind, on 21-22 November 2013 in Copenhagenthe GÉANT research activity on Network Architectures (JRA1)held a workshop with the purpose of sharing ideas, views,concerns, different approaches and solutions for thearchitecture challenges of future research networks. During thetwo day workshop the participants used the opportunity todiscuss the best solutions for shaping future networkarchitecture and bringing these scenarios to the GÉANTcommunity. The workshop was also streamed live to enable awider audience to take part.

The interesting scope of the workshop attracted more than30 participants with fourteen NRENs represented andattendees from Ciena and Telefonica also joining in theworkshop discussions to share their views from an industryperspective. In addition representatives from four Open Callprojects were also present – from iMinds (IRINA), CNIT(REACTION), DTU (MOMoT). Their presentations triggered highinterest and heated discussions. Many workshop participantsfound it very useful to get in contact with associated OpenCalls presenters and to start discussing future collaboration.

The workshop started with a short overview and updatesfrom the three different research tasks of the NetworkArchitectures Activity (Future Network Architectures, NetworkArchitectures for Cloud Services and High Speed MobileArchitectures) and then from the Open Call participants whowill be using GÉANT to support their research into advancednetworking technologies.

One of the aims of the workshop was to compareapproaches of NRENs and those of commercial operators.This sharing of different strategies inspired discussion,development and will hopefully help in creating better scenariosacross the NREN community. Following this workshop theJRA1 will be using the results and discussions to help buildwhitepaper recommendations on future network architecturesto help support GÉANT and the NRENs

A major benefit of the workshop was the ability for theparticipants to meet, share and learn from each other. Thisknowledge and skill sharing is key to successful and effectivecollaboration in GÉANT and beyond.

TThhee mmiiggrraattiioonn ttoo tthhee llaatteesstt ttrraannssmmiissssiioonn aannddsswwiittcchhiinngg tteecchhnnoollooggyy hhaass ddrraammaattiiccaallllyy iinnccrreeaasseeddccaappaacciittyy aaccrroossss tthhee nneettwwoorrkk bbuutt iiss ssttiillll bbaasseedd oonntthhee ssaammee bbaassiicc nneettwwoorrkk aarrcchhiitteeccttuurree tthhaatt hhaasseexxiisstteedd ssiinnccee tthhee ssttaarrtt ooff ppaacckkeett nneettwwoorrkkiinngg.. AAss tthhee ddeemmaannddss aanndd ccaappaabbiilliittiieess ooff RR&&EEnneettwwoorrkkiinngg aacccceelleerraattee iitt iiss eesssseennttiiaall tthhaatt NNRREENNsswwoorrkk ttooggeetthheerr ttoo sshhaarree kknnoowwlleeddggee aannddeexxppeerriieennccee aanndd hheellpp tthhee nneettwwoorrkk iinnffrraassttrruuccttuurreessmmeeeett tthhee ddeemmaannddss ooff tthhee ffuuttuurree..

MMEEEETTIINNGG TTHHEECCHHAALLLLEENNGGEESSOOFF TTHHEE DDAATTAADDEELLUUGGEE–– AA WWOORRKKSSHHOOPP OONNFFUUTTUURREE NNEETTWWOORRKKAARRCCHHIITTEECCTTUURREESS

24 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

INNOVATION

The school will cover technical aspects like TCP tuning andmeasurement tools giving this year a much more practicalhands-on approach. On Sunday afternoon before theconclusion of the day the annual meeting of eduPERT will be held.

On Monday, engineers from The Energy Sciences Network(ESnet) will present the Science DMZ network design pattern.Materials will include an overview of network architecture, adiscussion on the practical aspects of network security forscientific use cases, a review of the perfSONAR monitoringframework, and finally a discussion on bulk data transferimprovements made possible through advanced software and hardware.

For more information on the performance U! workshop, how to register and how to become a member of eduPERT,visit eedduuPPEERRTT..ggeeaanntt..nneett.

eduPERT is the federated PERT that combines theindependent PERTs across Europe to aid them in theirnetwork investigations and enables network users to get the best performance from their connections and their systems.

eduPERT enables collaboration and knowledge transferbetween the PERTs and helps shortening the time neededto troubleshoot and fix end to end issues. This translates for the customers in better performance of their network and applications and less of their timeinvested in understanding and solving technical problems.

As an open and actively coordinated forum to shareknowledge, skills, tools and best practice, eduPERTprovides multidisciplinary knowledge and support insolving end to end performance issues. Its reach extendstowards the end user and the end point and includes newtechnologies such as: high-speed connectivity, diversetraffic profiles, big data as well as new end pointenvironments like cloud or data centre.

TThhee eedduuPPEERRTT tteeaamm wwiillll bbee rruunnnniinngg iittss aannnnuuaallPPeerrffoorrmmaannccee UU!! WWoorrkksshhoopp iinn DDuubblliinn oonn tthhee 1188--1199 MMaayy rruunnnniinngg iinn ccoonnjjuunnccttiioonn wwiitthh tthhee aannnnuuaall TTNNCC ccoonnffeerreennccee..

TThhiiss eevveenntt aaiimmss aatt ttrraaiinniinngg ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee eexxppeerrttss,,pprroovviiddiinngg vvaalliiddaatteedd ppeerrffoorrmmaannccee rreessoouurrcceess aanndd ffaaccee ttoo ffaaccee ttrraaiinniinngg.. SSuunnddaayy wwiillll bbee tthhee""PPeerrffoorrmmaannccee UU!!"" aannnnuuaall wwoorrkksshhoopp wwhheerree tthhee ccoommmmuunniittyy ccaann lleeaarrnn aabboouutt ppeerrffoorrmmaanncceeiimmpplliiccaattiioonnss ooff nneeww ttoooollss aanndd nneeww tteecchhnnoollooggiieess..

EEDDUUPPEERRTT && EESSNNEETTPPRREESSEENNTT:: AANN OOVVEERRVVIIEEWW IINNEEMMEERRGGIINNGG ((AANNDDNNOOTT)) NNEETTWWOORRKKIINNGGTTEECCHHNNOOLLOOGGIIEESS 1188--1199 MMAAYY 22001144

Did you learn newskills andtechniques?NK: I am certain that the SDSattendance supplied me with newtechniques and development skills,which enhanced the way I cope withmy job requirements. Αs a result, Inow feel that I can develop morerobust and efficient code.NZ: Yes, I have learned newtechniques on writing automated testsand also how to use shortcuts withinthe IDE to refactor code more quicklyand efficiently. These are techniquesthat will surely help me in my role.

Did you learn moreabout the softwareand infrastructureused in the GÉANTproject?NK: During the school I had thechance to use and get familiar withseveral development tools that theGN3plus infrastructure provides.Those tools are very helpful for thedevelopment of efficient and highquality code.NZ: I was aware of some tools andinfrastructure available to GÉANTdevelopers, but during the school Ialso got a chance to use some I didn'tencounter before (like Sonar tool forstatic code analysis) and I think thatthey are very helpful and useful forthe development process.

Did going alongbenefit your day today job?NK: The knowledge I got from theSDS had significant effects in the wayI develop code, as I constantly useseveral development approaches inmy tasks. More specifically, the SDSallowed me to broaden my knowledgeon test driven development andenhanced my skills on handling legacycode, a fact that made me a betterdeveloper from several perspectives.NZ: It most certainly did. Afterattending the school I had a task torefactor a legacy service and I foundtechniques I acquired to be veryuseful. I did the same things that Iused to before I attended the school,but now more quickly and with lesschance of errors thanks to the things I learned.

27

COMMUNITY NEWS

IntroductionBringing together developers fromacross Europe to share best practice,network and learn new skills is themission of the GÉANT SummerSchool for Developers (SDS). Now inits fourth year, over 20 peopleattended the latest Summer School,held 18-22 November at the PoznanSupercomputing and NetworkingCentre, Poland.

The SDS centered on softwaredevelopment best practices drawnfrom agile methodologies, and themain topics were ExtremeProgramming, Code Refactoring andagile software development practices,with the focus on testing and pairprogramming throughout code retreat sessions.

CONNECT caught up withNikolaos Kanakis of GRNET andNemanja Zutic of AMRES to see whatthey thought of this popular event.

Why did you decideto attend the schoolfor developers?NK: I decided to attend SDS becauseof the positive feedback I got fromcolleagues who had participated inpast events. Furthermore if was a verygood opportunity to meet and getfamiliar with the topics of the SDSwhich I found to be really interestingand useful.NZ: I had positive feedback aboutprevious schools from my colleague(who had participated in two previousschools) and also the topic of coderefactoring was something that I wasinterested in since I had a task torefactor a fairly large amount oflegacy code for a project I work on.

Was this your firstGÉANT schoolNK: Yes it was the first time and Iwish to have the opportunity to attend future SDS events.NZ: Yes, this was my first time, buthopefully not the last!

What area/sessiondid you find mostuseful?NK: In my opinion, the session inwhich we had to apply the theoreticalbackground of other sessions tocoding tasks, was the most useful partof the school. NZ: I would say that the second daywas most useful. We were required toapply techniques we were shownearlier to refactor small parts oflegacy code. These were all short tasks(no more than 1 hour) and focused onthe specific refactoring techniques.

Did you enjoy thewhole experience?NK: Overall, it was a very interestingexperience for me, and a very goodopportunity to work with otherGÉANT developers. NZ: Yes! The whole experience was avery pleasant one for me. I had achance to meet other developers, whouse the very same, or very differentprogramming languages, tools andtechniques as I do so we had a chanceto approach the subject of the tasksfrom different perspectives.

Will you attendfurther editions ofthe event?NK: Certainly, I would like toparticipate again in future SDSevents. NZ: If I have the chance I would mostcertainly like to attend future editionsof the event.

Would yourecommend thiscourse to others?NK: I fully recommend attendingSDS to other developers, since itprovides really useful developingexperiences. NZ: Yes I would. I think it is usefulfor every developer to learn newtechniques and processes. It is also awelcome break from everyday workand a chance to solve differentproblems than those that our projectsput in front of us.

Words(left to right)Pawel Kedziora,PSNC, NemanjaZutic, AMRES,and NikolaosKanakis, GRNET

PictureSummer schoolin Poznan

26 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

COMMUNITY NEWS

SUMMER SCHOOL FORGÉANT SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Advanced software is central to delivering GÉANT’s innovative, high qualityservices, meaning there are a growing number of developers working withinthe project, using leading edge tools and techniques in their work. Howeverwith developers split between different teams and countries, connectingthem is important to driving the project forward.

29

COMMUNITY NEWS

Pictures(Top to bottom)The RedIRISteam

His RoyalHighness thePrince ofAsturias, Felipede Borbón yGrecia

At the 25th Anniversarycommemorative event, His RoyalHighness the Prince of Asturias, Felipede Borbón y Grecia, gave a speechemphasising the important work ofRedIRIS and its usefulness for Spanishresearchers.

The Minister of Industry, Energyand Tourism, José Manuel Soria, who

is responsible, through Red.es, for theoperational management of RedIRISalso emphasised the decisive way it hashelped to promote the Internet inSpain.

Carmen Vela, the Secretary of Statefor R&D&i at the Ministry of theEconomy and Competitiveness, whichowns and funds RedIRIS, explainedhow the network is key for improvingthe competitiveness and productivity ofscience and technology in Spain.After the event, the team enjoyed aninformal discussion with the Prince ofAsturias.

From 22 to 25 October, the NationalMuseum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) held the RedIRIS 25thAnniversary Technology Exhibition, togive those attending the RedIRISTechnical Conference (RedIRIS'smain annual event, held in parallelwith this initiative), the opportunity toview equipment from before the timewhen RedIRIS existed as a "network"(up until 1988), right through to thepresent day.

The exhibition was divided intosubject areas: Prior to RedIRIS as a“network”; The beginning of RedIRIS;The arrival of the Internet; RedIRIS onATM; RedIRIS Gigabit; and RedIRIS-NOVA.

Of particular interest to the 300attendees were:• The varied Net equipment,

showing the evolution from X.25 switches to the first CISCO router models used for an IP backbone still encapsulating IP traffic in X.25lines. This included one of the M20routers used in the Internet2 Land Speed Record in October 2002 with ARNES and GÉANT.

• The slide rule, used by researchers before the existence of computers and calculators to carry out complex mathematical calculations

• Various microcomputers, such as the Sinclair Spectrum 48k

Information on the equipment at theshow and further information can befound here:http://expo25.rediris.es/omeka/exhibits/show/exposicion

REDIRIS:25 YEARS SUPPORTING RESEARCH

RedIRIS 25thAnniversaryCommemorativeEvent:

RedIRIS 25thAnniversaryTechnologyExhibition:

PIONEERING COLLABORATION LEADS TO IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE The Portuguese and Spanish

National Research andEducation Networks, RCTSand RedIRIS, recently signed

a memorandum of understanding withGÉANT – the Pan-European advancedresearch communications network -enabling the GÉANT connectionbetween Spain and Portugal to beimproved by using both countries’ fibreoptic infrastructures.

Based on this infrastructuralsynergy, GÉANT now benefits from anew, simple and cost-effective servicesupplied, in cooperation, by FCT-FCCN(Lisbon-Badajoz) and Red.es (Badajoz-Madrid), the Public Corporate Entityresponsible for the operationalmanagement of RedIRIS. This serviceis based on a 10Gbps lambda withWAN-PHY encapsulation, used tointerconnect GÉANT’s PoPs in Lisbonand Madrid, whose locations weremaintained.

This memorandum ofunderstanding, signed by FCT-FCCN,

Red.es and the GÉANT consortium hasseveral advantages.

On one hand, cost savings havebeen obtained, as this new connectionreplaces a commercial third partyconnection supplied at a significantlyhigher price to the GÉANT consortium.

On the other hand, the scalableservice provided by FCT-FCCN andRed.es will make it simpler andcheaper to increase the capacity on thisroute, if required.

This service was made possible bythe direct interconnection betweenboth networks (RCTS and RedIRIS-NOVA). This was originallyimplemented in the east-west axis inMay 2009 and the north-south axis inJune 2012. This direct connection wasalready bringing benefits to bothPortuguese and Spanish researchersand academics, in particular thoseworking on Grid issues. 489 affiliatedinstitutions are currently part ofRedIRIS, while about 70 organizationsare connected to RCTS. Direct

interconnections between the twonetworks were originally installed withIPv4 and IPv6 enabled.

Both national networks havetransmission equipment from differentmanufacturers; however, this has notaffected the deployment and operationof services. There are also two differentand independent monitoring systems,but the coordination between bothsupervisory teams is excellent.

The jointly provided service is inuse to interconnect Lisbon and Madridfrom the beginning of September 2013.

FCT-FCCN and Red.es are verypleased with this cooperation, and bothemphasize the pioneering nature of theintegration of a cross-borderconnection in the backbone of GÉANT,one of the most advanced datanetworks in the world.

For more information, see: RedIRIS: www.rediris.esCT-FCCN: www.fccn.pt

WordsCarlos Friaças,NetworkEngineer, FCCNand CristinaLorenzo,RedIRIS PRManager, Red.es

28 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

COMMUNITY NEWS

31

COMMUNITY NEWS

PRACESPREADS ITS WINGS – PROMISINGACTIVITIESFOR 2014

PRACEdays14 | HPCfor Innovation:when Science meetsIndustryIn 2014, PRACE will organise its firstScientific and IndustrialConference – the first edition of thePRACE days - under the motto HPCfor Innovation – when Sciencemeets Industry. The conferencecombines the previously separatePRACE Scientific Conferences andPRACE Industrial Seminars and willbring together experts from academiaand industry who will present theiradvancements in HPC-supportedscience and engineering.

The PRACE days will be held inBarcelona from Tuesday 20 toThursday 22 May 2014.More information and the Call forContributions can be found here:http://www.prace-ri.eu/pracedays14

Pre-CommercialProcurement:Whole-SystemDesign for EnergyEfficient HPCOn 20 November 2013 a multi-country and multi-partner joint effort,was launched by a consortiumcomposed of several partners ofPRACE (CINECA (Italy); CSC(Finland); EPCC (UK); JSC(Germany); and GENCI (France)).

Tenderers are invited to bid forthe provision of research anddevelopment services that seeksolutions for Whole-System Designfor Energy Efficient HPC. PRACE hasa strong interest in improving energyefficiency of computing systems andreducing their environmental impact.

Therefore, PRACE will beinvolved as an advisory body in a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) pilotexecuted in the context of PRACE’s3rd Implementation Project (PRACE-3IP). More information can be found here:http://www.prace-ri.eu/art573

WordsMarjoleinOorsprong, PRACECommunicationsOfficer

10 innovativeEuropean SMEs topilot first PRACESHAPEIn June 2013, PRACE launched itsfirst SHAPE (SME HPC AdoptionProgramme in Europe) open Call forApplications to all European SMEswith a business project that could beimplemented using HPC.

The call had a brilliant responsewith replies from 14 SMEs from 7different Countries (Bulgaria, France,Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain andthe UK) and spanning across variousindustrial domains.

The PRACE SHAPE experts willwork with the 10 selected SMEs untilMay 2014 to develop their solutions,providing them with knowledge thatwill allow them to make an informeddecision on the selected HPCsolutions and plan future actions, alsoconsidering the support ofindependent service providers at alater stage. More information on thesefirst 10 pilot projects can be foundhere: http://www.prace-ri.eu/SHAPE-Pilot-Selection

For more information, see: http://www.prace-ri.eu/

30 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

PRACE´s Dare to Think theImpossible outreach activitywith online campaignmaterial illustrates how

PRACE high-performance computing(HPC - also known assupercomputing) resources areapplied in research and innovationand just how much HPC-aidedresearch impacts our lives. Thecampaign materials introduce youngstudents to HPC in their own words,engage them in an interactivedemonstration of whatsupercomputing can do, and invitethem to explore real life examples ofexciting research carried out today bytop scientists with the help of PRACEsupercomputers.

PRACE is educating tomorrow’sresearchers and potential users ofPRACE about the power ofsupercomputing with the Dare tothink the Impossible campaign. Thecampaign focuses on students, ages 15to 19 and secondary school teachersas well as the general public. Thecampaign encompasses a variety ofmedia, including an informationalwebsite (the Dare to Think theImpossible portal), social media(Facebook), brochures, videos on

YouTube, and an astronomy-themedonline video game for iPhones andiPads and for Android devices.The content is designed and written inthe words of young people, with boldimages that point to excitingdiscoveries and real-life stories fromcutting-edge researchers on theforefront of scientific discoveryinviting them to explore the world ofsupercomputing and its applications.Campaign material can be used as apart of science studies during lessons.Several PRACE member countries aredeveloping HPC curriculum modulesfor local high schools, with the pilot

campaign content at the core. Theresults have been encouraging.

The material and rich mediaengage, challenge and invite studentsto imagine, dream and learn moreabout what part they can play infuture inventions and developments.Hopefully it will encourage them tostudy science even further. The freeShooting Stars video game wasdeveloped as a cross-platform (web,iOS, Android) application. Itsimulates the star systems withchallenging orbits and increasinglydifficult tasks on each level, givinghints of supercomputer simulation inan entertaining format.

Today’s high-school students aretomorrow’s researchers andinventors. We invite you all tochallenge them to Dare to Think theImpossible; to defy convention andrecognize just how far theirimaginations can take them.

All materials are available on thePRACE website: http://www.prace-ri.eu/dttti

For more information, see: PRACE - www.prace-ri.eu

PRACEEDUCATES TOMORROW’S RESEARCHERS

WordsTiina Leiponen,CommunicationsCoordinator, CSC – IT Centerfor Science

Pictures(Top to bottom)Local outreachevent in Finlandat Heureka

The FinnishScience Centre inSeptember 2013

Photo creditPhotos by: PaulaHavaste, Heureka,Tiina Leiponen,CSC, pic CSC, 13,16 copyrightTimoSuvanto/Heureka

COMMUNITY NEWS

33

COMMUNITY NEWS

EGI OFFERS NEW RESOURCE ALLOCATION POOL FOR RESEARCHERS

December 2013 saw theestablishment of a new wayto access the resourcesoffered by the European

Grid Infrastructure (EGI) and itspartners. The Resource AllocationPool offers 5,000 job slots and 170 TBof storage to any researchers thatwant access to EGI storage andcomputing services. You just need toask.

EGI is a pan-European federationof national computing facilitiessupporting cutting-edge research byopening up their resources toEuropean researchers and theirinternational collaborators. Over22,000 researchers across a diverserange of research groups anddisciplines are already using the gridto do their work. The Resource

Allocation Pool aims to increase thisnumber, by having a simpleapplication process. Researchers willbe supported in the process of gettingup and running through the EGI usersupport services.

“This is an opportunity forscientists to try out what we have tooffer them,” explains Peter Solagna,Operations Manager at EGI.eu. “Itgives new and existing usercommunities simplified access to theresources needed to perform theirwork, allowing pilot projects or theability to reserve resources for specificactivities. We are offering exclusiveaccess to a limited set of resources, orthey can share a larger portion withothers.”

The Resource Allocation Pool usesthe facilities of 5 countries within EGI(Belarus, Croatia, Greece, Poland andTurkey) as well as the InternationalDesktop Grid Federation. To makethe process as simple as possible,applicants for the Resource AllocationPool just need to provide informationabout the user community or projectthat they represent, the use case thatthey want to run, and an assessment

WordsNeasan O’Neill,NGICommunicationsCoordinator

of the resources needed. They willthen be contacted by the EGIOperations Team to discuss theproposal and provide technicalassistance and expertise in gettingthem up and running on theresources.

During this initial phaseapplications are being processed on a‘first come, first served’ basis. Formore information and details on howto apply, please visithttp://go.egi.eu/RAP_News

32 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

COMMUNITY NEWS

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NATIONAL RESEARCHAND EDUCATION NETWORKS AND NGOS

Social Media are becomingincreasingly present not justin our daily lives but in ourwork too, so whatever our

personal feelings it is no longerpossible to ignore them. On the otherhand jumping into Social Mediawithout knowing what you want toachieve is as pointless as ignoringthem altogether. In collaboration withteams from NRENs, TERENA andDANTE, we have created a “SocialMedia Jumpstart Pack”, a set of ideasto help you jumpstart your SocialMedia presence. Hopefully these ideaswill help you decide whether it isworth spending your resources onSocial Media – and provide someclear pointers on how to set about it.

The first question that you have toanswer sincerely is whether you reallyneed Social Media at all. The fact is,

regardless of your strategy andapproach, it will take time. So whilethinking about what social media youwould like to use, focus on yourexpectations and decide whatconstitutes success for you. Do youneed to deploy a Facebook andLinkedIn page, or would Twitter meetall your requirements? What will bethe ROI for your efforts? Don’t forgetto get management “buy-in” as soonas you make the decision to expandyour communication channels viaSocial Media. In the deploymentphase you honestly don’t need to be

WordsDomen Božeglav,SeniorConsultant,ARNES

too innovative, unless you really havea surplus of time and money. Just asSocial Media applications useconcepts that are much older thancomputers, you can use the step-by-step tips and tricks for Facebook,Twitter and other applicationscollected in the Jumpstart pack. Onceyour presence is deployed, don’tforget to engage your co-workers,since they can be a vital part of yoursocial channels. Regularly monitoryour social influence and actaccordingly. And most importantly,when the figures start speaking foryou, don’t forget to report back tomanagement.

Whether you are in the earlystages of expanding your currentcommunication channels to SocialMedia or a seasoned Social Mediacontent provider, we hope theJumpstart pack will provide you withthe help and know-how you arelooking for.

The Social Media Jumpstart Packis available free for NRENs at:https://confluence.terena.org/display/social/NREN+Social+Media+Jumpstart+pack(login required).

35

Pictures Bum-Coo Cho,Samsung atopening of CUC 2013

talked about the ways of inspiring newlearning approaches. In addition, hepresented the experiences derived fromthe Samsung Company's joint venturewith CARNet on the Future Classroomproject. The other notable invitedlecturer is Prof. Ivica Puljak, PhD, fromthe Faculty of Electrical Engineering,Mechanical Engineering and NavalArchitecture in Split, who explained toConference participants some of thecrucial problems in physics thatcontinue to haunt scientists today stilland discussed the hard work scientistshad to do in order to bring about thediscovery of the Higgs boson, by usingthe Large Hadron Collider at the CERNinternational institute in Switzerland.

The Conference was traditionallyaccompanied by the Webfestival, acompetition of Web content authors.The topic of this year's competition wasmobile web. Out of 35 entriessubmitted in the two categories asdistinguished according to the author(i.e. Individual and Group of Authors),the Webfestival jury selected thefollowing mobile webs as winners inthe two categories: Hranko – sastojcisu bitni (Individual category) and

Mobilno Njuškalo (Group of Authorscategory). Along with these awards, thejury decided to give an honourablemention to the Apsurdistan mobileweb.

What is more, CUC 2013 includedten special events. Worthy of ahighlight are the Birds of a Feathermeetings on upgrades to the e-Maticaservice and new educational servicesrequired by the CARNet users, as wellas a presentation of eduKnjižara, thenew CARNet service for online e-bookand e-textbook distribution.

The best paper presented at theConference, as selected by theinternational Programmes Committee,is titled "What we learn, what weexpect, and what awaits us in view ofdigital competences," written by MrZoran Kovač from the High School ofIvan Zakmardi Dijankovečki inKriževci. The best presentation held atthis year's conference was chosen bythe participants themselves to be"Teaching upside-down - FlippedClassroom Model in elementaryschool", written by Predrag Dukić andMaja Kalebić from VidikovacElementary School in Pula.

The award for the most regularparticipant of the Conference, forwhich all the participants whoregistered for more than 75% of thelectures were nominated, went toKrešimir Ordanić from OŠ Oroslavje,while the award for taking theConference survey was conferred toDomagoj Vuković from Faculty ofElectrical Engineering in Osijek.

For yet another year in a row, asys.trek competition was organizedwithin the sys.trek section. Theparticipants had to solve a prize puzzlewhich consisted of several steps, whereMarko Meštrović from Knin Universityaccomplished the greatest progress.

The Conference attracted 560accredited participants, whereas thelectures were partially made availablevia video transfer on CARNet Media onDemand for those who did not takepart in the Conference. The officiallanguage of the Conference wasCroatian, but the foreign lecturers heldtheir lectures in English.

For more information, seehttp://cuc.carnet.hr

COMMUNITY NEWS

34 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

with a programme comprising 4keynote lectures, 11 workshops, morethan 30 peer-reviewed papers, a roundtable on the educational systemcomputerisation process, along withseveral presentations by CARNet andits partners.

The main programme of theConference was divided into six topics:Mobile Technology and Application,Digital Competences, Trends inInstruction, Research and InformationTechnology, Content Creation andSharing, and Educational Institutionsin the New Environment. A specialprogramme topic was sys.trek,

The 15th CARNet UsersConference CUC 2013, heldunder the title "Reach forKnowledge!“ from 20-22

November 2013 at Hotel Antunović inZagreb, drew to its close. TheConference was organised by theCroatian Academic and ResearchNetwork – CARNet under the auspicesof the President of the Republic ofCroatia, Ivo Josipović, and the Ministryof Science, Education and Sports, aswell as with the support of the City ofZagreb.

The notion that knowledge isindeed reachable was substantiated

15TH CARNET USERS CONFERENCECUC 2013

WordsGoran Skvarc,CARNet

designed for system engineers workingat CARNet member institutions, with16 presentations and 3 workshops thisyear.

Continuing the well-establishedtradition, this year's CUC againprovided its participants with a uniquechance of seeing some of the mostrenowned experts in the field ofinformation and communicationstechnology and education. There werefour invited lecturers who participatedin the Conference, two of whichdeserve a special mention. Mr Bum-Coo Cho, Senior Vice President ofMobile Communications at Samsung,

COMMUNITY NEWS

CONNECT – COMMUNICATE – COLLABORATE: THE GLOBAL PR NETWORK

A s the global nature ofresearch and education(R&E) collaborationincreases, so too does the

need to create a unified voice for andon behalf of the networkingcommunity. A joined-up approach tocommunications has great value inraising the profile of R&E networkinggenerally, as well as in the sharing ofresources and tools for the promotionof services.

WordsHelga Spitaler,SeniorCommunicationsOfficer, GÉANT

PictureBoF at TNC inMaastricht

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COMMUNITY NEWS

A global learningcollaboration The Global PR Network seeks toaddress these areas. Initiated at theTNC2012 in Reykjavik, it bringstogether PR and marketingprofessionals from the global R&Enetworking community to shareexperiences and best practice, andexchange ideas to improvecollaboration. Most importantly, itforges a network of people eager tolearn from each other and committedto promoting the benefits of researchnetworking.

From a small group, the initiativehas expanded its membership amongNRENs and network organisationsacross all world regions, opening aglobal dialogue and forum to discusstopics of common interest. Inaddition to virtual meetings, annualconferences, such as the TERENANetworking Conference (TNC)provide opportunities for face-to-facediscussions.

For instance, at the last TNC inMaastricht, at the joint meeting of theTERENA Task Force forCommunications and Public Relations(TF-CPR) and the Global PR Network,participants compared notes onsegmentation models, work prioritiesand activities in their respectivecountries. During the Birds of aFeather session, it was agreed that theglobal PR initiative could stimulatethe development of new regional PRnetworks alongside those alreadyestablished in Europe (TF-CPR) andLatin America, facilitatingcollaboration and best practise atlocal level, at the same time asbenefitting from a global perspective.

Global servicespromotionWith geographical representationfrom across the world, the Global PRNetwork is well positioned to promoteand so assist in the deployment anduptake of end-user services aroundthe globe.. It can build on successstories such as the promotion androll-out of eduroam from Europe toother world regions, where thepromotional toolkit and messagesaround the service’s benefits can beadapted to the local context to attractand inform users.

Other examples are theproduction and re-use of videos.AARNet’s eduroam video has been re-worked and used by many NRENsaround the world. The GÉANTproject’s R&E Connectivity andeduGAIN videos were originallyproduced in English, but have sincebeen adapted into Spanish and madeavailable to the Latin Americancommunities.

The Global PR Network can buildon these examples, and facilitate thecreation and sharing of resources andtools for service promotion.

Benefits to societyGlobal problems require globalefforts. This holds particularly true forwidespread diseases such as denguefever (nearly half of the worldpopulation is at risk!). R&E networkscan facilitate the efforts of cliniciansand researchers across the globeworking to prevent and controldengue and find effective treatmentsby enabling the reliable transfer of labdata and collaboration tools, such asvideoconferencing for the discussionof clinical cases.

Inspired by Francis Lee, Presidentof SingAREN, members have engagedwith researchers in their owncountries and regions and invitedthem to attend a workshop on howR&E networks can supportinternational dengue fever research atthe APAN meeting in January 2014 inBandung, Indonesia. The plan is toroll this out to other world regions.

What else is in thepipeline?The Global PR Network has alsostarted looking into the possibility ofjoining forces with universities andproviders to promote the use of R&Enetworks for MOOCs (massive openonline courses) - a global virtualclassroom.

NREN COMPENDIUMGOES GLOBALPart of GÉANT’s Status and

Trends work builds on thelong-running and much-appreciated effort to

document and explain the work ofnational research and educationnetworks (NRENs), as laid down in theannual TERENA Compendium ofNRENs in Europe. The 2013 edition,published in December, was the first tocollect data through a Common NRENInformation Model (CNIM) survey,which was the result of a globalcollaborative effort by APAN, ASREN,CANARIE, RedCLARA, TERENA,UbuntuNet and WACREN. FurtherCompendium evolution is under way.

The Compendium covers morethan 50 NRENs in and outside Europe,and compares data across five years. Amajor trend is that many are deployingthe next generation of high-capacitynetworks with innovative networkarchitectures. A prime example isGermany, which has 100Gbps capacityon its core network.

Key innovationsIn recent years, the spread of ‘darkfibre’ networks has enabled novelnetwork architectures that are morecost-effective and better able to meetchanging user demands. This is evidentin the area of cloud services: 16 of theGÉANT partner NRENs offer cloudservices that are not procured via acommercial vendor, and 11 others planto do so.

More NRENs have started todevelop and deploy Authentication andAuthorisation Infrastructures (AAIs).These give users access to servicesindependent of their physical locations.AAIs are now offered by 27 GÉANTpartner NRENs, enabling theintroduction of new services and thedevelopment of collaborativeplatforms.

There has been considerablegrowth in services for collaborativegroups. Seventeen GÉANT partnerNRENs offer these, up from nine in2011. Most GÉANT partner NRENshave joined, or are planning to join, theeduGAIN interfederation service;

holding the promise of increasingservice access across identityfederations.

Future plans The printed Compendium relies onmaterial collected via a web interface.In the past year, a new informationsystem was developed which will allownew forms of reporting and easierquerying of data through a newinterface. At the same time, early in2014, a second version of CNIM will bedeveloped. Extra resources will besought in order to enable more NRENsto share their successes and documenttheir work, with the intention ofdeveloping this into a globalCompendium publication by early2015.

Further informationThe full details of all NREN surveyresponses and a PDF version of the2013 Compendium are available at:http://www.terena.org/activities/compendium/

WordsLaura Durnford,TERENA

36 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

COMMUNITY NEWS

39

By Tom Fryer, International Relations Officer, DANTE and Helga Spitaler, Senior Communications Officer, DANTE

GGLLOOBBAALL NNEEWWSS

38 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

COMMUNITY NEWS

DANTE SUPPORTS FUTURE INTERNETTEST-BEDS

WordsPaul Maurice,SeniorCommunicationsOfficer, DANTE

With the internet now such an essentialpart of society, it needs to adapt inorder to help address growing societalchallenges such as:

• How to improve quality of life• e-health• ageing population• social relations• inclusion

• Productivity• Competitiveness• Smart design• Intelligent manufacturing• e-Government

• How to decrease energy consumption• Smart electricity• Smart cities• Intelligent transport

• Disparities in economics and knowledge• e-learning• cultural heritage

Internet of Things In parallel, technological changes suchas the phenomenal development ofprocessors in power, energy efficiencyand cost reduction (driven in the mainby the global smartphone market) hasled not just to the emergence of verylarge sensor networks but also theability to manage these networks viathe Internet – aka the Internet ofThings (IoT). To put this in context,predictions talk of between 25 and 30billion devices on the IoT by 2020 –where data is submitted to the Internetby ‘things’ rather than humans. So if wethought there was a lot of data now…

Therefore, in order to rise to thesechallenges in a coordinated way, theEuropean Commission has launchedthe Future Internet Initiative to drivecollaborative knowledge and resourcesthrough a vast group of programs, eachdesigned to support the re-imagining ofthe internet to reflect its changing role.

To support new ways to approachthe internet requires earlyexperimentation and testing in largescale environments. The FutureInternet Research andExperimentation Initiative (FIRE) isaddressing this need, creating amultidisciplinary researchenvironment for investigation,experimentation and validation ofinnovative new ideas for network andservice delivery.

Creating a federated researchenvironmentFor example, Fed4FIRE is a FutureInternet project whose aim is tofederate a set of existing independenttest-beds to create a facility that willallow these experiments to benefitfrom multiple test-bed facilities as partof a single experiment. This implies anew approach to providing operationalsupport to such experiments. Currentlyexperiments are associated with anindividual test-bed which providesthem with support for that test-bed. Inthe context of a federation, this modelwill not work.

As part of the Fed4FIRE projectDANTE is organising and providing aFirst Level Support service through itsNetwork Operations Centre that willassist experiments using thefederation. DANTE will also monitorthe operational status of test-beds inthe Fed4FIRE federation andproactively initiate problem resolutionprocesses on detection of faults in anindividual test-bed.

Tony Barber, head of the DANTENetwork Operations Centre adds,“Having started in pilot mode at thebeginning of 2014, the service is due tobecome fully operation on 1st Februarythis year. Being able to support theseimportant programs will help DANTEand GÉANT remain at the forefront ofFuture Internet technologies.”

GGÉÉAANNTT--RREEDDCCLLAARRAA IINNTTEERRCCOONNNNEECCTTIIOONN TTOO BBEE UUPPGGRRAADDEEDD TTOO 55GGBBPPSSA procurement jointly carried out by DANTE and RedCLARA in the autumn of 2013 has been successfullyconcluded with the awarding of a contract which will double capacity between GÉANT and RedCLARA to 5Gbps.The new link, to be provided by Telecom Italia Sparkle, is expected to be operational by the end of March 2014.Among the user groups who will benefit from this increase in capacity are high energy physics, astronomy and astrophysics researchers, future internet research and experimentation, and ultra-high resolution video collaborations.

CCOONNNNEECCTTIIVVIITTYY TTOOAAFFGGHHAANNIISSTTAANN UUPPGGRRAADDEEDDTTOO 115555MMBBPPSSConnectivity to Afghanistan has been doubled to 155Mbps on a terrestrial fibre link between Kabul and Vienna. Funded by the SILK-Afghanistan Project, a total of 18 Afghan universities are now connected. As was reported in the July 2013 issue of CONNECT, a new organisation, AfgREN, is being set up to manage a dedicated nationalresearch and education network (NREN) for the country. Looking to the future, Afghanistan has also joined the pan-Asian TEIN research and education networking project, and a new high-speed network connection to the TEIN network backbone is planned for 2015.

FFIIRRSSTT AAFFRRIICCAACCOONNNNEECCTTLLIINNKKSS OOPPEERRAATTIIOONNAALL The links obtained in the first AfricaConnect procurement are now operational. At a capacity of 622Mbps, the links interconnect South Africa, Mozambique Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, enabling Africantraffic to be exchanged within the region for the first time, rather than via Europe. The procurement alsoprovides a 622Mbps from the region to the UbuntuNet Alliance PoP in Amsterdam. A second procurement is currently in the process of being concluded and aims to connect Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Malawi.

41

GLOBAL NEWS

The ESA ATV-4 (AutomatedTransfer Vehicle) is one of themost reliable and complexspacecraft ever built in Europe.This particular mission to theinternational space station isnamed after Albert Einstein. It was launched from Europe’sSpaceport in Kourou, FrenchGuiana June 2013 to help keepthe international space stationand its permanent crew workingat full capacity.

As part of ATV-Albert Einstein’scargo, the ESA sent a number ofcopies of documents from theAlbert Einstein archives,maintained at the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem. Thesedocuments were delivered to theSpace Station and signed by ESAastronaut Luca Parmitano beforereturning to Earth.

In a networking accomplishmentworthy of the mission’s namesakeAlbert Einstein, the European SpaceAgency (ESA), in collaboration with

the Italian Space Agency (ASI), theGerman Aerospace Centre’s Instituteof Robotics and Mechatronics and theIsrael Space Agency, organised a livevideo conference with ESA astronautLuca Parmitano from the InternationalSpace Station. During the video call,participants and guests in Milan,Munich and Jerusalem enjoyed liveinteractive lectures by leadingresearchers from each institution onspace robotics and satellitetechnologies, followed by a live videoconference and Q&A session from theinternational space station with LucaParmitano.

From A to Z, this ambitiousnetworking collaboration was madepossible by GÉANT’s backbonenetwork. The Politecnico di Milano isconnected to GARR (www.garr.it),Italy’s National Research & EducationNetwork (NREN). The TechnischeUniversität München in Germanyconnects via the German NREN, DFN(www.dfn.de/en/). The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem, via IUCC(www.iucc.ac.il), connects universitiesand research institutions in Israel andacross the globe with one another. TheESA’s European Space Research andTechnology Centre (ESTEC), in theNetherlands, is the ESA’s largestfacility and test centre and responsiblefor the technical preparation andmanagement of ESA space projectsand technical support to ESA’ssatellite, space exploration and humanspaceflight activities. ESTEC leveragesthe power of SURFnet(www.surfnet.nl/en), the operator anddeveloper of interconnectednetworking infrastructure for the highereducation and research communitiesin the Netherlands. GARR, DFN, IUCC,and SURFnet are all partners inGÉANT, the pan-European researchand education network,

interconnecting Europe’s NationalResearch and Education Networks(NRENs) with over 50 million users at10,000 institutions to supportadvanced research in a wide range ofscientific disciplines.

Reaching for the stars and backagain, in live audio and video, requiresa network of “outer space”proportions. Europe’s research andeducation networks have proven theyare up to the job, thanks to GÉANTspeed, security and capacity.To experience outer space with ESAastronaut Luca Parmitano, searchYouTube for “ATV Albert Einstein IN-Flight call event”.

OOnn OOccttoobbeerr 2244,, 22001133,, tthheeGGÉÉAANNTT nneettwwoorrkk lliitteerraallllyy bbrroouugghhtttthhee ffoouurr ccoorrnneerrss ooff tthhee uunniivveerrsseettooggeetthheerr iinn aa lliivvee vviiddeeooccoonnffeerreennccee bbeettwweeeenn JJeerruussaalleemm,,MMiillaann,, MMuunniicchh aanndd tthhee EEuurrooppeeaannSSppaaccee AAggeennccyy’’ss AATTVV--AAllbbeerrttEEiinnsstteeiinn aatt tthhee IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaallSSppaaccee SSttaattiioonn..

WordsAudrey Gerber,IUCC-Inter-UniversityComputationCenter

40 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

GLOBAL NEWS

GGÉÉAANNTT RREEAACCHHEESS TTHHEE SSTTAARRSS

GLOBAL NEWS

WWhhoo aarree tthhee mmeemmbbeerrNNRREENNss ooff WWAACCRREENNaarree aanndd wwhhaatt ssttaaggeeooff ddeevveellooppmmeenntt aarreetthheeyy aatt??As of today, NRENs are formallyestablished in nine countries in theregion: Ghana (GARNET), Senegal(snRER), Mali (MaliREN), Niger(NigerREN), Côte d'Ivoire (RITER),Gabon (GabonREN), Nigeria (NgREN),Togo (TogoRER) and Benin (RerBenin).Efforts to establish NRENs are alsostarting in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chadand Cape Verde. There is also an NRENembryo in Cameroon.

Most of these NRENs are not yetoperational but a number will go live inthe next couple of months. For NgRENfor instance, 27 federal universities arealready interconnected. For snRER, thegovernment has made capacityavailable on its own backbone and thenecessary equipment has already beenprocured. Similar progress is also beingseen in Ghana.

Overall we can expect at least threeof the WACREN NRENs to beoperational soon.

WWAACCRREENN iiss ppllaannnniinnggttoo eessttaabblliisshh aa ppooiinntt ooffpprreesseennccee iinn LLoonnddoonnaanndd ttoo ccoonnnneecctt ttooGGÉÉAANNTT.. WWhhiicchhccoouunnttrriieess wwiillll ffiirrssttccoonnnneecctt aanndd wwhhaatt uussee ccaasseess ddoo yyoouueennvviissaaggee??It will probably be Nigeria, followed byGhana and Senegal. But the situationcan evolve very quickly and othercountries might be ready before them.

We are already working onstrategies for building user communitiesin identified fields so that we canshowcase the potential of the network.

Commodity Internet access willinitially prove to be very important butwe expect the usage pattern to changerapidly as R&E services are deployedand made available to users.Videoconferencing will be one of the firstservices made available, as there is a bigdemand for real-time communicationservices.

IInn aa sseennssee tthheeUUbbuunnttuuNNeett AAlllliiaannccee iissaa ffrriieennddllyy,, bbiigg ssiisstteerrttoo WWAACCRREENN.. WWhhyy iisstthhiiss rreellaattiioonnsshhiipp ssooiimmppoorrttaanntt??Our relationship with the UbuntuNetAlliance (UA) was established evenbefore WACREN formally came intobeing, at a time when the community inWest and Central Africa was trying toorganise itself along the same lines asthem. The AAU played an important rolein bringing the two communitiestogether.

There is a lot WACREN can learnfrom the UA, who are very cooperativeand supportive towards us. We recentlysigned a collaboration agreement,another step towards building an evenstronger relationship with them.

WWeesstt aanndd CCeennttrraallAAffrriiccaa aallssoo hhaassssttrroonngg ttiieess wwiitthhFFrraannccee.. HHooww ddoo yyoouuppeerrcceeiivvee tthhee bbeenneeffiittssttoo WWAACCRREENN??The strong historical ties betweenFrance and many countries in the regionhave a positive impact on WACREN andRENATER relationship. We are happythat RENATER is ready to assist in areaslike capacity building, sensitisation andcounselling. In addition, IRD and CIRAD,two French research organisations withcentres in several African countries arealso very active in the framework of this

collaboration agreement.Visits by RENATER, IRD and CIRAD

to a couple of countries in the WACRENregion and the recent participation of fiveWACREN delegates in RENATER’sannual conference are signs that therelationship between WACREN andFrance is very dynamic.

WWAACCRREENN iiss aallssoo aappaarrttnneerr iinn tthheeggrroouunndd--bbrreeaakkiinnggAAffrriiccaaCCoonnnneeccttpprroojjeecctt.. WWhhaatt aarree tthhee bbeenneeffiittss??AfricaConnect concentrates on rollingout a network infrastructure in Easternand Southern Africa, which is provingvery successful. It also has a capacitybuilding component which WACRENbenefits from, for instance by enablingWACREN participation in conferencessuch as the 2013 RENATERConference. We are ready for apotential extension of AfricaConnect to West and Central Africa.

WWhheerree ddoo yyoouu sseeeeWWAACCRREENN iinn ffiivveeyyeeaarrss’’ ttiimmee??It's difficult to make a precise statement.What I can say is that WACREN will befully operational, interconnected with itssister networks worldwide, deliveringcutting-edge services on a state of theart infrastructure, and that it will be animportant player in the global researchand education networking community.

43

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BBOOUUBBAAKKAARRBBAARRRRYY,, CCEEOO OOFF WWAACCRREENN ((WWEESSTT AANNDD CCEENNTTRRAALLAAFFRRIICCAANN RR&&EE NNEETTWWOORRKK))

In October 2013 Dr. Boubakar Barryassumed the office of CEO ofWACREN. Dr. Barry joins WACRENfrom the Association of African

Universities (AAU) where he workedfrom 2006 as Coordinator of theResearch and Education NetworkingUnit. He is also serving a second termas Director of the UbuntuNet Allianceand holds a PhD in Nuclear Electronicsand a Master’s Degree in NuclearPhysics, both from the TechnicalUniversity of Dresden, Germany.

As WACREN advances towards thefirst R&E connectivity between West andCentral Africa and GÉANT, CONNECTcaught up with Dr. Barry in December2013 at the Africa-EU CooperationForum on ICT in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

DDrr.. BBaarrrryy,, yyoouu jjooiinneeddWWAACCRREENN aafftteerr ssoommeeyyeeaarrss aatt tthhee AAffrriiccaannAAssssoocciiaattiioonn ooffUUnniivveerrssiittiieess.. CCaann yyoouuddeessccrriibbee yyoouurr wwoorrkk aatttthhee AAAAUU aanndd hhooww iittccoommppaarreess wwiitthh yyoouurrnneeww rroollee aattWWAACCRREENN??At the AAU, I was Coordinator of theR&E Networking Unit (AAU REN Unit),set up in 2006 to address concernsabout the high cost of bandwidth inAfrica and poor connectivity for Africanhigher education institutions.

There was already a very dynamicinitiative in Eastern and Southern Africa(the UbuntuNet Alliance), and the RENUnit actions were oriented towardsstrengthening this initiative andpromoting NREN establishment

processes in countries where there werenone. Consequently my activitiesfocused on advocacy and sensitisation,policy development and capacitybuilding.

The main difference now is that myfocus is on West and Central Africa. Butof course, as for my other colleagues inthe UbuntuNet Alliance, ASREN andother sister organisations worldwide,collaboration at a global level is also highon WACREN's agenda.

IInn yyoouurr ffiirrsstt ttwwoommoonntthhss aass WWAACCRREENNCCEEOO,, wwhhaatt aarree tthheemmaaiinn cchhaalllleennggeessffaacciinngg tthhee WWAACCRREENNCCoommmmuunniittyy??Advocacy and sensitisation have had avery positive impact on the creation ofNRENs. Policy and decision makers inmost of the countries are nowconvinced of the critical role RENs canplay for their socio-economicdevelopment. However, it is still achallenge to get commitmentstranslated into concrete actions, namelythe release of resources for the NRENs.

Most NRENs in the region aresupported by their respectivegovernments yet the governments seemnot to understand that they have toinvest first to get the benefit later. Theother challenge is the telecom marketwith monopoly or near-monopolypositions hindering the reduction ofbandwidth prices. The increasingnumber of players however will help totransform the market in the region.Things are improving.

GLOBAL NEWS

42 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

GLOBAL NEWS

The two days of the conference,rich in papers and excitingdiscussions, were precededby a series of pre-conference

events from 9-13 November 2013featuring capacity building activities,project meetings and a workshop one-infrastructure applications. Theconference also presented anopportunity for the participants to meetand greet the newly appointedchairperson of the UbuntuNet Alliance,Professor John Ssebuwufu, whoassumed office on 1st November2013.

The conference programmefeatured 24 peer-reviewed papers. Thefirst day covered subjects rangingfrom NRENs as organisations toservices, progress of theAfricaConnect project and prospectsfor the second phase. The second day

had two parallel tracks dedicated to e-content and applications,e-Infrastructure applications andNREN security.

At the end of the first dayparticipants were treated to a cocktailhosted by the Minister of Education atSerena Hotel. They were entertainedby the energetic dancing culturaltroupe after which the participantsjoined the dancing, making the eventmore memorable. An inspiring speechwas made by Hon AlbertNsengiyumva, Minister of State forTechnical and Vocational Educationand Training and a founding Directorof the Alliance from 2006 to 2010,congratulating the current membersand urging them to hold on to the earlyvision.

The concept of hosting an AnnualConference was part of the original

WordsTom Fryer,InternationalRelations Officer, DANTE

Zomba Strategic Plan of the Alliance,formulated in 2006. The objective wasto develop and brand UbuntuNetAlliance annual conferences for allstakeholders with sessions focusing onNRENs activities, technologies,research and applications amongother topics. A further objective was tobuild partnerships with international,regional and national bodies to ensureeffective delivery of advancednetworking technologies, and resourcemobilization. These objectives werecertainly fulfilled in Kigali.

The presentations are alreadyonline on the UbuntuNet Alliancewebsite and the Proceedings will beavailable by the end of January 2014.

For more information, see: UbuntuNet Alliance:http://www.ubuntunet.net/

45

GLOBAL NEWS

UUBBUUNNTTUUNNEETT--CCOONNNNEECCTTCCOONNFFEERREENNCCEE HHEELLDD IINN KKIIGGAALLII

44 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

Transforming education and research was the highly relevant themeof UbuntuNet-Connect 2013 held at Lemigo Hotel in Kigali, Rwandaon 14-15 November 2013. The 6th in the series, the conferencewas hosted by one of the founding NRENs of the UbuntuNet Alliance,RwEdNet, the Rwandan NREN, with support from the Ministry ofEducation. Opened by the Minister of Education in Rwanda, Dr Vincent Biruta, the event was attended by approximately 150 participants from 33 countries.

47

GLOBAL NEWS

communications technologies.Building on EUMEDCONNECT,ASREN sets out to provide Arabscientists, students and academicswith a gateway to participation inworld-class research and education.ASREN also recognises theimportance of supporting end-userservices on top of connectivity itself,pledging to promote the deploymentand uptake of collaboration-facilitatingservices, such as eduGAIN,eduROAM, cloud computing and toolssuch as the Catania Science Gateway.

e-AGE 2013 also saw the signingof a Memorandum of Understandingbetween the Iraqi Ministry of HigherEducation and Scientific Research andASREN for it to support thedevelopment of an NREN in Iraq. Thisstep reflects ASREN’s mission toextend the geographical footprint ofEUMEDCONNECT towards creating atruly pan-Arab R&E network potentiallyserving a population of 250 million in

the Mediterranean and neighbouringGulf region.

The conference was preceded bya joint EUMEDCONNECT/CHAIN-Redsmeeting, which offered an excellentopportunity to exploit synergiesbetween EC-funded projects infostering cooperation and coordinationbetween Arab and Europeanresearchers.

Tunis also hosted the trainingworkshop “Network Management Toolsfor NREN NOCs” run by anenthusiastic NSRC (Network StartupResource Centre) team whichequipped current and aspiring NOCengineers in the region with hands-onadvice. The workshop was funded bythe EUMEDCONNECT3 project and isa tangible outcome of the MoUbetween DANTE and NSRC inconnecting the least connected.

“e-AGE has established itself asthe principal forum for the Arab R&ECommunity. There was a noticeably

upbeat atmosphere in Tunis in themeetings and in the corridors as themany participants addressed thepractical steps to construct the e-Infrastructure for the Arab region.This year’s e-AGE demonstrated thegrowing global interest in the regionand focussed on the concrete stepsbeing taken by ASREN and ArabNRENs to develop Arab e-Infrastructures and interconnectwith research networkingcommunities in other parts of theworld. I thank ASREN and CCK fortheir hard work and successfulorganisation of the event.”

David West, EUMEDCONNECT3Project Manager

For more information, including theTunis Declaration and a full set ofpresentations, please visithhttttpp::////wwwwww..eeuummeeddccoonnnneecctt33..nneett//MMeeddiiaa__CCeennttrree//PPaaggeess//nneettwwoorrkk--sshhoowwccaasseedd--aatt--ee--AAGGEE--22001133..aassppxx

Pictures (Left to right)The NSRC andASREN teamwith participantsof the NSRCworkshop

Signing of MoUbetween IraqiMinistry ofHigherEducation andScientificResearch andASREN

NSRC workshopcertificateceremony

46 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

CCOONNSSTTRRUUCCTTIIOONN OOFF AA PPAANN--AARRAABBRR&&EE NNEETTWWOORRKKSSHHOOWWCCAASSEEDD AATT EE--AAGGEE 22001133

The 3rd “International Platformon Integrating Arab e-Infrastructure in a GlobalEnvironment” – e-AGE 2013 –

took place 12 - 13 December 2013 inTunis under the patronage of Dr.Moncef Ben Salem, Tunisian Ministerof Higher Education and ScientificResearch and alongside the 5thannual meeting of the ArabOrganization for Quality Assurance inEducation (AROQA). Hosted byTunisia’s EUMEDCONNECT3 partner,the Computing Center Al Khwarizmi(CCK), the event attracted more than80 high-profile participants from over30 countries spanning all worldregions.

Ministers from Palestine and Libyaand senior representatives of the

League of Arab States and the WorldBank made statements emphasisingthe importance of e-Infrastructure forthe development of research andeducation across the Arab region andsupporting the work of ASREN (theArab States Research and EducationNetwork). In a keynote speech YousefTorman, co-Managing Director ofASREN outlined the progress andplans and the major contribution madeby the EUMEDCONNECT programme.

At e-AGE 2012 in Dubai theprevious year, ASREN had presented astatus report on Arab e-Infrastructures,highlighting the digital divide faced byR&E in the Arab region compared toother world regions and the need todevelop a regional network. A year on,ASREN took stock of efforts to secure

long-term sustainability of e-Infrastructures in the region, includingencouraging steps towards becominga regional R&E network provider in itsown right. In addition to havingacquired its own IPv4/IPv6 addressspace and AS number, thanks to thesupport from DANTE and theEUMEDCONNECT3 project, ASRENhas now also signed a contract withTelecity Group to set up ASREN’s firstEuropean PoP in London. Additionalregional hubs in Fujairah andAlexandria are planned and peeringcontracts are currently beingnegotiated with several Arab partners.

The agenda of the 2-day eventfeatured various presentations from theuser community, consistently insistingon access to the best modern

GLOBAL NEWS

WordsHelga Spitaler,SeniorCommunicationsOfficer, DANTE

Do you have an idea for an article in CONNECT? We welcome contributionsfrom our community. Drop us an email at connect@geant.net with yourthoughts. We look forward to hearing from you!

www.geant.net

www.twitter.com/GEANTnews

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www.youtube.com/GEANTtv

GE

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GeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgiaGeorgia MDMDMDMDBY MoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldovaMoldova UAUAUA UkraineUkraineUkraineUkraineUkraineUkraineUkraineUkraineUAUAUAUAUAMoldova

ACOnetwww.aco.netBelnetwww.belnet.beBRENwww.bren.bgCARNetwww.carnet.hrCyNETwww.cynet.ac.cyCESNETwww.ces.netEENetwww.eenet.eeRENATERwww.renater.frDFNwww.dfn.deGRNETwww.grnet.grNIIFwww.niif.huHEAnetwww.heanet.ieIUCCwww.iucc.ac.ilGARRwww.garr.it

GÉANT is the pan-European research andeducation network that interconnects Europe’sNational Research and Education Networks(NRENs). Together we connect over 50 millionusers at 10,000 institutions across Europe,supporting research in areas such as energy, the environment, space and medicine.

GGÉÉAANNTT PPaarrttnneerrssSigmaNetwww.sigmanet.lvLITNETwww.litnet.ltRESTENAwww.restena.luMARNetwww.marnet.mkUniversity of Maltawww.um.edu.mtMRENwww.mren.ac.meSURFnetwww.surfnet.nlNORDUnetwww.nordu.netPSNCwww.man.poznan.plFCCNwww.fccn.ptRoEduNetwww.nren.ro eARENAwww.e-arena.ruAMRESwww.amres.ac.rsSANETwww.sanet.sk

ARNESwww.arnes.siRedIRISwww.rediris.esSWITCHwww.switch.chULAKBIMwww.ulakbim.gov.trJANETwww.ja.netDANTEwww.dante.netTERENAwww.terena.orgBASNET www.bas-net.byRENAMwww.renam.mdURANwww.uran.net.uaASNET-AMwww.asnet.amAzRENAwww.azrena.orgGRENAwww.grena.ge

ABOUT GÉANT

49

““HHEELLIIOOSS”” AANNDD GGÉÉAANNTT CCOONNNNEECCTT AATT EEUURROOPPEE’’SSBBIIGGGGEESSTT IICCTT MMEEEETTIINNGG PPOOIINNTT

CONNECT NEWS

“Helios” ranks as one of the topsupercomputers in the world. It is partof the Broader Approach, the fusionenergy partnership between Europeand Japan, and hosted in theInternational Fusion Energy ResearchCentre (IFERC) in Rokkasho.Producing vast data sets, it relies onthe extra bandwidth offered by GÉANTto connect scientists all over the worldcollaborating on energy researchprojects such as ITER, and its follow-on project DEMO.

Both Helios and GÉANT enjoy aninternational outlook and have a clearcommitment to public research andinnovation. Seizing the opportunity toparticipate in Europe’s biggest ICTconference, hosted in Vilnius, theydemonstrated the benefits ofinternational cooperation by

highlighting the direct contribution ofICT in shaping tomorrow’s energy mix.

Parallel thematic sessions,networking events and a vibrantinvestors’ forum maintained the interestof nearly 5000 people from the ICTindustry, SMEs and innovation centreseager to showcase their latestachievements.

Susana Clement Lorenzo, F4EGroup Leader for IFERC said:

“Our joint participation with GÉANThas revealed a new target audienceinterested in “Helios” purely from atechnical perspective. They areimpressed in its IT capacity andpotential contribution to appliedresearch. For those interested in thefield of fusion, I can say that thesupercomputer is high on demand. In the last call for Helios, researchers

WordsAris Apollonatos, Information andCommunicationGroup Leader,Fusion ForEnergy

requested three times more computertime than available. 80% of thecomputer time is allocated to projectssubmitted to the calls jointly judged ontheir merit. The remaining 20% isevenly split between Europe andJapan. We plan to carry out furtherenhancements to the supercomputer’soperational system, and to offer moretraining courses in 2014 to prepare thescientific community for the nextgeneration of supercomputers.”

Michael Enrico, Chief TechnicalOfficer at DANTE, said: “Our mission isto support cutting-edge research thatworks towards solving society’s grandchallenges so we are delighted to bean important partner to “Helios” andpart of ITER, the biggest internationalcollaborative project in energyresearch.”

48 CONNECT ISSUE 14 JANUARY 2014

You can view or download previous copies of CONNECT at www.geant.net/connect-archive

wwwwww..ggeeaanntt..nneett

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of DANTE and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. CONNECT/0114