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High-performance data networks have become an indispensable
part of today's environment for research and education. These networks
are an important tool not only in all academic disciplines - from
science to medicine and the humanities - but also in the networking
of libraries, museums, educational and cultural institutions.
On the national level, some university networks
have been developing quickly with public funding. The equivalent
development on a European level was rather slow and resulted in
a heterogeneous European network structure.
A pervasive high-performance European network for
research and education is necessary to
- enable and intensify European co-operation in research, technical
development and in higher education.
- facilitate European-wide access to remote research facilities,
exchange and uptake of research results, and creation of virtual
centres of excellence where the best European research teams are
brought together irrespective of their geographical location.
- create an environment that facilitates the transfer of research
results to a user community able, willing and prepared to give
new applications a try.
- promote international collaboration in higher education and
lifelong learning and thus to foster European citizenship in the
information age.
- provide a test-bed for large-scale projects without the need
for construction of a new network which results in lower costs
of such research.
These objectives are in total accord with the goals
set out for the 5th Framework Programme. Such an infrastructure
not only assures a proper environment for research but even more
so is a necessary precondition for it. The European Community has,
therefore, included in the 5th Framework Programme special action
lines 'support of research infrastructures' which in the framework
of the IST programme is "to provide support to facilitate the
rapid implementation and interoperability of Europe-wide advanced
high-speed computer and communication systems needed for research
in all fields of science and technology, in the context of the global
evolution of the Internet".
Actions to be taken under this heading must not
be confused with other activities concerning research networking.
Two fundamentally different aspects of research networking have
to be distinguished, the distinction between which has not been
dealt with adequately in the past by taking into account their different
implications:
- Research in networking:
developmentand
demonstration of advanced network technologies,
services and applications.
This has to remain a priority RTD topic. It should figure prominently
among the Key Actions (e.g. as "Essential technologies and
infrastructure") and the Activities for the research
and development of generic technologies. Research
in networking can be, as in the past, carried out in the form
of RTD projects, using the instrument of project-based support.
Clearly a test-bed environment separated from a production network
is needed for this, however, both shall be based on the same underlying
physical infrastructure.
- Networks for research:
application of
advanced networking technologies in
all disciplines and fields of research,
education and culture.
These, however, have to be considered as an enabling
technology and necessary
infrastructure. A European network
has to interconnect national research and education networks which
already seek to provide stable, resilient services for teaching,
research, and the administration of research and higher education.
The Work Programme adopted by the EC specifying
the various tasks to be performed within the 5th Framework Programme
has recognised that he mechanisms applied to RTD projects are not
suitable for these new support actions. Therefore it states that
support of networks for research shall be managed as a procurement
activity. ENPG not only welcomes and supports this approach but
in addition suggests that special management procedures should be
applied that more closely fit the needs and the organisational structures
of European research and education networking.
It was an achievement to build TEN-34 and TEN-155
with the help of the EC from the 4th Framework Programme. The new
high-performance broadband network for education and research, therefore,
will be able to start out from this achievement. Attention has to
be paid that the shortcomings of previous conceptions and regulations
like complex consortium structures, too short life-times and a heavy
administrative overhead are not repeated again.
The next step towards a high-performance European
academic backbone network should consist in
- a concentrated, homogeneous high-speed "core" network,
whose internal structure would be invisible to any connecting
network,
- the gradual extension of this to every European country,
- creating a topology that optimises access from all European
countries,
- establishing a network architecture which allows for flexible
access bandwidth and upgrading according to the needs and possibilities
of all European countries, with a constant view to progressive
integration of all present and future EU member states,
- providing a stable and reliable pervasive pan-European "production"
network,
- providing network services to universities, libraries, museums,
educational and cultural institutions as well as public and industrial
research establishments,
- offering network services to industrial research facilities
and SMEs on a per project basis,
- offering an environment for the demonstration and validation
of advanced networking applications in research and education.
This should create
the basis for the second step, a real quantum leap in networking
in terms of bandwidth, quality of service and innovative services
based on a cost-oriented funding model.
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