European Research Networks ? approaching GN3
Bálint Lajos <>
NIIF Intézet
GN2, the flagship project within FP6
(the 6th Framework Programme of European Research and Technological
Development) has served as a milestone in the development of the European research
networks. Not only because
- it has seamlessly continued the traditional
development process of building the European backbone for interconnecting the
national research networks operated by the NRENs and providing high performance
services on the basis of the European backbone,
but
also because, among others, it has
- created a new generation of the Pan-European research
network (GÉANT2) comprising latest technologies and most up-to-date
architectural principles,
- resulted in a quantum leap in the development of
global connectivity (covering, and establishing network access for the research
and education community in Latin-America, the Mediterranean,
South-Africa, Central-Asia, the Far-East and the Pacific),
- started, on top of building the network, research and
development, as well as service and dissemination activities as new components of
objectives closely related to GÉANT2 and beyond, so that by this way
- considerably extended the spectrum of network users
and network applications, both quantitatively and qualitatively, while,
- concerning data traffic and multi-domain interworking,
enabled building and using scientific and computational grids,
- granted, through its GEANT+ services, the
exploitability of architectural benefits stemming from hybrid networking
(combination of options for traditional IP connectivity and for novel,
dedicated virtual ?end-to-end? connections).
Completion
of the extended GN2 project has been contemplated to March 2009.
The
opportunity to continue the development activities and, by this way, to keep
the continuity in Pan-European provision of world-class infrastructure and
services, will be supported by the soon launching GN3 project, as another major
undertaking, now under the FP7 umbrella.
Preparations
for the new project have started still in 2007, and the project proposal has
been duly submitted at the September 2008 deadline to the EC (European
Commission) in Brussels.
The pleasing results of the reviewing process and the as yet promising outcomes
of the negotiations between the representatives of the EC and the prospective
GN3 consortium make us optimistic about the foreseeable approval of the project
and signature of the GN3 Contract.
Due
to the present plans, GN3 will start in the 3rd quarter of 2009 with a
four-year budget funded, as a result of long debates, by about 50 % (more than 90 M?) of the project costs ? a sum
more or less equivalent with the funding level provided by the EC in the GN2
case.
Until
the rapidly approaching launch of the new project, there are a number of
difficult tasks to solve:.
-
the negotiations
with the EC should be duly concluded while, in parallel,
- the discrepancies
between the views and opinions of the partners should be eliminated, eg. with
respect to
the detailed
objectives of the project,
the architecture
of the GÉANT3 network,
the backbone
topology,
the details of
the applied technologies,
the aimed
research and development goals and related activities,
the organisation
and management of the project, the cost sharing principles and practice, etc., and then,
-
the responsible officer
of the EC and the representative of the project consortium comprising the 30+
project partners (the NRENs, the co-ordinator DANTE, and also TERENA) should
sign the massive, multi-volume contract document.
The
overview of our ?to do? items and the investigation of our GN3 chances are not
only exciting tasks but also unavoidable prerequisites of looking forward to
another successful 4-year period of developing the European research network within
the frameworks of GN3 and
- to consolidate
the introduction and utilisation of those R&D results achieved within GN2,
- to establish a
stable environment for fast, simple, and seamless building of Virtual Optical Private
Networks for Virtual Research Environments and Virtual Research Communities so
that by applying such approaches
- the e-Infrastructure
(first of all networking) basis for the ERA (the European Research Area) is well
available and
- a high number of demanding
major (traditional and novel) application projects are able to intensely
exploit the benefits provided by the ERA and, within that, the GÉANT3 network,
- by making
possible also a fast growing of the European economy and strengthening the competitiveness
of the old Continent.
The
NIIF community (ie. the Hungarian R&E networking users), similarly to their
partnership within GN2, will play an active role in the GN3 project. The supposed
success of these activities are well supported by the complementary contributions
stemming from national and international cooperation in the area of
organisational contacts, networking collaborations, and partnerships within
those further EC co-funded projects closely related to developing the network
within GN3 and also to establishing the later GÉANT generations.