user views from outside of western europe markobonac, [email protected] arnes, slovenia

User views User views from outside of Western Europefrom outside of Western Europe

MarkoBonac,

[email protected]

Arnes, Slovenia

Candidate countries: great potentialCandidate countries: great potentialEC document:

Science, Technology and Innovation in EU+ 2002:

Candidate countries spend relatively less for R&D in relation to GDP.

Number of patents is low (due to the rather recent emergence of intellectual property rights regime).

Many candidate countries perform relatively better in the production of scientific papers.

Candidate countries have high number of researchers(17,8 % of that in the EU).

Candidate countries possess a huge potential capacity to produce scientific and technological knowledge.

Integration of candidate countries in the Framework Programme and the European Research Area opens new dimensions and opportunities for Europe

Typical story from less developed Typical story from less developed European countryEuropean country

We have many universities They are distributed over the country They have not enough academic staff

except the ones in mayor cities There are not enough libraries The laboratories lack modern equipment Salaries are low

Our computer network is the only tool to access information and to collaborate in international projects

The user requirements are similar in more The user requirements are similar in more and less developed European countriesand less developed European countries

SERENATE questionnaire:

“Does your current or foreseen research involve Digital Libraries ?”

More developed: yes 46 %

Less developed: yes 51 %



“Do you use video conferencing or other forms of remote conferencing in your research ?”





“Is Grid computing being considered

in your research area ? ”



The research collaboration is similarThe research collaboration is similar


If your research involve distant collaborators,

what fraction of them are

from other institutions in your own country– More developed: 31 %– Less developed: 34 %

in a different European country– More developed: 41 %– Less developed: 43 %

outside Europe ?– More developed: 28 %– Less developed: 23 %

The network traffic is similarThe network traffic is similar


What fraction of your network traffic,

coming in or going out, involves

European institutions– More developed: 59 %– Less developed: 58 %

and what fraction involves institutions outside Europe ?– More developed: 41 %– Less developed: 42 %

Hierarchy in research networkingHierarchy in research networking

local network access network metropolitan network national backbone international connectivity

For the end user it is often difficult to know where the problems (e.g. congestion) are.

The gap is becoming bigger The gap is becoming bigger

Comparing research network elements in more

and less developed European countries:

International capacity: 1:1000

National links: 1:5000

The gap is bigger than ever before.

From TERENA Compendium 2002From TERENA Compendium 2002

International connectivity is not a problem any more for those NRENs who can afford Gbps access to GEANT network.

International connectivity is still a problem for less developed countries.

For more developed countries the congestion is more often in– local network and/or– access network and/or– metropolitan network.

Networking is relatively more expensive Networking is relatively more expensive in less developed European countriesin less developed European countries

GDP per capita in Candidate countries is 25 to 70 % of the EU average.

Telecommunication infrastructure is missing. Telecommunication market is often not yet

liberalized - high prices for leased lines. Most of less developed countries are small – this

brings additional problems.

NREN budget par capita 2002NREN budget par capita 2002

It is dependant on size of the country and not on its GDP per capita (as one would expect) !

NREN budget per capita in 2002 (Terena Compendium)

0,5 EUR/cap 1 EUR/cap More than 1 EUR/cap-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

France Czech Rep. IrelandGermany Estonia PortugalItaly Lithuania CroatiaSpain Latvia Slovenia Denmark The Netherlands Belgium Norway United Kingdom Finland Switzerland

Running an NREN in small country is Running an NREN in small country is expensiveexpensive

In a small country it is more expensive

(calculated per user) to provide the same level of service.

Relatively more international capacity is needed Low capacity circuits are relatively more expensive

Circuits of the same capacity are often more expensive

The NREN needs the same effort to introduce a new service

International capacity needed (2001)International capacity needed (2001)

NREN total int. pop. capacity/

in country capacity mil.pop

Germany 1000 82 12 France 850 59 14 UK 800 60 13

Slovenia 45 2 23 Ireland 120 3.7 32 Switzerland 300 7 43 Luxembourg 20 0.4 50

Average traffic received from GEANTAverage traffic received from GEANTJuly 2002July 2002

Average received traffic per capita in

Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Switzerland

was at least 6 times greater than in

France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain

0.000

0.200

0.400

0.600

0.800

1.000

1.200

0

capacity in Mbps

price per Mbps

Price for international circuit is not a Price for international circuit is not a linear function of capacitylinear function of capacity

Circuits of the same capacity Circuits of the same capacity are more expensive in small countriesare more expensive in small countries

There is less demand for high capacity circuits Telecommunication market is often not yet

liberalized In many cases there is only one operator Telecommunication regulator has the same task

and so it is understaffed

What should be done to narrow What should be done to narrow the digital divide ?the digital divide ?

What is done:

Governments are supporting research networks in less developed countries.

5FP (and 6FP) supports international connectivity.

What should be done:

Countries should accelerate the liberalization process in telecommunication sector.

The EC should find ways to finance other components of research networks.

A wish from Greece A wish from Greece (SERENATE questionnaire)(SERENATE questionnaire)

Currently, each simulation takes 40 hours of real time on the largest available supercomputer in Europe and the vizualization takes another 10-20 hours on local workstations. To obtain useful resuls, we need to explore dozens of such simulations. With a 10Gbps network and grid computing, our simulations would run much faster and the vizualization could be done remotely on a parallel supercomputer. In this way, we could rapidly explore dozens of simulation, arriving at useful conclusion much faster than today. Still, definitive answers to our research problem could be given only by very high-resolution simulations and such simulations will be possible only when networks of 100Gbps will become available.

Global connectivity -Global connectivity -where are the priorities ?where are the priorities ?

Current statusCurrent status

GEANT provides good international connectivity among most European countries

There is good connectivity between Europe and USA. It is difficult to provide good connectivity to countries

in other continents – as they have no pan-continental network and– sometimes not even a national research network.

Where are the priorities ?Where are the priorities ?

Where are priorities from research point of view ? Japan, China, Russia, India ….How to find this out ?

There are also priorities from political point of view.

How to achieve the priorities ?How to achieve the priorities ?

Should Europe finance the lines to chosen countries ? Pay for half of the costs ?

Should Europe try to export its model:– one research network per country– one pan-continental network in every continent ?

user views from outside of western europe markobonac, [email protected] arnes, slovenia

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