FEATURE: UBUNTUNET
Participants at the launch in Lisbon
WHAT WILL THE NEW NETWORK OFFER? The network will dramatically accelerate the development of the Information Society in Africa, providing the advanced data communications infrastructure that African researchers and students need to collaborate more easily together. And thanks to highspeed links to GÉANT, users in Africa can collaborate with over 40 million users in Europe, and further benefit from GÉANT’s links beyond Europe.
Until now, network traffic exchanged between two UbuntuNet Alliance countries had to travel via routers in London – and latterly Amsterdam – incurring delays and additional cost. With the launch of the regional component of UbuntuNet, African member states are now connected directly, able to share data quickly and simply and bringing much-needed regional collaboration to what is a vast geographical area.
Those involved see this as a great benefit not just to Africa, but to Europe also. As Dr. F F Tusubira, CEO of the UbuntuNet Alliance puts it, “Africa is a rich resource of intellect that will be tapped into by many European institutions, both profit and non-profit, in advancing research in different sectors.” See overleaf for the full interview with Dr. F F Tusubira.
INTERNET USE AFRICA has 15.3% OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION
EU has 7%
OF THE WORLD’S INTERNET USERS
7%
OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION
15.3% OF THE WORLD’S INTERNET USERS
Source: Internet World Stats
“The European Commission is pleased to contribute to the development of this important regional higher education and research network. African researchers now have an additional instrument to improve communication among them and with their colleagues in Europe.” Denis Salord, Head of Unit, Regional Programmes Sub-Saharan Africa & ACP wide (Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid) European Commission
“GARR has been working tirelessly to involve African Countries in the “NREN club”, so we're really happy to see this happen. The launch of a unified African backbone serving research and an education institution is a big step forward, and will help African students, teachers and researchers in closing the gap with most advanced economies.” Enzo Valente, Director GARR
“The AfricaConnect project is a fundamental resource for the development of a new level of relations by the world-wide research community with those researchers working in Africa. FCCN has a long history of relationship with African research communities and looks forward to using AfricaConnect services to improve and develop further those relationships.” João Nuno Ferreira, Technical Manager, FCCN
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