SURFnet and KPN agreed in October to carry out joint research on better integration of mobile networks on the Internet. Construction of the new network is provided for by that agreement.

With one or more partners at the Utrecht Science Park, SURFnet and KPN will be running a pilot project in 2012 to gain knowledge and experience of the possibilities opened up by new “fourth-generation” (4G) mobile networks. Details of the project are expected to become available early in 2012.

The project will involve linking KPN's mobile broadband infrastructure as smoothly as possible both to SURFnet’s network infrastructure (based on eduroam authentication) and to the WiFi networks of the participating institutions. According to SURFnet and KPN, the project will allow them to gain the knowledge and experience that they need to use new mobile networks in education and research.

Utrecht, The Netherlands, 21 October 2011 – KPN and SURFnet concluded an agreement today to collaborate on studying closer integration between mobile networks and the Internet and on introducing the latest generation of Internet addresses, IPv6.
Their joint aim is to build knowledge and gain experience working with new “fourth generation” (4G) mobile networks. They also want to give an extra push to the introduction of the new generation of Internet addresses (IPv6) in the Netherlands.

Mobile networks
Mobile communication is playing an increasingly important role in the higher education and research sector. Unrestricted, fast, uninterrupted access to the Internet is hugely important in new approaches to working and learning. SURFnet and KPN intend to explore how wireless networks such as UMTS, Wi-Fi and the new LTE can be more closely integrated into the SURFnet network and, as a result, the Internet. The first pilot project will be launched before the end of this year. The project will involve linking KPN's mobile broadband infrastructure as smoothly as possible to SURFnet’s network infrastructure and to the Wi-Fi networks of the participating universities based on eduroam authentication. According to SURFnet and KPN, the project will allow them to gain the knowledge and experience that they need to use new mobile networks in education and research.

Both parties believe in the advantages of new approaches to working and learning, with students and researchers being free to learn and collaborate anytime and anywhere. Mobile networks can support these new approaches by giving students and staff at Dutch institutions for higher education and research easy, secure, and reliable access to modern ICT applications. Major advances are now possible thanks to the new LTE network, which offers high-speed capability and shorter log on time. SURFnet’s user group has demonstrated that it can play a pioneering role when it comes to the introduction of new network services; the best-known example of this is the Internet itself.

IPv6 – the latest generation of Internet addresses
SURFnet has long been encouraging knowledge institutions in the Netherlands and elsewhere to use IPv6. The SURFnet network has supported IPv6 since 2001, but many institutions and companies have yet to make the switch. The transition to IPv6 has now become an urgent matter, however, because the available IPv4 addresses are almost exhausted. SURFnet and KPN therefore wish to accelerate implementation of IPv6. To help KPN make a rapid and effective transition to IPv6, SURFnet – working through the RIPE Network Coordination Centre – will transfer a series of IPv4 addresses to KPN in order to stimulate the crucial timely introduction of IPv6 in the Netherlands.
The results of the study will be available for general use.

----

About SURFnet
SURFnet ensures that researchers, instructors, and students can work together simply and effectively with the aid of ICT. SURFnet therefore promotes, develops, and operates a hybrid network, a trusted identity, and a pioneering collaboration environment that encourages online collaboration. About one million users within the target group have access to these services. SURFnet is part of SURF, in which Dutch research universities, universities of applied sciences, and research centres collaborate on creating innovative ICT facilities. For more than 20 years now, SURFnet has been one of the primary authorities in the Netherlands in the field of Internet communication.

Company profile KPN
KPN is the leading telecommunications and ICT service provider in the Netherlands, offering wireline and wireless telephony, internet and TV to consumers and end-to-end telecom and ICT services to business customers. KPN operates a global ICT services company with the brand name Getronics and has a market leading position in the Benelux, offering end-to-end solutions in infrastructure and network-related IT. KPN manages 2.2 million workspaces. In Germany and Belgium, KPN pursues a Challenger strategy in its wireless operations and holds number three market positions through E-Plus and BASE. In Spain and France, KPN offers wireless services as an MVNO through its own brands and through partner brands. KPN provides wholesale network services to third parties and operates an efficient IP-based infrastructure with global scale in international wholesale through iBasis.

At December 31st, 2010, KPN served over 42.2 million customers, of which 33.9 million were in wireless services, 4.4 million in wireline voice, 2.8 million in broadband Internet and 1.2 million in TV. With 19,192 FTEs in the Netherlands (30,599 FTEs for the whole group), KPN reported full-year revenues of EUR 13.4bn and an EBITDA of EUR 5.5bn in 2010. KPN was incorporated in 1989 and is listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Background article SURFnet: http://www.surfnet.nl/en/nieuws/Pages/Backgroundarticle.aspx 

 

SURFnet held a workshop for Dutch higher education and research institutions and came to the conclusion that a handy step-by-step plan for allocating new IPv6 address ranges did not yet exist. The document – Preparing an IPv6 Addressing Plan – has all the information that network managers and architects need to keep track of things when introducing IPv6 addresses. IANA has given RIPE NCC responsibility for issuing IP addresses in Europe. RIPE NCC has translated the manual into English and has also made the manual available online.

Download manual 'Preparing an IPv6 Addressing Plan'
Website RIPE NCC

The European Commission has appointed a high-level expert group (called
the "GEANT Expert Group"), which will formulate a vision on European
research and education networking in the year 2020 and an action plan
for realising that vision.

On January 18 Kees Neggers was invited to their second meeting in Munich
to present his "Vision for European Research and Education Networking 2020".

Please find here links to the PPT file of Neggers' presentation and the
underlying position paper SURFnet prepared as input for the Expert Group.

• Position Paper (PDF)
• Presentation Kees Neggers (PDF)

 

 

 

Erik-Jan’s creativity, strategic insight and enormous technological, ICT and network expertise have made a crucial contribution to SURFnet.

Erik-Jan was one of the very first SURFnet staff members and helped build all of SURFnet’s networks, from SURFnet1 to today’s SURFnet6. It was in part under his leadership – as the manager of SURFnet’s network services and later as a member of its Board – that the SURFnet network developed into one of the most innovative in the world. In his most recent position as Chief Technology Officer, he has been involved in on-going network innovations, for example Next Generation Ethernet, its planned integration with other ICT infrastructure components, and the development of open collaboration platforms.

Erik-Jan has also played a major role in the international network community. He has been active in various international working groups, for example the GLIF, where he chaired the Technical Working Group and played a key role in the development and implementation of an international Lambda Grid infrastructure. He also made vital contributions to various European projects and served a member of the Executive Committee of GN3, the project that realises the pan-European research network GÉANT.

Erik-Jan’s departure will be a great loss for SURFnet and the international network community. His work will be taken over and continued by various SURFnet staff.

Utrecht, 8 December 2010 – At its SURFnet Contact Days, SURFnet has introduced its new SURFconext service, an online collaboration infrastructure for staff, researchers, and students at higher education and research institutions. SURFconext makes it possible to collaborate across institutional boundaries and national borders. SURFnet has collaborated with higher education and research institutions and both national and international partners to develop this innovative infrastructure.

Paul van Dijk, the product manager responsible for SURFconext at SURFnet, has this to say: “The growing need that multi disciplinary teams have to exchange information is leading to increased demand for new collaboration solutions. SURFnet sees new opportunities in online collaboration. We are holding discussions with a large number of higher education institutions about the introduction of the new collaboration infrastructure.”

Applications from various providers

SURFconext makes it possible to use applications from various different providers and institutions alongside one another and to combine them, thus opening up new opportunities for collaboration. Using applications that are connected by means of open standards gives users a simple way of sharing information and working on files. This includes such uses as document sharing, web conferencing, chat and presence tools, video, and applications specifically for research and education.

Simple and secure access

Education and research institutions can link internal and external applications and make a collaboration environment available ot their own users via their own portal. By means of SURFfederatie, users can log in to the portal with their own institutional account, thus gaining secure and simple access to the available online applications. Here they can create their own collaboration environment by selecting the applications that they need and sharing them with colleagues. Users can themselves arrange for authorisation for their teams.

OpenSocial portal 

SURFnet has constructed a demo portal so as to clarify all the various functions. The portal was developed on the basis of the OpenSocial standard. SURFnet wishes to encourage institutions to develop their own institutional portal and link it to SURFconext. A number of universities, for example the University of Twente and Delft University of Technology, are already making active use of OpenSocial. Jos in den Bosch, an IT architect at Delft University of Technology, says: “We have started a pilot project – together with SURFnet – for the use of OpenSocial. We are testing whether it really is easy to offer your own functionality and third-party functionality simultaneously. The portal based on OpenSocial has everything needed to offer added value not only within a single institution but also beyond the level of individual institutions.”

Availability

The beta version of the SURFconext service will be available in January 2011. SURFconext will undergo further development so that researchers, instructors, and students can combine the latest applications and resources.

The event will focus on the use of the OpenSocial, its technologies and implementations, and will have a special concentration on the use of OpenSocial in Research and Education. This two day event is the first OpenSocial Summit held in Europe, and the first to include an industry specific spotlight.

Day one will feature prominent speakers from the OpenSocial community who will present and demonstrate the nuts and bolts of the specification, including what's new in version 1.1, best practices for building social applications, and the emerging use of OpenSocial within the Enterprise. There will also be technical sessions on understanding Apache Shindig, the open source reference framework for OpenSocial. The first day will conclude with a broad outline of where the community is heading with future releases and a call to action to get involved.

The second day is dedicated to the use of OpenSocial in research and education. This will consist of both interactive workshops and presentations. Several industry experts from the Research and Educational sector will discuss their experiences using OpenSocial in their solutions. For example, SURFnet will present its project on
implementing a new Collaboration Infrastructure and will demonstrate how OpenSocial plays an important role in this infrastructure by it enabling group centric collaboration in an open, platform independent way.

• More information on this event:
  http://blog.opensocial.org/2010/10/first-european-opensocial-event-in.html
• More information on the OpenSocial Foundation:
  http://www.opensocial.org
• More information on the Collaboration Infrastructure:
  http://www.surfnet.nl/en/Thema/coin/Pages/Default.aspx

Ciena® Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), Mellanox® Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX; TASE: MLNX), SURFnet and the University of Amsterdam today announced a collaborative experiment that produced a high-speed, long-haul 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) network to demonstrate distributed data processing and end-to-end single stream performance well beyond 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps).  The demo was shown for the first time at the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF)’s 10th annual Global LambdaGrid Workshop at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.

The four organizations came together to create a 40 Gbps long-haul optical network to explore a future in which the network continues to be an enabler to local, regional, national and international research collaboration through the successful support of high-performance data distribution, next-generation video and data processing. Utilizing shared expertise in advanced photonic, leading-edge hardware and high-performance computing to complete the demonstration, the organizations created a network using an existing 1650 km production-quality SURFnet link, connecting an experimental high-performance computer cluster equipped with a Mellanox ConnectX®-2 EN 40GbE NIC at the University of Amsterdam to a remote data processing unit with a corresponding interface at the GLIF meeting venue.  The demonstration pushed 26 Gbps (the practical limit of the PCIe bus) from the processor in Amsterdam to the processor at CERN through a single optical wave lambda.  The network infrastructure was based on Ciena’s Optical Multiservice Edge (OME) 6500 equipped with 40GbE interfaces, which was seamlessly upgraded from a 10 Gbps optical lambda to a 40 Gbps optical lambda with no added signal regeneration or modifications to the existing infrastructure

“We're honored to work with these leading-edge research organizations as we continue to invest in opportunities to remove capacity bottlenecks and expand the capabilities of our converged optical Ethernet solutions portfolio,” said Rod Wilson, senior director for Ciena’s external research program. “The creation of next-generation infrastructures is vital to supporting e-Science applications, and Ciena is proud to be a participant in successfully enabling the innovative development of these complex and adaptive networks.”

“We are pleased to be a part of this collaborative effort to drive distributed data over long distance via a high-bandwidth 40GigE network,” said Dror Goldenberg, vice president of architecture at Mellanox Technologies. “Mellanox’s ConnectX-2 EN 40GigE NIC sets the stage for disparate, next-generation data centers by enabling high-bandwidth Ethernet fabrics optimized for long-run capacity.”

“We are excited that we are able to push the envelope further to 40 Gbps long-haul transmission for research and education,” continued Erik-Jan Bos, chief technology officer at SURFnet. “This 40G demo showed that we now can do single stream end-to-end transport well above today's common boundary of 10 Gbps.”

“The novelty of this work is the new unobstructed 40 Gbps single channel bandwidth between compute nodes implemented directly on a lambda network. This marks the next step in the growth of long-haul communication capacity for distributed data processing,” said Cees de Laat, professor in system and network engineering at the University of Amsterdam. “These capacities are essential not only for data intensive e-Science but also, for example, in high-resolution 3D digital cinema and movie processing. The photonic network vision and technology as developed by Ciena integrates the communication building blocks seamlessly with the rest of the e-Infrastructure.”

"Pushing the boundaries of our knowledge of the universe requires us to pioneer the state-of-the-art in many areas of technology. The worldwide processing of LHC data needs advanced network technology for us to push the capabilities of our computing capacities around the globe,” commented David Foster, IT deputy department head at CERN. “We are excited about the glimpse of the future capabilities that has been achieved today between CERNLight and NetherLight, by the GLIF community and its partners.”

The demonstration included a variety of Internet transport protocols optimized for this leading edge network, as well as a highly parallel model checker (DiVinE) that was optimized for distributed execution by the group of Professor Henri Bal at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

About Ciena
Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they compete and perform. With focused innovation, Ciena brings together the reliability and capacity of optical networking with the flexibility and economics of Ethernet, unified by a software suite that delivers the industry’s leading network automation. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.

About Mellanox
Mellanox Technologies is a leading supplier of end-to-end connectivity solutions for servers and storage that optimize data center performance. Mellanox products deliver market-leading bandwidth, performance, scalability, power conservation and cost-effectiveness while converging multiple legacy network technologies into one future-proof solution. For the best in performance and scalability, Mellanox is the choice for Fortune 500 data centers and the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Founded in 1999, Mellanox Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and Yokneam, Israel. For more information, visit Mellanox at www.mellanox.com.

About SURFnet
SURFnet is the National Research & Education Network (NREN) organization in The Netherlands. SURFnet develops and provides innovative services for education and research in the field of a hybrid network infrastructure, trusted identity and  a pioneering collaboration environment. SURFnet provides access to these services to over one million users in higher education and research in The Netherlands. SURFnet is part of SURF, the collaborative organization for higher education institutions and research institutes, which are together working on breakthrough innovations in ICT. More information can be found at www.surfnet.nl/en/.

About University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam is a research-intensive university, a prime example being the Faculty of Science. The System and Network Engineering research group (SNE) in the Informatics Institute of the Science Faculty focuses its research on emerging new local and wide area optical networks and the associated models, systems and protocols. The group is building tools and proof of concept applications that promote optimal use of these high-speed networks. The group develops grid middleware to empower applications to optimally allocate and use these infrastructures. Security of the required mechanisms, infrastructure, middleware, applications and the privacy of data in distributed processing environments is an essential aspect of the research. For more information visit: www.science.uva.nl/research/sne.

Note to Investors
Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 8, 2010. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Press Contacts:
Nicole Anderson
Ciena Corporation
(877) 857 -7377
pr@ciena.com

Brian Sparks
Mellanox Technologies
(408) 916-0008
media@mellanox.com

Lonneke Walk 
SURFnet  
+31 30 2305 305 
lonneke.walk@surfnet.nl

Marlous Mollee
University of Amsterdam
+31205257867
M.L.Mollee@uva.nl

Investor Contacts:
Lisa Jackson
Ciena Corporation
(888) 243–6223
ir@ciena.com  

Students and staff will log in from their own institutional account via the SURFfederatie authentication platform. This gives them quick and easy access to a variety of free online communication programmes.

Within the next few months, Tilburg University (UvT) will be the first institution to provide this new service for students. If the introduction is successful, UvT will be followed by other institutions.

• Read the full press release:
  http://www.surfnet.nl/en/nieuws/Pages/PressreleaseSURFandMicrosoftcollaborateinhighereducation.aspx

The team consists of representatives of Ibuildings, Q42, Everett and Zilverline, and a large number of employees of SURFnet. Ibuilidings will develop the middleware, Q42 will create the OpenSocial GUI, and Everett is participating because of its experience with the Proof of Concept that SURFnet carried out last year. The construction work will be carried out according to the SCRUM method. Development work will take the form of a number of different iterations. A demonstration will be given at the end of each iteration of what has been developed so far. 

SURFnet has launched a new “Project COIN” blog to keep interested parties abreast of developments within the project.

Follow us at: https://projectcoin.surfnet.nl

More information about  the project COIN: http://www.surfnet.nl/en/Thema/coin/Pages/Default.aspx

What exactly does this imply? How will this enable flexible, tailor made online collaboration? In a short animaton, we explain what this will mean in the near future for researchers, teachers and students.

• View the animation:
  http://www.surfnet.nl/en/Pages/default.aspx

As the signing of the root DNS zone approaches (scheduled for July 15, 2010) the focus turns to DNSSEC deployment for authoritative DNS infrastructure.

The DNSSEC blog was started to share the design considerations for DNSSEC deployment and information on monitoring and secure DNS lookups; progressively building a concise reference for rolling out DNSSEC as a service, something that will benefit the Internet community as a whole.

For more information about DNSSEC visit the DNSSEC Blog:
http://dnssec.surfnet.nl

Join the DNSSEC@terena.org mailing list at:
http://www.terena.org/mailinglists.php?list=dnssec@terena.org

SURFnet used the newest solution from Juniper Networks and the services of network and storage integrator Telindus-ISIT for this. With this, SURFnet demonstrates that it is prepared for the future growth of routed Internet traffic on its backbone.

Last year SURFnet successfully demonstrated two 40 Gbit/s optical connections and one 100 Gbit/s optical connection between Amsterdam and Hamburg. Also a 40 Gbit/s optical connection between SURFnet and CERN in Geneva was put into production. Now SURFnet has succeeded as the first within Europe, the Middle East and Africa in creating a 100 Gigabit Ethernet routed connection between two Juniper Networks T Series Core Routers. With the successful application of this new technology, the cooperation between SURFnet, Juniper and Telindus-ISIT proves that these companies are at the leading edge of the developments of high speed networks.

"Worldwide Internet usage continues to grow, particularly through the growth of video and other rich applications, which sustains demand for bandwidth and high-performance networking," said Wim van Campen, area vice president Northern Europe Juniper Networks. "Working closely with innovative service providers like SURFnet, we have demonstrated how the economics of networking can be maintained for the long term, while delivering the services required today."

 

Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), the high speed network connecting thousands of Department of Energy scientists and managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is embarking on a cooperative research effort with SURFnet (www.surfnet.nl), the national computer network for higher education and research in the Netherlands, and Scandinavian research network NORDUnet (www.nordu.net) to explore potential synergies between the unique technical knowledge and expertise that each organization has to offer.

As the pace of global collaborations increases, scientists need to reliably exchange massive datasets between research centers. ESnet is working with SURFnet and NORDUnet to explore common methodologies for reserving end-to-end bandwidth to accelerate such data transfers. This capability is essential to provide the high speed connectivity that can support "exascale science," which requires data on the petascale and intensive computing to conduct visualization, simulation, modeling and analyses.

ESnet has a history of successful international and industry collaborations, the PerfSONAR collaboration with Internet2 and U.S. and European national research and educational networks, and Fenius with the Global Lambda Integrated Facility www.glif.is

Keeping up with the pace of technical innovation required to advance today's science is a difficult task for any single institution. "By pooling our expertise with SURFnet and NORDUnet for open source development of OSCARS and DRAC and making it available for participation from the wider community, we’ll be able to develop services more quickly and efficiently," said Steve Cotter, head of ESnet. "This particular effort was developed to address the need to build dynamic multilayer virtual circuits in order to deliver integrated IT services necessary for researchers to exchange the vast volumes of scientific data involved in global scientific collaborations."

 “This collaboration will add a new layer of functionality and ease of use to the existing research networking infrastructure," said Kees Neggers, managing director of SURFnet. "The open source nature of the software development and the use of GLIF Open Lightpath Exchange Points to interconnect our networks will make it easy and transparent for any others to join the collaboration later on.”

"The collaboration with ESnet and SURFnet will integrate these high level network provisioning technologies with tools such as DRAC and OSCARs to address the needs of exascale applications such as large scale data distribution and management and globally distributed work flow models." said Rene Buch, CEO of NORDUnet.

Shared research strengthens the networking community
The collaborative efforts will initially focus on achieving seamless multidomain interworking using different implementations of bandwidth reservation and provisioning software. ESnet's goal is to establish a governance framework to support a vibrant open-source community which can develop software that interoperates across multiple domains. An important project goal is to provide the software framework to support network research and the next generation of network virtualization. While ESnet, NORDUnet, and SURFnet are sharing best practices from their research into the standardization process of the Open Grid Forum, another objective is to integrate these standards back into the appropriate software to validate them and enable wider adoption in global networks.

Merging scheduling, design and virtualization agents
OSCARS, ESnet's automated scheduling and provisioning software, enables researchers to get the right-size network capacity to transfer vast datasets generated by large scientific instruments in fields including plasma physics, computational astronomy, combustion research and climate science. Users with an ESnet account can reserve capacity on the network and OSCARs guarantees the bandwidth necessary to transfer data within the specified time window. OSCARS was developed with funding and support from DOE's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.

Nortel's DRAC software acts as a virtualization agent, configuring an optimal end-to-end network out of diverse sections. DRAC intelligently allows applications to control their demand for network resources without forcing them to interact directly with evolving network protocols. By provisioning necessary resources and steering data through the network either dynamically or on a reservation basis, DRAC enables users to optimize network capabilities, while reducing operations and investment costs. DRAC was originally developed as a commercial service mediation middleware portable to any JAVA platform, so it is a robust platform for open source development.

NORDUnet's MANTICORE enables network engineers to lay out design constraints for core network engineering and automated tools to do detail allocation and configuration of routers in order to streamline configuration of core network addressing, inter- and intra-domain routing protocols, and peering policy. MANTICORE was developed as a collaborative effort within the European community with funding from the European Commission, NORDUnet, and corporate sponsors.

Read more

SURFnet organised the meeting to exchange views with the attendees on the selected approach and the envisaged results of GigaPort3. Minister Plasterk: 'Our network infrastructure adds to the attraction of the Netherlands for international companies, investors and scientists. We must cherish our lead in this field and extend it further if possible. I have great expectations for GigaPort3!'

During the festive meeting, the Minister was also presented with the first copy of the book ‘Building a national knowledge infrastructure’ written by the internationally recognised IT expert Gordon Cook.

GigaPort3

The aim of the GigaPort3 project is to raise the SURFnet network infrastructure to a higher level and to integrate it seamlessly with other ICT infrastructure facilities. The innovative SURFnet7 network will be implemented to do just that. The new network builds on the successful implementation of SURFnet6, the world’s first national hybrid, optical and IP network. SURFnet7 will:

• increase the flexibility and manageability of lightpaths by using new networking standards;
• employ photonic technology to provide custom-size bandwidth cost-effectively and on time;
• extend the dynamic lightpath service to allow applications to initiate a lightpath automatically in addition to the manual set-up of lightpaths by researchers;
• further professionalise the international NetherLight network node.

The GigaPort3 project will be undertaken by SURFnet, under the supervision of SURF and in collaboration with suppliers, users and research partners. The Dutch government has awarded FES funding to GigaPort3.

‘Building a national knowledge infrastructure’

Reinder van Duinen, Chairman of the GigaPort3 Governing Board, presented Minister Plasterk with the first copy of Gordon Cook’s book ‘Building a national knowledge infrastructure’, subtitled ‘How Dutch pragmatism nurtures a 21st century economy’. Each year Gordon Cook publishes six collections of interviews with policy makers in the field of strategic planning in internet policy and infrastructure. The book ‘Building a national knowledge infrastructure’ consists of interviews with key players involved in the Dutch ICT infrastructure for research, and describes the continued collaborative efforts towards the development of a national knowledge infrastructure.

The book has been written by Gordon Cook, who publishes exclusive interviews and
commentary on strategic planning for the Internet policy 6 times a year .
In 'Building a national knowledge infrastructure’ Cook interviews a number of important players that are involved in the Dutch ICT infrastructure for education and research. One of these is Kees Neggers, director of  SURFnet. The interviews show how the collaboration on the Dutch national knowledge infrastructure is being carried out.

The different parts of the book can be downloaded here:

• contents: http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/Cook_report_inleiding.pdf (0,6 MB) 
• Part 1: http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/Cook_report_deel_1.pdf (12,7 MB)
• Part 2: http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/Cook_report_deel_2.pdf (6,9 MB)

Google Apps available using SURFfederatie

Utrecht 11 February 2010 - SURF, the Dutch collaborative ICT organisation for higher education and research, has signed a three-year agreement with Google for Google Apps Education Edition. Following the agreements of Open University and Utrecht University with Google, this online collaboration environment is now available for the entire Dutch community for higher education and research.

A striking feature is that the staff and students of institutions that use Google Apps can log on to Google Apps with the same account that they use at their institution, requiring no additional system interfaces between the institution and Google. This is possible because Google has joined SURFfederatie, the authentication platform for higher education and research. With Google Apps joining SURFfederatie it has become easier for the Dutch institutions for higher education and research to migrate to a cloud computing model, in which email and applications are provided online, making them available from any computer via a browser.

For SURF this agreement is an important step in its innovative collaborative infrastructure, which combines a wide range of online services and uses open standards and a secure authentication platform to provide access to these services. Jan Bakker, director SURFdiensten: "Especially the combination of free use of Google Apps and the link with SURFfederatie makes this a very attractive proposition for the Dutch higher education community."

SURFfederatie
SURFfederatie ensures that staff and students in institutions for higher education and research can use the account they use at their home institution to authenticate to service providers and content providers on the internet. This results in secure, efficient and easy access management for web-based services. Managing this access is no longer a time-consuming affair for the participating institutions. Providers of online services who join SURFfederatie potentially reach one million users in the higher education and research community in the Netherlands.

Google Apps Education
Google Apps allows you to share information and ideas in a simple manner. It provides a range of free applications supporting online communication, collaboration and publication, including email accounts on the educational institution’s domain. It is all hosted by Google, and it is then no longer necessary for the institutions to download, install or maintain hardware or software.

As CTO Bos will be responsible for architecture and for developing SURFnet’s vision on technological trends. Bos will also be responsible for initiating, extending and maintaining international relations.

In creating the CTO position SURFnet stresses the importance of the developments in the field of technology. As CTO, Bos will report directly to the Board of Directors, which will now comprise Kees Neggers and Erwin Bleumink, and he will remain part of the SURFnet management team.

Erik-Jan Bos: "I am very eager to take on this new challenge and look forward to giving shape to this new position in SURFnet. I expect to put my expertise in technology to optimum use in this position and to be able to work with my network of national and international contacts.”

Kees Neggers: "SURFnet is facing exciting technological challenges with the oncoming network innovations such as Next Generation Ethernet, its envisaged seamless integration with other ICT infrastructure components, and the emerging demand for open collaboration platforms. SURFnet undertakes these challenges with confidence with Erik-Jan as the CTO who develops and monitors strategic lines of technology and collaborate with their international support by sister organisations and suppliers.”

 

In this issue also articles about the Amsterdam University with a co2-neutral reading room, universities of applied sciences choose Open Access, phishing and the event Supercomputing 09 in the USA.

Read the issue

The event was a great success, featuring speakers and panel discussions from a wide range of GÉANT users and participants, and an exciting live link between Stockholm and Kuala Lumpur to deliver a seamless cross continental performance of musicians and dancers separated by over 9,000km.

• Presentations, daily summaries and pictures from the event will be available online at the new GÉANT website:
  http://www.geant.net/EVENTS/LAUNCHEVENT/pages/home.aspx

In this issue also articles about the winners of Enlighten Your Research, Maastricht University as a frontrunner in internationalisation and the new network, SURFnet7.

• Read the issue

People who have Layar installed on their mobile phone can scan their surroundings for the presence of eduroam wireless internet. The eduroam layer is currently available on Android; it is easy to find in Layar once Layar is installed from the Android market. As soon as Layar becomes available on other platforms such as iPhone, the eduroam layer will be available on these platforms as well.

The eduroam hotspots are situated all over the Netherlands, especially on university campuses. Students and staff can log onto eduroam across the country using their personal account for their own educational institution. Layar makes it easy to trace the precise locations. Jens de Smit, Young Talent at SURFnet and responsible for the development of the eduroam layer: ‘At SURFnet we are continually striving to find opportunities to improve our services. The application of innovative software fits in perfectly with my work as a Young Talent.’

Layar is an Augmented Reality application for the mobile phone that presents information on locations and services in the area overlaid on the phone’s camera function, such as the location of the nearest letterbox or cash teller. It can also find information on the surrounding area, for instance on historic buildings.

The eduroam layer was developed within the framework of the SURFnet/Kennisnet Innovation programme, which promotes the development and application of wireless educational applications and networks in the entire educational vertical. It aims to provide incentives for the development and adoption of mobile applications in education. 

• Eduroam
• Layar

SURFnet DNS resolvers now support DNSSEC

Utrecht, 7 September 2009 – SURFnet announces that all SURFnet DNS (Domain Name System) resolvers now support DNSSEC. DNS resolvers link domain names to IP addresses and thus provide the roadsigns for the Internet. DNS is an essential building block of the Internet. Serious vulnerabilities have been found in DNS that allow an attacker to redirect surfers to malicious websites. DNSSEC is the technology that repairs these vulnerabilities. SURFnet is one of the first networks in the Netherlands to support DNSSEC.

The SURFnet DNS resolvers are accessible to all institutions and all users connected to SURFnet, allowing them to take advantage of the world-wide DNSSEC roll-out that is currently taking place. Once a domain is secured with DNSSEC the connected institutions and users immediately reap the benefits.

Roland van Rijswijk, Manager Middleware Services of SURFnet: “A secure Internet is of key importance for higher education and research. The implementation of DNSSEC is a crucial step for SURFnet to benefit from the world-wide roll-out of secure Internet roadsigns. In just a fraction of a second the information for a domain name is retrieved and the authenticity of this information, such as the IP address, is checked as well”. He continues: “It is self-evident that SURFnet as a network innovator takes this step and thus contributes to increasing the knowledge about DNSSEC and its implementation”.

Hotlinks:

- website SURFnet
- Hardening the Internet

 

A growing group of organisations is taking steps to support DNSSEC as well; there is, however, much room for improvement in this field. SURFnet takes part in activities to promote the implementation of DNSSEC both nationally and internationally and contributes to an increase in DNSSEC know-how. Its activities include a white paper 'Hardening the Internet', published earlier this year, on the importance of the roll-out of DNSSEC. The white paper describes how DNSSEC can make an important contribution to improving the security of the Internet. Moreover SURFnet continually monitors how DNSSEC functions on its systems, and it shares this knowledge with leading parties in the field of DNSSEC.

The implementation of DNSSEC uses the software package Unbound, developed and maintained by Open Source DNS software developer NLnetLabs. The network management partner Prolocation, who manages the SURFnet DNS infrastructure, provided support to SURFnet for the implementation of DNSSEC. Prolocation is among the first commercial providers in the Netherlands to implement DNSSEC validation on its own systems.

 

Utrecht, 16 July 2009 - Healthcare for cancer patients requires the collaboration of several medical specialists and caretakers from various hospitals, coordinated under the banner of the Dutch Integral Cancer Centres (IKCs). Electronic collaboration through videoconferencing was achieved at an accelerated pace through a pilot project of a number of IKCs with SURFnet. SURFcontact, the high-quality SURFnet videoconferencing service, enables busy specialists to jointly discuss the diagnostics and treatment of cancer patients without having to spend precious time on travel.

The medical specialists can participate in consultations that take place in another hospital using a computer with a webcam or a specially equipped room in their own hospital. Next to being able to see and hear each other, the participants can share presentations and image materials such as CT-scans and X-rays on a second projection screen. Irene Dingemans, Programme Director Quality of Care at IKC Amsterdam: “Thanks to the high video and audio quality, videoconferencing more than ever resembles the experience of a meeting where people are physically in the same room together”.

The pilot project was co-initiated by a number of University Medical Centres to stimulate the use of high-quality videoconferencing among physicians and for education purposes. 

Hotlinks
- video videoconferencing IKC's
- website SURFcontact
- website SURFnet
- website IKA http://ika.videoconferencing.ikcnet.nl
- website IKMN www.ikcnet.nl/IKMN
- website IKNO www.ikcnet.nl/IKNO

Pilot
The pilot of the IKCs (IKA, IKMN and IKNO) will take one and a half years and will enable large-scale use of high-quality videoconferencing. The pilot also investigates how the IKCs should set up the HD videoconferencing services after the pilot period. The success of this service in oncology healthcare will open doors to deploy the technology for other specialities and applications as well. The IKCs involved and SURFnet produced a short film that provides an impression of videoconferencing during oncology consultations and in educational settings.

Three Dutch research projects won the main prize in the international ‘Enlighten Your Research’ lightpath competition organised by SURFnet and NWO. The winners receive the use of a dynamic lightpath free of charge and 20,000 euros in order to properly integrate the lightpath into their research. A lightpath is a direct optical data connection over optical fibre with guaranteed bandwidth and security.

The winning proposals are 'The PALFA/GBT pulsar survey project: a study of extreme physics laboratories' by Joeri van Leeuwen, University of Amsterdam; 'High-speed light path network for the Netherlands Bioinformatics for Proteomics Platform' by Peter Horvatovich, University of Groningen, and 'Distributed high-quality audiovisual testbed' by Tom Demeyer, Waag Society.

"This competition aims to challenge researchers to use dynamic lightpaths in their research," says Erwin Bleumink, managing director of SURFnet and member of the jury of the competition. "The winning proposals benefit greatly from using dynamic lightpaths; they would not have been possible without it."

"The use of lightpaths can take research to the next level, so it is very important that researchers get tot know the technology,” says Mark Kas, Senior Programme Officer of Computer Sciences of NWO EW, who is closely involved in the competition. “This competition gives a number of excellent consortiums the opportunity to get started using lightpaths." NCF, the Netherlands National Computing Facilities Foundation, supported  the competition with technical expertise.

The platform, called MediaMosa, delivers rich media content to the Dutch educational sector, is now available to open source developers worldwide.

As video has become more popular as a knowledge transfer tool within the education landscape, SURFnet and Stichting Kennisnet have played a significant role in making it available to teachers and students. Due in part to SURFnet’s high-speed broadband network, teachers in higher education institutions can now easily integrate high-quality video into their lectures and classes. For example, Dutch Higher Education organisations add proprietary material to an online video library called SURFmedia, which offers the possibility of storing high-definition video content and shielding it from defined groups of viewers where necessary.

Stichting Kennisnet is also a strong proponent of the use of digital image material in primary and secondary education. It is the driving technical force behind initiatives such as Teleblik.nl, a website for the educational sector where both students and teachers can search for and view audiovisual content.

MediaMosa is a robust, flexible and highly scalable media management platform. It is already helping deliver rich content to educational organisations across the Netherlands, but SURFnet and Stichting Kennisnet are also seeing interest from companies outside the industry and the country. By making MediaMosa open source and enabling developers across the world to build new applications for it, they hope to make an even greater contribution to the generation of exciting multimedia applications.

SURFnet and Stichting Kennisnet have jointly developed MediaMosa to provide the underlying system that handles the management, storage, indexing and playing of video material to make these types of applications possible. It is based on the Drupal content management system and was designed on the basis of Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture principles.

MediaMosa will be made available as an open source application through www.mediamosa.org. This means that any organisation wishing to develop its own video portal can leverage the joint expertise built up by SURFnet and Stichting Kennisnet. Users can also integrate streaming video into a proprietary website, intranet or collaborative environment. MediaMosa also supports links with existing applications.

MediaMosa was developed within the framework of the SURFnet/Kennisnet Innovation Programme, which receives financial backing from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

 

About SURFnet
SURFnet is the National Research & Education Network (NREN) organisation in The Netherlands. SURFnet develops and provides innovative services for education and research in the field of network infrastructure, authentication and authorisation and on-line multimedia collaboration services. Every day SURFnet provides access to these services to over one million users in higher education and  research.

SURFnet is part of SURF, the collaborative organisation for higher education institutions and research institutes which are together working on breakthrough innovations in ICT. For more than 20 year
SURFnet has been one of the world’s leading research network operators.
More information can be found at: www.surfnet.nl/info/en/

About Stichting Kennisnet
Stichting Kennisnet is the public IT support organisation of, for and by the Dutch educational sector. The foundation promotes the interests of the Dutch educational sector in IT, makes resources available supporting the selection process for IT products and services, and provides educational services innovating in the learning process. Stichting Kennisnet is also an expertise centre for IT and education.

Links:
www.mediamosa.org

More information:
SURFnet
Marianne van der Valk
T: +31 (0)30-2305305
cm@surfnet.nl

Whizpr
Tessa Weber
T: +31 (0)317-410483
surfnet@whizpr.nl

 

In 2008, SURFnet focused on developing new services and improving the quality of existing services. Research shows that the target group is very satisfied with the developments. Furthermore, many of the connected institutions signed a new collaboration agreement for 2009 to 2012.

Download the bilingual annual report 2008: http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/SURFnet_Jaarverslag_2008.pdf

Download the annual overview 2008:
http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/Jaarbeeld_UK_2008.pdf

With this project the Netherlands undertook a world-wide trailblazing role in the development of the concept of hybrid networks. In  the annual report, people who were involved with this project tell about their experiences.

• Download the annual report:
  http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/GigaportENWEB.pdf

The results of this trial help demonstrate that  SURFnet's existing network is capable of cost-effectively transporting even larger amounts of network traffic as bandwidth demand increases. 

The SURFnet6 network supports researchers working on broadband intensive applications, such as radio astronomy, high-energy physics and medical research, and provides cross border bandwidth connectivity for other international research networks.

Read the complete Press-release on Nortel.com

Live streaming is due to begin at 15.00 CET when the opening plenary presentation is given by Jorge Cortell, President of the Oxford University Society Valencia and CEO & President of Kanteron Systems.

Around 450 people are attending the event, which also features online presentation materials for those who cannot be there in person. The conference, with the theme ‘Virtuality into Reality', continues until 13.30 CET on Thursday. The closing plenary will be delivered by Simone Brunozzi, Amazon.com’s Web Services Evangelist.

In addition to four more plenary talks, each day will include parallel sessions of presentations on a diverse range of topics. All streams are available from http://tnc2009.terena.org/.

Most of the slides and some of the papers can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant session in the programme, at http://tnc2009.terena.org/schedule/.

The streams are accessible from Windows, Apple and Linux machines. The only thing that is required is the Macromedia Flash plug-in. Streaming is at two bit rates: 750 kb/s and 250 kb/s. All streams are available live and will be made available in archive form immediately after the session. Streaming is undertaken by the technical team of the University of Malaga. The University of Malaga and the Spanish national research networking organisation RedIRIS are kindly hosting the event.

This is a confirmation of the fact that SURFnet is not a provider of a public electronic communications network or a public electronic communications service, but a provider of a nationwide research network for scientific research and higher education.

In 2000 and 2004 SURFnet was summoned by OPTA to register as a provider of a public telecommunications network and public telecommunications services. At no time did OPTA respond to the reasoned responses submitted by SURFnet stating that it is not a provider of public services.
 
In 2007 OPTA once again summoned SURFnet to register. In response to this we informed OPTA yet again that our status has not changed. OPTA subsequently then took recourse to the weapon of imposing a registration order subject to a penalty. Because we categorically refute OPTA’s position that SURFnet is a provider of public services, we felt compelled to take the legal steps of objection and appeal. On 27 March 2009 the Rotterdam District court ruled in favour of SURFnet.

The verdict can be read (in Dutch) via:
http://www.rechtspraak.nl/ljn.asp?ljn=BH9324

The DIVERSE Conference focuses on the effective uses of video and videoconferencing in education. DIVERSE is an acronym for Developing Innovative Video Resources for Students Everywhere. The conference has become an active community of experts from all over the world.

Until February 27th, the presentation proposals can be submitted. The proposals should be related to the following themes:

• Track 1 Pedagogy and assessment
• Track 2 Tools and content oriented applications
• Track 3 Projects and cases: implementation and sustainability
• Track 4 People and technology: societal aspects

For more information on the Call for Proposals, see:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/diverse/

Read more

Also an article about big science, the column of Wim Liebrand and an article about a new technological spark: lightpaths. 

Read the issue 

A dynamic lightpath is set up by a researcher between two points in the network for a specified length of time. This is done either manually through the use of a web interface, or fully automated through an application. It can be set up for any duration and as frequently as necessary.

SURFlightpaths allow large datastreams to travel over their own ‘highway’, bypassing the regular Internet. Academics use lightpaths to exchange large data files, for example, or to send them to a supercomputer for applications that require extremely high image quality, or for creating an Optical Private Network (OPN) (a set of static lightpaths). Whereas a static lightpath has only one destination, a dynamic lightpath can be set up to connect from one location to many others, one at a time. Dynamic lightpaths can also be set up for grid applications, computers that are interconnected in order to bundle resources.

SURFnet provides dynamic lightpaths up to 1 Gbit/s and static lightpaths of 150 Mbit/s up to 10 Gbit/s. Unauthorised access is next to impossible and the paths have a redundant set-up. Static lightpaths have been available since 2006; dynamic lightpaths have become available for connected institutions as a pilot service from 1 December 2008, and are as yet free of charge.

 

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In this issue: an interview with Bob Gorter about how Software-as-a-service can be considered coin-operated software, an article about a lightpath of Philips Research, a new service SURFmedia and the limits of the internet (IPv6).

 

Read SURF 03

 

In Geneva the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) took years to construct underground the largest scientific device ever. The NetherLight node in Amsterdam, designed and constructed by SURFnet, connects several scientific institutions from all over the world to the LHC.

Since 2001 SURFnet has experimented with the use of lightpaths in order to provide demanding scientific applications with high-grade network connections which far surpass the quality of a ‘best effort’ Internet connection. SURFnet is a pioneer world-wide, challenged by the needs of the Dutch and European astronomers in ASTRON/LOFAR and JIVE. This development gained even more momentum with the implementation of the LHC network.

Erik-Jan Bos, managing director of SURFnet and one of the architects of the so-called Optical Private Network (OPN) for the LHC, recounts: ‘SURFnet had been involved early in proposing and developing the architecture of the lambda grid that would allow thousands of physicists all over the world to collaborate on the LHC experiments. Already in 2003 SURFnet constructed a 10 Gbit/s connection between NetherLight in Amsterdam and CERN in Geneva, where preparations for the LHC were fully underway then.’

The gigantic stream of data from the LHC is distributed to eleven so-called Tier-1 institutions, each of which stores and processes part of the raw data of the CERN experiments. Seven of the Tier-1 institutions are based in Europe, two are in the United States, one is in Canada and one is in Taiwan. In the Netherlands this function is fulfilled by NIKHEF-SARA in Amsterdam. A number of Tier-1 institutions and some large Tier-2 institutions receive the LHC data through the Dutch NetherLight node.

Bos on the Dutch involvement within the LHC project: ‘The advent of the LHC has challenged SURFnet to present entirely novel manners of constructing networks. SURFnet’s hybrid network model is partially inspired by the requirements of the LHC. Lightpaths have allowed the Tier-1 centres to become a direct part of the scientific device. Furthermore the hybrid network turns out to yield great advantages for other user groups as well. The result for the Netherlands is a very advanced network that benefits the entire higher education and research community.’ 

Students, teaching staff and researchers can use SURFmedia to easily and securely play, store and share live and on-demand media files.

With the launch of SURFmedia the previous SURF Video services, i.e., Videotheque, Video Portal and TV-channels, have been integrated and subsumed under SURFmedia as the Mediatheque, the RTV Guide and Community & Support.

The Mediatheque contains an extensive collection of audiovisual content provided by higher education. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) and regional TV and radio stations have also contributed a large and up-to-date collection of audiovisual material to the Media Library. Students, teaching staff and researchers can use the RTV Guide not just to receive live TV and radio programmes; they can also broadcast programmes themselves. Community & Support is dedicated to the exchange of knowledge on using SURFmedia and streaming media in education.

Some SURFmedia features:

• SURFmedia was designed with feedback from students, teaching staff and researchers, so it is practical and easy to use.
• The audio and video content has been conveniently arranged and made more easily accessible by a presentation that uses metadata and flash previews.
• Audio and video files are enriched with tags, ratings and reviews.
• SURFmedia supports many different audio and video formats that can be downloaded or streamed.
• Advanced features support access restrictions to audio and video content.
• Users can use the same account to access both SURFgroepen and SURFmedia.

Have a look at SURFmedia and find a treasure trove full of audiovisual materials!

 

The source code and other documentation have been made public via www.openries.nl.

RIES was initially developed for the Dutch Disctrict Water Control Boards and has also been used for expatriates in national parliament elections. SURFnet has been involved in the development of RIES from the very beginning.

The release of RIES as open source software is a result of a report by a government committee. The Dutch parliament concluded that software used in elections should always be open source in order to comply with the recommendations of the report.

Most information is available in Dutch. A report by the Eindhoven Institute for the Protection of Systems and Information is available in English.

There is a new release of the international newsletter about the GigaPort projects:
Quarterly Update 7, June 2008

Read the newsletter

 

The Exchange is a collection of computer disks with a capacity of 96 Terabytes that provides access to an extensive collection of digital video content in the best image quality available (4K cinema). This is the first collection of 4K content outside of the US and Japan. SURFnet, the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) and Waag Society demonstrated the video collection at the Mediapark annual conference in Hilversum on 17 June.

Watching video content of this quality is sensational. The image is larger and more defined than reality: four times better than HDTV, ten times better than standard television. In contrast to regular movie projectors it delivers a completely stable image. The sound is also many times betters. 4K therefore offers many new possibilities for science and education, but also for culture and entertainment. At present showings of 4K material are still rare. They require enormous projectors and there is only a limited amount of content available. This situation is changing, as the Netherlands CineGrid Exchange now links to the existing CineGrid Exchanges in the United States and Japan.

The Netherlands CineGrid Exchange, located at the UvA, is a collaboration of the Universiteit van Amsterdam and SURFnet. CineGrid is a worldwide organisation that aims to promote research, development and showcasing of high-quality digital media over optical networks from various disciplines. The organisation is located in California. Waag Society took the initiative for CineGrid in the Netherlands. For further information on CineGrid: http://www.cinegrid.nl/ 

In this issue: an interview with Menno Smidts about mobile learning, an article about ICT for students with a functional disability and Leo Waaijers gives his opinion about Open Access.

Read SURF 02

 

The Annual Report can be downloaded via:

http://www.surfnet.nl/Documents/SURFnet_Jaarverslag2007-DEF2.pdf

 

Furthermore a column of Wim Liebrand about coaches in the sand and an interview with Wilma de Buck about studiekeuze123.

Read SURF01

 

Read the newsletter

 

You still find all information about SURFnet and her service for education and research institutions on www.surfnet.nl/en

CENIC, Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, praised the 4K experiment that was carried out during the Holland Festival. Opera performance Era la Notte was recorded in 4K (4K is 4 times HD-quality) and shown live - making use of SURFnet lightpaths - in San Diego and a number of European cities.

Cinegrid promotes the use of a global network to distribute and show content that requires massive bandwidth(such as 4K streaming video). The project was brought to the Netherlands by Waag Society, SARA, the University of Amsterdam and SURFnet.

More information on CENIC:
http://www.cenic.org/

More information on Cinegrid:
http://www.cinegrid.org/index.php
http://www.waag.nl/project/cinegrid 

SURFnet has filmed five socially relevant research trials that use lightpaths. These trials come from different scientific disciplines which make a social contribution to safety and research within the medical sector. The films show that scientists are aware of the added value of lightpaths for their research, for example by sharing scarce resources such as measurement instruments. The scientists expect that light paths will help speed up and improve their research.

• Enlighten Your Research - Compilation film
• Radiological image distribution in the NELSON lung cancer screening trial.
• Lightpath for large-volume, genome-wide analyses of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
• Smart camera surveillance at the Arke Stadium
• Electron microscopy via lightpaths
• Remote visualisation of climate information in high resolution with pixel streaming

Heemskerk was informed about current developments in advanced network technology and SURFnet's contribution to this. He was impressed by SURFnet's results in the GigaPort project. Heemskerk was shown a demonstration of the process of setting up a lightpath. 

Safe computer use: Do it yourself!

New awareness campaign launched by SURFnet and Kennisnet Ict op school.  
“Do it yourself!” is the slogan of the new awareness campaign from the SURFnet/Kennisnet Innovation Programme for higher education and senior secondary vocational education (MBO). The aim of this campaign is to increase awareness among students and staff at schools and colleges regarding computer and network security issues.

Three short information films on www.surfnet.nl/doehetzelf show a graphic picture of what can happen if you fail to take proper security precautions when using internet. The films show a student being driven crazy with frustration three times in a row because he has lost his thesis which he had just finished writing. He did not take precautions to protect his computer or his data and now he must face the enormous consequences.

Three golden rules
The films are intended to provoke students and staff into taking proper action. Most people know that using internet carries certain risks, yet too few people take sufficient measures to combat these risks. The campaign emphasises the three golden rules which can prevent security problems in the area of ICT:
1.    Install security software and updates
2.    Keep your passwords secret
3.    Make back-ups of your files regularly

www.surfnet.nl/doehetzelf

Paper on dynamic lightpaths available

Users in Control: The Dynamic Lightpath Service is the title. SURFnet has implemented a service that allows end-users to create and schedule point-to-point connections on the network at will, giving users and applications direct control over network resources. This innovative service significantly enhances the flexibility and efficiency of networking in scientific experiments and applications. The service gives end-users the possibility to deploy high bandwidth connections between locations on the network for temporary use, for example to connect scientific instruments, stream high quality live video, or share computing resources. The service is now being tested by a small group of users, preparing for a full service launch in 2008.

Learn more about dynamic lightpaths in the flyer