May
18
Making the Case for NREN’s
May 18, 2008 |
TNC 2008
John Dyer of Terena prepared a discussion document to help answer the question -”What Have NREN’s Done for Us” - or something similar…
Document was started to try and pre-empt any questions about why NREN’s should not exist. In essence the current document covers the following areas:
Historically in 70’s not much was going in, 80’s there were some modest projects, in ‘85 there were 8 Europena NRENS, in 1990 there were 15 NRENS, and now in 2008 there are lots of high quality cutting edge systems. NRENS fulfil a need not met by ISP’s and there is evidence that networks are an essential part of the scientific environment
NRENS offer technological advantages that include – pioneering development, offering multi domain end to end services, facilitating confederations of trusted federations, are able to undertake large scale applied research, and they can stimulate innovation (but depends upon NREN philosophy)
There are also economic and social advantages – NRENs are part of the community they serve, they work to address the digital/geographical divides, they offer benefits of collective procurement, they represent solidarity – fair balance of cast sharing, affiliation to a large respected group, valuable national asset – independent and knowledgeable
What are the possible threats to NREN’s? – funding bodies feel that services can be provided through commercial routes, NREN’s may be thought to distort the market through government subsidies, commercial ISPs might evolve to offer identical services to NREN’s – or something else…
However NREN’s do currently fill a niche not supported by ISP’s and they should continue to do so. They should get closer relationships with the community, they should anticipate change, keep aware of commercial developments , and ….
