Worldwide Emergence of

Research and Education Networks and a Proposal for Bangladesh

(Draft -2.0)

February 21, 2006

Dr. Javed I. Khan

Fulbright Senior Specialist

Sponsored by Fulbright Scholar Program, USA

Media Communications and Networking Research Laboratory

Department of Computer Science, Kent State University

233 MSB, Kent, OH 44242

javed@kent.edu

TABLE OF CONTENT

1 Introduction. 4

2 Overview of a Modern REN.. 7

2.1 Organization and Assets. 7

2.2 Services. 7

2.3 Partnership and Funding. 7

3 Benefits of REN for Bangladesh. 9

4 Background Assessment 11

4.1 National Policy Environment in Bangladesh. 11

4.2 Education Network Initiatives. 11

4.3 Potential Members: Higher Education Institutions (HEI) 11

4.4 Potential Members: Advanced Research Institutions (ARI) 12

4.5 Network/ Fiber Assets of Bangladesh. 13

4.6 International Connection. 13

5 A Road Map for BREN.. 14

5.1 Part-1: Initiative and Action Plan. 14

5.2 Part-2: Governance and Organization. 15

5.3 Part-3: Network Infrastructure. 16

5.4 Part-4: ICT Services & Applications. 17

6 Few Design Considerations. 19

6.1 Required Design Capacity/ Bandwidth. 19

6.2 Backbone. 19

6.3 Access Network. 20

6.4 Campus Area Network (CAN) 20

6.5 International Connection. 21

6.6 Peering with other RENs. 21

7 Concluding Remarks and Acknowledgements. 22

8 References. 23

1 Introduction

A high performance national network connecting universities- popularly known as Research and Education Network (REN) is increasingly viewed as the vital and core component for higher education institutions worldwide. Internet used to be an auxiliary service for universities in the 1990’s. In 2000’s it became an essential limb, and in 2005 it is becoming the central artery in the running of modern universities and research organizations. Almost all the countries in the world have adopted REN as the centerpiece of their information and communication technology (ICT) plan for higher education. Now about 92 countries around the world have REN-- 25+ more are building [8,16]. Table-1 shows a snapshot. The concept is marching further forward. Countries worldwide are now forming mega REN alliances of continental proportion with a vision of creating a world community of universities- a grand kiosk of higher education and scholarship. Bangladesh seems to be one of the few remaining exceptions. Even among her neighbors- the universities of India, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan and Myanmar are running their RENs since quite a few years and Bangladesh seems to rank with Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives (Table-2).

Table-1 Worldwide REN [8]
Region	Installed	In Progress
Africa	5	17
Asia	35	3
Australia	1	1
Europe	34
North America	6
South and Central America	11	7
Total	92	28

A REN itself does not solve all the problems but it enables the entire research and education establishment of all disciplines of a country to come to an even point in technological readiness from where it can take full advantage of ICT and exchange learning and problem solving resources and knowledge and participate in national problem solving [4,5,16]. A REN is also the showcase of ICT capability of a country- a place for to demonstrate capabilities of the research universities. Engineers, national experts and researchers of a country who cannot run a smart ICT system in their own institutions, it is questionable if they can solve ICT problems for the country.

RENs such as Internet2 are also used as a laboratory for developing future technology. Right at this moment there are applications being experimented on many RENs which sounded like science fiction just a few years back such as virtual laboratory, telepresence, remote instrumentation. These innovations will radically change the educational use landscape of the Internet. The entire student group and higher education communities from countries without any REN risk being left out.

RENs are particularly empowering for the universities of the developing world. The self-managed non-profit REN models have been proved to be very effective in providing very fast as well as advanced digital communication services at substantially lower cost required by the higher education and research communities worldwide. In Bangladesh several attempts have been taken before with partial success. However, there is a new momentum now. In November 2005, an international consortium has finished the installation of half a billion dollars South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE4) undersea cable. The country is finally ready to see the benefit of digital communication. With proper planning Bangladesh can build a state-of-the-art service centric REN system at par with some of the best ones.

REN can provide the latest and fastest communication services and comprehensive access to state-of-the-art applications and resources available digitally within and outside of the country required for highest quality learning and research to all the student, faculty, staff and researchers. This is one strategic investment opportunity for the higher education sector which can not only arrest the current alarmingly downward trend- but also dramatically change the higher education scenario of Bangladesh. Bangladesh faces a formidable task of expanding 3-4 times its higher education capacity in short few years to meet the impending wave of students coming out from the primary education sector which has seen its growth over last decade. It would be impossible to face this challenge without a solid ICT infrastructure in place now. A plan for a REN in Bangladesh should be enacted by a committee of interested faculty, new generation research students, and technical person in these institutions under the leadership of UGC. Hereafter this initiative is referred as Bangladesh Research an Education Network (BREN).

Table-2 REN & HEI in South Asia [6,8]
Country	HEI	REN	DLC
India	320 (university only)	ERNET	YES
Pakistan	110	PERN	YES
Bangladesh	104
Myanmar	50	E-EDUCATION WAN
Sri Lanka	27	LEARN	YES
Afghanistan	18
Nepal	5