Report of discussion breakout Group 3

1. Report of discussion breakout Group 3 Valentino CavalliTERENA Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

2. User requirements • Discrepancy of views in Western Europe and other countries about where the bottleneck is LAN/National-International • As campus networks/access networks will have increased capacity will the bottleneck move to the national/international networks again? Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

3. Network load • These networks may be congested again because of Grid applications and “heavy” file transfer usages, but also, • By increased user community (in several year will have 100% IT literacy) and access speed • Example of countries where students have already 100Mb access, need to prevent them form using certain applications • But school traffic is about 15%, so marginal, increase would give NRENs enough time to upgrade their national links Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

4. Demand will grow also due to support of WLANs in campuses – some concern about the impact of this in Portugal • Might need to discriminate commodity and research traffic and provide several access points to the Internet, like in Turkey and other countries Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

5. Important issues • AAA extremely important, mobility • Ubiquitous access also fundamental for the ERA • But AAA should be transparent to users • End2end performance Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

6. Connecting schools • Some NRENs not interested in connecting schools • Majority of NRENs do it, because there is political motivation and support (also financially) – Push from FP6 Inclusiveness too. Must react on this • an issue of national policy but NREN can stimulate their govermnents • Politically sensitive issue, should be careful that politicians use school connection as a “weapon”in their debate, may harm NRENs Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

7. Technology evolution • Telco Liberalisation show that connectivity prices can still decrease (Romania a factor of 2) • Demand for connectivity at certain locations, where there is not competition because not enough customer basis and carriers are not interested in them • Use taxpayer money to reach these locations looks correct • Governments can use money to stimulate these areas Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

8. Technology not an issue, but market demand is lacking • academic market is too small to drive the market, • But NRENs can lead the way to the future introduction of most advanced technology Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

9. 6 questions: Optical • Projected figures of circuit costs are alarming, how do NRENs will afford to upgrade their networks if the budget remains constant – or even decrease? • DIY needs to be pursued, but all networks should in principle increase at an equal pace • Economy of DIY: major cost component is equipment, need to aggregate traffic to make better usage of fat pipes, need to explore all traffic options, would meshing work if we have to provide L1 connectivity to many users? • Border hopping: operational concerns • Need to start proof of concepts, VLBI is a good (pragmatic) case Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

10. 6 questions: Digital divide • It might move around depending on the availability of dark fibre and lack of competition in certain countries. The borders might shift around. • Not just a matter of technology, governments have a fundamental role • Is hampering the ERA competitiveness with respect to other parts of the world. Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

11. Beyond Europe • Mutual beneficial to have joint projects • Divergence about which countries have higher priority • EU should continue to look into other regions and support joint collaboration • Is the NREN model appropriate for all these areas? Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003

12. Other issues • Do NRENs have a future? • NRENs should stimulate progress in standardisation • Clarify the use of the term “regional” Workshop, Bad Nauheim, 16-17 June 2003