IRNC: Backbone: NEAAR: Networks for European, American, and African Research

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

The Networks for European, American, and African Research (NEAAR) collaboration is a powerful, cross organizational project that will provide services and bandwidth connecting researchers in the US with their counterparts in Europe and Africa. This project will have an immediate impact on the research environment and also supports future application and technology advances. Indiana University (IU) jointly leads the NEAAR collaboration with GÉANT, the European research and education network (REN), in a cooperative partnership with the African regional RENs: the UbuntuNet Alliance, the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN), the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN), as well as the South African National Research Network (SANReN) and the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET). IU also coordinates domestically with Internet2 and the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). Through its extensive regional partnerships, NEAAR has the potential to reach research and education (R&E) communities in over 80 countries across three continents. NEAAR has the potential to be transformational to NSF-funded science by providing not only the network but also the human expertise to make the most of international collaborations and data sharing, thereby increasing research and educational opportunities. Through additional capacity to Europe and targeted support of data and networking support services in Africa, NEAAR will be able to support the majority of the NSF-funded research sharing between Africa and the US. IU has identified over 60 preliminary groups to work directly with to increase their data capacity and ability to collaborate. Advanced data sharing fundamentally changes and extends the research that is feasible between partners, and NEAAR has the potential to have an unprecedented impact on US-Africa collaboration.