South-East Europe Fibre Infrastructure for Research and Education – IST (SEEFIRE)

Project Id

IST-015817

Abstract

Southeast European countries have a strategic geographical role in connecting southeast European, Caucasian and Mediterranean countries to GÉANT2.
The SEEFIRE project studied the options available for acquiring an optical fibre network infrastructure by National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in the region and the strategies for the development of research and education networking in southeast Europe (SEE), with a specifi c emphasis on Balkan countries.
The project provided countries in southeast Europe with a set of useful reports and guidelines about dark-fi bre acquisition, deployment of optical transmission technologies, and fi nally about the regulatory, legal, economical and strategic issues of acquiring dark fi bre by NRENs in the region.

Keywords

Dark Fibre, Optical Transmission, Technologies, Research and Education, Policy and regulation, Networking

Description

Objectives of the project

The SEEFIRE project aimed to raise awareness among stakeholders of
NRENs, governments, users and telecommunication operators about providing interconnection facilities in southeast Europe to reduce the digital divide.
Specific goals of SEEFIRE were to provide:
• a benchmark of existing and potentially available optical fi bre for NRENs in the
region;
• an analysis of the technical options available for the deployment of dark fi bre and the management of optical transmission by NRENs in the region;
• reports on economic aspects and regulations;
• dissemination of information and increased awareness about dark-fi bre deployment both at technical and policy-making levels.

Project description

Action Plan: As a Specific Support Action SEEFIRE contributed to future collaboration in southeast Europe, like the SEEREN2 project. SEEFIRE built on the results of projects like GÉANT, SEEREN and SERENATE, which outlined fibre acquisition by NRENs as an option to be explored in order to decrease the digital divide.
SEEFIRE provided the research and education community in southeast Europe with information about the availability of dark fibre, guidelines for deployment and politicalmanagerial assessments of the regulatory and economic aspects of dark-fi bre deployment.
The project carried out studies about the availability of optical fibre in the SEE region and prepared useful documents like templates for procurement, comparative evaluations of technologies, fibre availability database and targeted strategic reports. This information was transferred to the strategic players in the region via publications, online information a technical tutorial about dark-fibre deployment and a policy workshop.

Project Rationale: The current standard of research networking provision in southeast European countries varies from a very high degree to the lack of eff ective services in other countries. SEEFIRE addressed such a digital divide and contributed to increase research cooperation in the region and with the rest of Europe.
Developments in the acquisition of dark fibre by NRENs are ongoing in some countries in the region. In some cases there are concrete plans being developed on exploiting network node terminations close to national borders and investigating the options for border hopping.
SEEFIRE supports the vision on creation of a southeast European fi bre backbone fostering collaboration of researchers and students in a region where the development of research and education networking, as well as the information society as a whole, has suff ered from years of political unrest and relative isolation from the rest of the European continent.

Expected Results & Impacts

Project Impact: The findings of the SEEFIRE studies provided input to the future planning of networks for research and education in southeast Europe, such as SEEREN2, which resulted in the availability of much larger capacity to support the needs of researchers and students in the region and their collaboration with users across Europe.
The availability of high-performance networks will increase the opportunities of the research and education community in southeast Europe, by enabling researchers and students to better cooperate in their scientific endeavours. Th is will have a significant impact on existing and future project involving users of high-end applications like, for instance, Grids and biomedical applications, which need long-lasting flows of many Gigabits.
Cost-effective higher bandwidth available for research and education networks will allow more users to obtain highstandard services also in remote areas, and will contribute significantly in building the Information Society in the region
and in bringing it closer to the rest of Europe.
SEEFIRE contributed to introduce southeast European countries to the e-Infrastructures community and stimulated the establishment of joint RTD projects in the region.
Th e SEEFIRE studies revealed the fi bre distribution and ownership in the region and provided information about the technology, the regulatory, management and economical aspects of deploying a cost-effective infrastructure for research and education at the local, inter-regional and international level.
Optical fibre is accessible to NRENs in SEE. Figure 1 shows the fibre availability in the region. Almost in all countries there is fi bre which is owned by some utility company, railways, etc. in addition to the optical infrastructure of telecommunication operators. From the SEEFIRE dark-fi bre footprint database it can be deduced that immediate access to dark fi bre is available for the NRENs of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro (parts of the country), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (parts of the country). There is actually competition along a number of routes in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.
By contrast, the NRENs of the FYR of Macedonia and Albania might face some diffi culties in the immediate future and further actions to access dark fibre there have to be implemented.
SEEFIRE raised awareness about the technical feasibility, the cost-eff ectiveness and the strategic importance of dark-fibre deployment among politicians and government offi cials responsible for funding research, education and telecommunication in the countries concerned.
SEEFIRE is expected to reinforce and provide incentives for dark-fi bre deployment activities, even outside the scope of southeast European NRENs, by providing a model for emerging NRENs in other world regions.

Contacts

• Valentino Cavalli[PPL-200707-046]
  
  Detailed record - Similar records

General information

Timetable

From 03/2005 to 03/2006

Instrument

Special System of Assistance (SSA)

Website

[www.seefi re.org]

Partners

• Bielefeld Univ. (bh)
• Information Society Technologies Foundation (ISTF)
• Romanian Education Network (RoEduNet)
• Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET)
• Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe (DANTE)
• Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA)
• NIIF/HUNGARNET (hu)
• AMREJ (cs)
• Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics (INIMA) (al)
• MARNet (mk)

Budget

Total budget

€ 416,273.00

Grants

€ 350,000.00 [EC]

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