SANReN

SANReN" (South African National Research Network"') is a project to create a new National Research and Education Network in South Africa. However, unlike most other NRENs, SANReN will provide its clients with both connectivity to the worlds research networks as well as commodity Internet access.

In 2005, the South African Department of Science and Technology obtained funding from treasury for a ZAR 450 million, three-year project to build a world-class National Research and Education Network to further the country's research aims. The DST then tasked the [http://www.meraka.org.za/ Meraka Institute] with the planning and deployment of this network, to be completed by the middle of 2010.

An initial Request for Information was published in 2005, followed by two Request for Proposals in 2006. The original proposal called for inter-institution links of up to 500Mbit/s [ [http://www.meraka.org.za/docs/SANReN_RFP_National.pdf Request for Proposal For the SANReN Network(excluding international connectivity)] , April 2006] and international bandwidth of 1Gbit/s [ [http://www.meraka.org.za/docs/RFP_SANReN_International.pdf Request for Proposals for international connectivity required for the SANReN Network] , April 2006] . The initial list of target sites included primarily those sites which housed A-Rated Scientists and thus excluded a number of universities that focused on teaching rather than research. The lower-case "e" in SANReN's name reflects this focus.

The scope of SANReN's network has changed somewhat since the original RFPs were published, with most sites now expecting to connect at speeds of up to 10Gbit/s [ [http://www.iweek.co.za/ViewStory.asp?StoryID=180556 BCX wins R100m Sanren deal] ] . It has also been extended to include all public universities in the country. Initially international Internet connectivity will be provided over the SEACOM submarine fibre cable, in a deal unrelated to the original SANReN RFP [ [http://www.seacom.mu/news/news_details.asp?iID=44 SEACOM press release] ] . It is expected that SANReN will also take advantage of other cable projects once they come online.

Late in 2007, Meraka announced that it had partnered with the "de facto" NREN in South Africa, TENET. Under their memorandum of understanding, Meraka would build SANReN and TENET would operate it. This arrangement is very similar to the relationship between GÉANT and DANTE in Europe.

As of September 2008, SANReN has connected three higher educational institutes in Gauteng: the University of the Witwatersrand [ [http://web.wits.ac.za/NewsRoom/NewsItems/10GBPS.htm 10Gbps Network Goes Live] - WITS press release] , the University of Johannesburg [ [http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/3366.html|10 Gbps network goes live] - MyBroadband news article] , and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (of which Meraka is part).

External links

* [http://www.meraka.org.za/sanren.html Meraka Institute's SANReN page] (very out of date)
* [http://www.tenet.ac.za/ Tertiary Education Network website]

References