DUSHANBE, July 1, 2009, Asia-Plus — CAREN (Central Asia Research and Education Network) network recreates ancient Silk Road and enables global collaboration for a million local researchers and students.
Central Asian researchers and students will be able to better collaborate with their colleagues across the world, through a new EU-funded high speed data-communications network, according to the Delegation of the European Commission in Tajikistan.
The CAREN project will provide high capacity Internet links for the first time to one million students and researchers in over 200 universities and research institutions along the ancient Silk Road in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to each other and to the global research community through connection to the high-speed pan-European GÉANT network.
Progress on the network is being discussed at two high profile meetings that are being held in Almaty, Kazakhstan between June 30 and July 2, 2009. The CAREN Executive Committee meeting of the CAREN project partners is followed by the first CAREN Steering Group meeting. Chaired by the European Commission, attendees to the Steering Group meeting include high level representatives from the central Asian partner countries, demonstrating the importance of this project to the region and beyond.
Existing and future projects that will benefit from CAREN span areas such as environmental monitoring, radio astronomy, telemedicine, the digitalization of cultural heritage, paleontology and mineral extraction.
Scheduled to come into operation in early 2010, CAREN is currently tendering for a terrestrial broadband network that will replace current links via the satellite-based, NATO-funded virtual silk highway project. As it is fiber-based, CAREN will deliver improved connectivity through a more stable, cost-effective network infrastructure.
The network is co-funded by the European Commission, which is providing initial financial support of € 5 million until the end of 2011 and by the Central Asian countries. The project will be operated and managed by research networking organization DANTE in conjunction with the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of the countries involved.
The CAREN network is a unique project that will continue and improve connexion between researchers of EU and Central Asia.
CAREN builds on existing EC-led research network programs, including the Black Sea Initiative (BSI), which connects the neighboring South Caucasus to Europe, the TEIN3 network which covers Eastern Asia and the ORIENT link to China. This is part of an overall strategy to connect researchers across the globe, increasing collaboration and stimulating development through high speed network infrastructures.
The CAREN project aims to establish a high-capacity regional research and education network in Central Asia. Covering one million students and researchers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan it underpins regional and international collaboration through links to the pan-European GÉANT network. Funded by the EU and central Asian National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) the project began on 1 January 2009. It is initially scheduled to run to 2011, with the network going live in early 2010. It is run by international research networking organization DANTE, in collaboration with the EU and local NRENs.
DANTE is a non-profit organization, coordinator of large-scale projects co-funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in the other regions to one another and to GÉANT. DANTE currently manages projects focused on the Mediterranean, Latin American and Asia-Pacific regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, ALICE and TEIN projects, respectively.
