TEIN2 Spotlighted at High-profile Events in South-East Asia
TEIN2 – the first large-scale research and education network for Asia-Pacific – was extensively featured during the Euro-South East Asia Forum for Information and Communications Technologies (EUSEA 2006) which took place from 19-20 June in Singapore. Spotlighted in various plenary speeches and parallel sessions, TEIN2’s positive impact was duly recognised. EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding highlighted how this EC-funded initiative has already led to very successful regional and global collaborative research projects, thanks to its interconnection to Europe’s multi-gigabit network GÉANT2,. She emphasised its crucial role in creating pools of regional expertise across Asia and thus in fighting the brain drain and digital divide.
David West, Project Manager at DANTE, the operator of TEIN2 and GÉANT2, stressed that now that the initial network is fully deployed, the priority is to promote its use, to extend its geographical scope and to ensure sustainability after 2007, when the current contract expires.
Earlier this month, senior representatives of 21 Europe-Asia Meeting (ASEM) partner countries and the European Commission gathered in Ha Long (Vietnam) to evaluate the results of intraregional collaborations in the field of ICT and to discuss ways of fostering digital inclusion.
As a significant preparatory step for the ASEM Summit and the ICT Ministerial Meeting later this year, the meeting acknowledged the success of ASEM-led TEIN2 in establishing and consolidating a high-capacity network infrastructure for Asia-Pacific and reaffirmed the partners’ commitment to extend its operation beyond 2007.
The meeting featured a ceremony to celebrate the launch of the Vietnamese
network VINAREN and its connection to TEIN2. Mário Campolargo from the European Commission emphasised, “TEIN2 and the National Research and
Education Networks are a catalyst for cooperative research and education in
important
areas. As part of the European Commission's strategy for promoting global connectivity by supporting regional backbones and interconnecting them to GÉANT2, TEIN2 enables Vietnamese researchers to work with their counterparts within the region, in Europe and beyond, as they respond to global challenges, while addressing local concerns.”
The launch ceremony was complemented by a series of impressive live demonstrations of the capabilities of TEIN2, focussing on cultural heritage and tele-medicine applications.
The ASEM Senior Officials Meeting was preceded by the 10th TEIN2 Technical Committee Meeting on 7 June, which saw lively interaction between the project partners and reaffirmed commitment to support TEIN2’s sustainability. The creation of a TEIN2 Promotional sub-group was agreed with the aim of stepping up activities to promote applications over the network.
