The Works of DANTE - Issue 5

TEIN2 network deployment marked at APAN meeting

 The launch of the TEIN2 network was marked at a ceremony held in Japan on 24th January 2006. The ceremony, part of the 21st APAN meeting, included a live demonstration of the network’s potential, where an endoscopy and tele-consultation were conducted. High definition video was transmitted simultaneously to the conference centre, and to Korea where a medical team observed the procedure and gave instant feedback. The demo highlighted a project to connect hospitals throughout the Asia-Pacific region with high capacity networking, which is then utilised as a teaching tool. A second demonstration involved a 10-way video conference, which was organised between different medical teams in hospitals across Asia-Pacific, including sites in Japan, Korea and Australia. Another exciting application with the potential to utilise the TEIN2 network is remote surgery, where the patient and operating surgeon may be in separate locations. Critical applications such as this would naturally rely on connections that operate on high bandwidth, secure and stable links.

An operations agreement between TransPAC2 and DANTE was signed at the APAN meeting. TransPAC2 are supporting TEIN2 by donating capacity on a link between Japan and North America. 

 TEIN2 creates the first large-scale research and education network for the region, linking ten countries at speeds of up to 622 Mbps. The new network will link national networks in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia. The high capacity network aims to bridge the digital divide between different countries across the region, and enable faster collaboration on projects across the globe through links to Europe and GÉANT2.

"DANTE is using the experience it has gained from setting up regional research networks in the Mediterranean and Latin America to bring TEIN2 into service quickly, cost-effectively and in partnership with the region’s national research networks," commented David West, TEIN2 project manager, DANTE. "By providing a powerful and reliable communications channel, TEIN2 will bring together Eastern and Western regional academic communities for the first time."

The network, which was initiated in 2004 and will run until 2008, is part-funded by the European Union’s EuropeAid programme, which is contributing up to €10 million towards the costs of connecting partner countries. Additional support has been provided by the Japanese networks NII and Maffin, who are contributing regional connectivity to TEIN2. Further assistance comes from Juniper Networks, who are sponsoring the Internet routing equipment located in TEIN2’s three network hubs in Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Working in collaboration with DANTE are RENATER (France), SURFnet (Netherlands) and UKERNA (UK). As part of the deployment DANTE has awarded a contract to operate the Network Operating Centre (NOC) that manages TEIN2 to Tsinghua University, China. Visit www.tein2.net for more details and to see the topology.