Latin American Research Goes Global With RedCLARA Network
Press Release
LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH GOES GLOBAL
WITH RedCLARA NETWORK
New links connect 14 Latin American nations to European research network, GÉANT2, and worldwide research community
Cambridge,U.K., 28 April 2006 - With new network links in place, the Latin American research community now has an unparalleled ability to access and contribute to global research projects. Promoting regional integration, the ALICE project has created the RedCLARA network, which now connects 14 countries across Central and South America, allowing 738 universities and research institutes to communicate with their European and global peers directly.
Co-ordinated by research networking organisation DANTE, RedCLARA now connects regional researchers in 14 countries both to each other and to their counterparts in Europe via GÉANT2, the world's most advanced international research and education network. RedCLARA has been planned, built and managed by DANTE in close cooperation with CLARA, DANTE's partner organisation in Latin America.
Since its launch on 1 September 2004, the ALICE project has been a key component in reducing disparities within Latin America, by bridging the digital divide both within the region and with Europe. Receiving 10M euros in funding from the EU's @LIS programme, it has played a central role in improving communications infrastructure, aiding scientific research and education, driving socio-economic development and stimulating the growth of national research networking organisations.
The project has enabled Latin American researchers to become key players in the global research community. For example, the connection of countries such as Ecuador, Brazil and Costa Rica has allowed national expertise on universal topics, including biodiversity loss and climate change, to be shared throughout the entire region and beyond. The improved network capacity is also enabling faster collaboration between countries such as Peru, Chile and Mexico and with Europe, underpinning new global science initiatives such as EELA. Funded by the European Commission, the EELA project (E-infrastructure shared between Europe and Latin America) aspires to create a collaborative network to share grid infrastructures between the two continents to drive the development of advanced applications in biomedicine, high energy physics, e-learning and climate modelling.
"The success of ALICE has opened up a multitude of opportunities for the Latin American research and education community, by integrating the region into the global academic arena. Now its effects are reaching far beyond improving the network infrastructure, and we are witnessing a rapidly emerging user community as a result." said Dai Davies, General Manager, DANTE. "It is therefore imperative that the infrastructure and NRENs continue to develop in order for Latin America to sustain the success achieved so far."
"The ALICE project has created a real sense of integration and has catalysed the creation of NRENs throughout the region" said Luis R. Furlan, Director of the Guatemalan NREN, RAGIE. "It has succeeded in making a dream come true - a dedicated Latin American backbone for research and education."
The recent announcement that funding for the ALICE project has been extended until March 2007 has been well received among the Latin American research and education community and the NRENs connected to RedCLARA. The funding extension, which is within the original budget, will allow the project partners to make use of the entire funds available to ALICE. This will enable further development of the RedCLARA network and of CLARA as an organisation, to support on-going initiatives to improve user support and deploy new network services.
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About ALICE
The ALICE project has created RedCLARA - the first regional research and education network for Latin America. It not only connects regional researchers to each other, but it also connects them with their counterparts in Europe via GÉANT2, the world's most advanced international research and education network, for increased collaboration. Involving 23 Latin American and European partners, RedCLARA went live in 2004 and has stimulated the development of many National Research and Education Networks in the region. The European project partners are FCCN (Portugal), RedIRIS (Spain), GARR (Italy), and RENATER (France). Funding for the ALICE project has been extended until March 2007. For more information visit www.dante.net/alice
About DANTE:
DANTE is a non-profit organisation whose primary mission is to plan, build and manage research and education networks on behalf of Europe's National Research and Education Networks. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE operates GÉANT2, which is the world's most advanced research and education network and the first hybrid network deployed on an international scale.
DANTE is involved in initiatives worldwide to interconnect countries in other regions to one another and to GÉANT2. DANTE is currently managing initiatives focused on the Mediterranean, Latin American and Asia-Pacific regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, ALICE and TEIN2 projects respectively. For more information please visit: www.dante.net
Editorial contacts:
Chris Measures/Emma Ballard
Rainier PR (on behalf of DANTE)
+44(0)20 7494 6570
cmeasures@rainierpr.co.uk
