ALICE - An Overview
The ALICE project was set up in 2003 to develop an IP research network infrastructure within the Latin American region and towards Europe. It addresses the infrastructure objectives of the European Commission’s @LIS programme, which aims to promote the Information Society and fight the digital divide throughout Latin America. Following the success of the ALICE project, its successor, ALICE2, was launched in the first quarter of 2009.
Before ALICE, intra-regional connectivity in Latin America was not developed. Although the motivation to create a regional network already existed, many countries did not have a national research network, in particular in Central America. Many others had a national framework for the development of research networking, but lacked access to the funding required to fulfil the scope of their regional ambitions. There was also no organised connectivity between the pan-European research network, GÉANT, and the NRENs in Latin America.
ALICE has successfully addressed these limitations, creating the RedCLARA network. RedCLARA interconnects both new and existing Latin American NRENs in a ring and spur topology. It also provides an onward connection to GÉANT in Europe at 622Mbps.
The impact of ALICE in Latin America has been profound. The project has acted as a significant catalyst for development in the region. Several countries, which previously had no centralised research connectivity, have created new research networks in order to join the project. Others have been able to expand their existing network provision to better serve their researchers. Even for those few countries in which research networking was well developed, ALICE has provided a much-needed psychological boost, allowing them to feel closer to and more involved with Europe.
The project is fostering research and education collaborations, both within Latin America, and between Latin America and Europe. Already, RedCLARA is enabling the development of projects that are a collaboration between European and Latin American researchers, with several proposals for projects in high-energy physics, astronomy and biodiversity put forward to the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies programme during 2005.
ALICE is supporting the work of a large number of projects, including:
- EELA (E-Infrastructure shared between Europe and Latin America), a project aiming to deploy and potentially develop grid applications in e-learning, biomedical science and particle physics, while also creating a human network in grids, e-science and e-infrastructures
- AugerAccess, a feasibility study into the upgrading of the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory in western Argentina’s connection from its site in Malargue to Mendoza, in support of the Observatory’s international collaboration with European institutions
- T@lemed, a telemedicine project that aims to bring some of the essential healthcare services available in a large, general hospital to outlying districts, using specialist equipment and software developed by Medcom at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and the Brazilian national research network, RNP
- Opera Oberta, a program which streams live operatic performances from the Liceu in Barcelona to students at nearly 50 universities, including institutions in Chile and Mexico
- @LIS-TECHNET, a live running network populated by autonomous software components that are able to dynamically interact with one another and provide a teaching and experimentation environment to the network’s users
- RINGrid, an architecture to integrate remote instrumentations (such as gas chromatographs, powerful microscopes and radio telescopes) with wider eInfrastructure initiatives.
Following the success of the ALICE project, its successor, ALICE2, was launched in the first quarter of 2009. Visit the ALICE2 website ALICE Home.
For further information about the project, and a full list of partners, please visit the ALICE web site, which you can reach via the link in the black panel at the top-right of this page.
