RNP > RNP News > 2007 News

For a few years now, the RNP has been strengthening its partnerships not only in the cooperative field (through the IT Law), but also interinstitutional (with ministries, institutions and national and foreign consortiums). Several initiatives were already created along this week – with the Brazilian Association of University Hospitals, in the area of telemedicine; with foreign partners, in the area of grids; with groups of national research, in the development of new applications and services; with the Brazilian Association of University TVs, in the area of digital TV; with institutes of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), in the propagation of knowledge via broadcasting of lectures and courses; etc. –, but the main milestone of 2006 was the signature, in October, of a collaboration contract with the Ministry of Health (MS).

The agreement with the MS anticipates the execution of a pilot project which will allow the interconnection in a network of poles of the Family Health Program and places for the rendering of health care services. The expected investment will be of as much as R$ 8.1 million in twelve months. Also, an intention protocol was signed for the integration of the Ministry of Health with the Interministerial Program of Maintenance and Development of the National Network of Teaching and Research.

This effort association started when the RNP launched the project Telemedicine University Network (Rute), meeting a MCT’s demand to support the research and education in telemedicine. Simultaneously, several actions in course at the Ministry of Health for support to the management and education in health were identifies and recognized as natural partners of this community of poles of teaching hospitals.

Among the 22 hospitals which integrate the first stage of Rute, the MS selected eight to act as poles responsible for the support to remote education of points of the Family Health Program. The pilot-project comprised actions of the RNP’s service rendering for the implementation of infrastructure, training of professionals and maintenance of the network of remote collaboration applications. Among the main anticipated purpose, we highlight the connection to the 32-point Ipê network of the Health Program of the Family for performance assessment and the applications anticipated based on the Telemath and Telemedicine Project supporting the Primary Attention to Health in Brazil; the implementation and provision of broad band of videoconference and IP telephony services in units of the Qualisus system management; the qualification of professionals in topics related to the management and safety of networks and videoconference services; and the interlink of the Datasus network to the Ipê network.

Internet Data Center hosts services of the federal government

RNP built, in Brasília, a physical space to host the equipments and servers of special clients of the education, research and culture areas. In this space, best known as Internet Data Center (IDC), are kept machines and services of the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Studies and Educational Researches (Inep/MEC), of the Institute of Researches in Information Technology (IPTI/Minc), of the Center of Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE/MCT), of Radiobrás, of the National Fund of Education Development (FNDE/MEC) and of the Center of Strategic Affairs of the Republic Presidency.

The service has been active since 2005, but it started to get really be strong in 2006, when it was associated to most clients. In May, the IDC started to host the websites of Cultura Digital, Conversê and Estúdio Livre of the Ministry of Culture (Minc). In the same month, the subscriptions for the High School National Exam (Enem) started, and they could be done via Internet thanks to the fact that the IDC is hosting some servers of Inep. In September, an antenna and a codifier were installed in the RNP’s building in order to capture and digitalize the TV NBR signal of Radiobrás. The also channel started to be broadcasted via Internet, from the IDC of RNP. Also in September, the website of the Center of Strategic Affairs (NAE) of the Republic Presidency started to be hosted at IDC of RNP.

The partnership with the Ministry of Cities was reinforced with the broadcasting of two Seminars of Multipurpose Territorial Technical Registry: of the Southeast Region 2 (in September) and of the North Region (November). Jointly with MEC and Minc, the RNP is structuring the Culture and Thought Network, which interlinks organizations all around the world for the performance and transmission of debates about current themes.

A year of awards

In it’s a bit over 17 years of history, the RNP wrote a path of pioneering and perseverance of purposes. In its first phase (1989-1999), it took part of the construction and consolidation of the Brazilian Internet. In its second phase (from 2000 to current days), it promoted the innovative use of advanced networks in Brazil. This history has been recognized by society. In July 2006, the RNP received the Sucesu award 40 years in the category Entity/Company of the decade of 1996/2005 for its pioneering and innovation in the IT history in Brazil. For your choice, it was mainly considered the fact that the RNP opened its backbone for commercial use, making feasible the appearance of thousands of access providers. In the same solemnity, Tadao Takashaki, first general-coordinator for RNP, was awarded for the launching of the National Research Network (in 1989), and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) was awarded for enabling the commercial exploration of the Internet for the Brazilian population.

One month before, the RNP general-director, Nelson Simões, received the Conip Líderes de TI.Gov Award, in the Federal Executive Power category, in recognition for “his leadership in the connectivity work offered by RNP to its institutions linked to his acting in the Internet Management Committee.” In March, the RNP was awarded with the RiofazDesign seal, in the Public and Private Institutions category. The award is recognized by the Secretary of Economical Development of the Government of Rio de Janeiro State to companies settled in the state and which invest in design as a management tool in their several sector and levels of action.

Another aspect which demonstrates the level of recognition reached by RNP is the number of accesses to the organization’s website, which has been growing more and more each year. In 2006, 1.6 million people performed 2.7 million visits. The most visited pages are those in which are published the safety alerts of the Security Incident Response Team (CAIS), the news pages produced by the RNP team and the operation pages of the network, which show the map of Ipê network, provide the overview and the traffic statistics, and give other information regarding the infrastructure of the national academic network.

[RNP, 01.26.2007]