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Three new consortia are approved in the second call for Remav Projects

The result of the second call for High Performance Metropolitan Networking Projects, a joint initiative of the National Research Network and of the Theme-Oriented Research and Development Program in Computer Science, backed by CNPq, was reported on June 15. It brought the approval of three new consortia: BH2 (Belo Horizonte), Infovia of BsB (Brasília) and InteRMAV-PB (João Pessoa/Campina Grande). The call for projects was announced on April 22 to fill the vacancy that had been left by the São Luis consortium. With the extraordinary approval of two more groups, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) hopes to strengthen the RNP2 project even further.

The General Coordinator of RNP, José Luiz Ribeiro Filho, pointed out that the approval of three new metropolitan networks "is an acknowledgement of the merit and quality contained in the submitted proposals. Furthermore, it increases the participation of relevant groups that are able to contribute positively to the initiative." According to José Luiz, the effect of this result may be extremely positive in that "it increases the overall number of institutions participating in the RNP2 project".

The decision to approve three of the five proposals submitted was based on the recommendation of the committee specialized in networking that evaluated the projects and was made after verification of the availability of resources (funding and equipment).

Today, there are approximately 70 institutions directly involved with the installation and configuration of equipment, deployment of high-speed connections, new networking operations and administration and next generation applications development. These are universities, research institutions, and private companies in telecommunications, information technology and scientific computing. According to MCT, around R$20 million in resources has been allocated to the project. Thus, the Brazilian project has demonstrated a capacity to mobilize and act nationwide on limited resources, as compared to its American counterpart, Internet2. There are approximately 150 institutions and hundreds of millions of dollars of resources available to the Internet2 project over a three-year period, through the federal government project Next Generation Internet, not to mention forthcoming investments committed by its own members, partners and sponsors.

A new 155 Mbps backbone operating on an optical fiber infrastructure will mark the beginning of the RNP2 project. This new academic networking infrastructure projected by RNP will come about as a result of linking up all 14 ReMAVs operating in the major metropolitan areas throughout the nation.

The make-up of the three new consortia and their respective range of activities are:


BH2 Consortium - High Performance Internet Metropolitan Network of Belo Horizonte
Institutions: UFMG, PUC-MG, PRODEMGE, UEMG, IGA, PRODABEL, FIEMG, FUMSOFT, Santa Casa de Misericórdia, TELEMAR-MG, CEMIG.
Activities: Network management and performance, tele-education, geo-processing, telemedicine and virtual libraries.

Infovia Consortium of Brasília
Institutions: UnB, Embrapa, CODEPLAN, Telebrasília
Activities: Network management and performance, tele-education, telemedicine, virtual libraries and geo-processing.

InteRMAV-PB - High Performance Inter-metropolitan Networks of Paraíba State
Institutions: UFPB, UEPB, CEFET-PB, UNIMED-PB, TELEMAR-PB
Activities: Network management and performance, tele-education and telemedicine.

[RNP, 06.21.1999]