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4th Workshop RNP2: Giga Project and working groups are worth of note


The 4th Workshop RNP2 (WRNP2) took place on May 19th and 20th in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, together with the 21st Brazilian Symposium of Computer Networks (SBRC). The highlights of this event were the presentations of the results of RNP's Working Groups and of Giga Project to the academic community. The program also offered 31 technical sessions and a pilot-course on videoconference. The 270 people enrolled were mostly researchers and developers of network technologies and advanced applications.

The opening of the 4th WRNP2 counted on the participation of Ana Preston, Foreign Affairs manager of the Internet 2 project, as well as of representatives from the Ministry of Education, CNPq, RNP, and the Secretariat of Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro. Alexandre Grojsgold, RNP's Operations director, claimed that by the end of 2003, he should be operating a national network of 1.2 Gbps aggregated band, about four times higher than the current capacity, of 362 Mbps. He affirmed that the capacity of the international connectivity will also be increased. Nelson Simões, RNP's CEO, announced that his goal is to implement a national optical network by 2007.

The test bed for this national optical initiative is the Giga project. With a budget of R$ 54 million, this project consists of the implantation of a totally optical transmission network, in which the data flow via IP protocol directly over DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) and which also uses Gigabit Ethernet over DWDM. The project was presented in the 4th WRNP2 by Michael Stanton, RNP's Innovation director, and Antonio Carlos G. Bordeaux do Rego, Innovation Management director at the CPqD (Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações - Research and Development Center on Telecommunications).

Four theme areas will concentrate the subprojects of development of prototypes, equipment and services: optical networks; experimental telecommunications services; network protocols and services; and scientific applications and services. Michael announced the creation of a scientific committee that will evaluate the proposals involving the last two areas, for which RNP is responsible.

Transmissions and videoconference increase the range of the 4th WRNP2

There were four peer-to-peer videoconferences and open transmissions of some of the sessions of the event. From Ottawa, Canada, Bill St. Arnaud, Canarie's senior director of advanced networks, talked about the Canadian experience with optical networks with fiber control by the users. On the other side, Ana Preston, representative of the Internet2 project, participated, from Brazil, through videoconference, of a panel on Peer to Peer in an event promoted in Croatia, by the European group Terena.

More than 70 papers were received for the two technical paths of the 4th WRNP2 (network engineering and advanced applications), 31 of which were selected for presentation and are available on the site of the workshop. Some of the sessions in the workshop could be attended through the network at real time. The videoconference course, promoted by the Educational Applications Working Group, was transmitted to RNP's Point of Presence in Ceará.

The 4th WRNP2 counted on the support of the companies Embratel, Juniper Networks, Sun Microsystems, Padtec, Global Crossing and Extreme Networks, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), the Potiguar University and the organizers of the SBRC.

[RNP, 06.17.2003]

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