RNP > RNP News > 2004 News

ALICE Project Develops First Latin American

Cambridge, UK

05.26.2004

The ALICE project, America Latina Interconectada Con Europa, is soon to roll out a new Latin American backbone network and a direct trans-Atlantic link between Latin America and Europe for the benefit of the research and education communities in Latin America and Europe.

From 1 August 2004, and for the first time ever, the ground-breaking new network will provide direct connectivity of 155 Mbps, in a ring topology, linking the NRENs (National Research and Education Networks) of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Mexico. This new Latin American ring will be connected at 622 Mbps to the European research network GÉANT in Madrid, Spain. In addition, the Venezuelan NREN will be connected to the ring via a 45Mbps circuit between Caracas and Sao Paulo.

Further connections linking the NRENs of Uruguay and Paraguay to the ring will follow soon afterwards.

The new connections will provide a Latin American research networking backbone enabling researchers in the region to collaborate directly for the first time in their work with one another and with their colleagues in European research projects. The new infrastructure will provide a significant boost to Latin American research by improving the data communication facilities available to researchers and supporting them in the global research race.

Narrowing the digital divide in this way within Latin America and between Latin America and Europe contributes to the overall economic development of the region and also reduces intra-regional disparities. Contributing to social cohesion is one of the top priorities to be addressed at the third EU-LAC Summit of Heads of State and Government on 28th May in Guadalajara, Mexico.

ALICE is a project co-funded by the European Commission within the framework of its @LIS cooperation programme which aims at promoting the Information Society and fighting the digital divide throughout Latin America. The ALICE project has taken a structured and comprehensive approach to identifying the connectivity needs of the Latin American research community and is implementing an effective and efficient solution to meet these needs.

The network topology being implemented has resulted in part from a thorough feasibility study performed at the start of the project, which investigated research networking requirements and infrastructure availability. The circuits are being leased from infrastructure providers selected by a public procurement exercise carried out between June 2003 and April 2004 according to EC procurement procedures. A further product of the initiative has been CLARA, an international not-for-profit organisation set up with the aim of improving research networking and research collaboration across Latin America.

The ALICE project is co-ordinated by DANTE, which has ten years of experience in operating pan-European research and education networks such as GÉANT. DANTE General Manager Dai Davies said,

The ALICE project is an important initiative of the European Commission, which supports the transfer of the best practice European research networking model and adapts it to the local needs and conditions of Latin America. It is providing an important boost to research networking in the region and providing direct access to GÉANT for the first time. I expect the positive consequences of ALICE will appear quite rapidly in that Latin American research will create a far higher profile for itself on the world stage.

The first fruits of the ALICE project will shortly be seen in the successful connection of 6 Latin American national research and education networks, and it is expected the project’s significant contribution to the region’s development will continue with the addition soon afterwards of further connections benefitting other Latin American countries.