UbuntuNet-Connect 2015 Conference Papers and Presentations
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Item Virtual Research Environment for Value-Added Services in National and Regional NRENs: Case Studies(2015-11) Prnjat, Ognjen; Liabotis, Ioannis; Kanellopoulos, ChristosCase studies are presented for the role of national and regional NRENs beyond connectivity, encompassing computing (grid, cloud and High-Performance computing) services and big data management services. The case studies are the recently started VI-SEEM and MAGIC projects. The VI-SEEM project, started in October 2015, unifies the existing e-Infrastructures in South-East Europe (SEE) and the Eastern Mediterranean (EM), including Grid, cloud, and High-Performance Computing resources. It does so in order to better utilise synergies, for an improved service provision within a unified Virtual Research Environment (VRE) to be provided to the scientific user communities in this large region. The overall objective is to provide a user-friendly integrated e-Infrastructure platform for scientific communities in Climatology, Life Sciences, and Cultural Heritage for the SEE and EM regions; by linking networking, computing, data, and visualization resources, as well as services, software and tools. The Virtual Research Environment provides the scientists and researchers with the support in the full lifecycle of scientific research: accessing relevant data necessary for their research, using it with provided codes and tools to carry out new experiments and simulations on large-scale e-Infrastructures, and producing and integrating new knowledge and data - which is stored and shared within the same VRE. The project is founded on the service-oriented data-driven approach, where a specific set of activities deals not just with simple e-Infrastructure data storage (live, dropbox-like), but includes the support for the full data lifecycle for the 3 target communities. The value-added computing services provided to the researchers include grid and cloud computing, as well as large-scale High-Performance Computing platforms, with a set of management tools provided for the unified management of computing resources. All project services will be provided through a service catalogue. Similarly the MAGIC project, started in May 2015, aims to adopt a service-oriented approach to advertising specifically the NREN cloud services, and this approach will be implemented through a compatible service catalogue, based on the GEANT cloud catalogue: thus the envisaged MAGIC cloud catalogue is also briefly discussed.Item Multi-Conference Rooms: Architectural and Technological View(2015-11) Coelho, Luiz; Longoni, Guilherme; Cecagno, Felipe; Ciuffo, Leandro; Duarte, Renato; Roesler, ValterMeeting rooms, as well as classrooms, can be transformed in multimedia spaces that amplify collaboration and education. Computers, projectors, large displays, videoconference systems and wi-fi networks are examples of Information Technologies infrastructures commonly installed in modern rooms. However, the investment to transform a traditional classroom in a digital learning space must be spent efficiently to justify the invested resources. The cost of any physical space depends on how often it is used. For example, a US$100,000.00 regular classroom can cost more than a US$500,000.00 one. How? Suppose the cheaper room is used eight hours a month, while the more expensive one is used eighty hours a month. Over five years (or 60 months), the per-hour cost of the cheaper room will be US$100,000.00 / (60 * 8) = US$208.33, while the per-hour cost of the more expensive one will be US$500,000.00 / (60 * 80) = US$104.17, i.e., half the cost of the first. The bottom line is that keeping an idle physical structure has a high associated cost. The objective of this paper is to present an architectural and technological view of a new system called "multipresence" which adapts to various physical environment settings, and enables the interoperability of various technologies.Item Experts’ Assignment Algorithm for Cloudbased Agro-advisory Service Information System (CASIS) using Weighted Sum Model: Piloting CASIS(2015-11) Fue, Kadeghe; Tumbo, Siza D.; Sanga, CamiliusA Cloud-based Agro-advisory Service Information System (CASIS) uses interactive operating mode where assignment of questions from farmers to experts is done manually. Questions as input to the system are received randomly in a day and experts are supposed to respond within a specified time. The system has 20 experts in its database who respond to farmers questions and it can receive more than 30 questions per day. If there is a significant delay in the responses to a question then the question is reassigned to another expert. Each expert behaves differently when responding to their assigned questions. In order to address the shortcomings, the experts’ assignment algorithm was developed utilizing the respondents’ response probabilities and time of responses. Assignment decision is based on using a model that trains ‘CASIS’ on the determination of best experts. CASIS training algorithm is developed to complement current weakness. The algorithm doesn’t omit experts who respond late but complements them with active ones. The decision boundary is homogeneity and numerical so as to give a single output quickly. The input (x1, x2) and output (y) variables are numeric. The main concept is that the output is generated using linear combination or weighted sum model The algorithm considers response time as best criteria to satisfy the farmers who send the questions. This algorithm provides a great chance of finding a quick answer within a short period of time. Automatic expert assignment is essential to achieve high adoption of the system that satisfies the on-time farmer advisories demand and promote efficiency as well as effective extension services for rural development.Item How Tech Hubs are Helping to Drive Economic Growth in Africa: Background Report for World Bank: World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends(2015-11) Kelly, Tim; Firestone, RachelDigital technologies have spread rapidly. Digital dividends—the broader development benefits from using these technologies—have not. Digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere requires improving the “analog” complements to digital investments—by strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, by adapting workers’ skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that institutions are accountable. Inclusion, efficiency, innovation are the main mechanisms for the Internet to promote development. How can these mechanisms be leveraged to promote Africa’s development? The paper tracks some 117 Tech Hubs across Africa, many of which have been created in the last few years. The paper looks at the patterns of origin by which Tech Hubs are created, why they have a high failure rate, and what makes for success.Item Videoconferencing-as-a-Service for African NRENs(2015-11) Bristow, Robert; Muia, Peter; Hoy, Geoff; Kashorda, MeoliThis paper describes recent developments in the capability of Videoconferencing and the associated opportunities for a shared videoconferencing offering for African NRENs. The improvements in inter-African network capacity, taken with the maturing of new approaches to videoconferencing open an opportunity for African NRENs to take advantage of an investment that TENET has made in its videoconferencing platform. TENET, the South African NREN operator, has established infrastructure to support multi-party high quality videoconferencing that brings together room-based conferencing (including H.323/SIP conferencing) with the capability to participate from desktop and laptop computers and from mobile devices. Due to the efficient software based characteristics of the chosen platform (Vidyo), participants are able to enjoy up to HD quality conferencing and content sharing in multi-party conferences. The backend of the Vidyo infrastructure is available as software appliances to run as virtual machines (VMWare). This allows for a geographic distribution of the Vidyo infrastructure that enables maximum efficiency in the use of the SANReN network within South Africa. Following an approach from KENET, the Kenyan NREN organisation, TENET has been able to further leverage the flexibility of the Vidyo platform to enable KENET to offer the capabilities of Vidyo to its Higher Education and Research communities in Kenya This paper and conference session will describe the details of this service and the key capabilities of the platform that allow for a distributed service. The paper and session will also outline the key economic, technological and organisational factors that make Videoconferencing-as-a-Service a compelling offering for African NRENs.Item Question Banks: A Tool for Improving Higher Education Assessment Across National Resource Networks: The Polytechnic of Malawi Case Study(2015-11) Chilivumbo, ChifundoQuestion Banks are used to increase the access to quality material for assessing the students in institutions of higher learning. A good question bank which is in line with the learning orientated assessment framework, should facilitate the, learning orientated assessment tasks, developing evaluate expertise and aid in student engagement with some feedback. This paper seeks to create a solution that will allow for these properties to be streamlined by an information solution for higher institutions to be delivered over National resource networks, with one of the University of Malawi’s constituent colleges, the Polytechnic as a case study. This paper documents the work done with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Language and Communication in the Faculties of Applied Sciences and Education and Media Studies respectively. Information about the assessment creation and assessment artifact storage was gathered from these two departments through the study of existent literature, observation of processes and a self-administered questionnaire given to participants from the two departments. The first version of the software was created with work being done to improve the system to ensure it’s efficiently aids the assessment process. Although the current process is paper based the system tracks the process using an electronic solution with the aim to allow for an aid to creation and research of questions and possibly in the future for electronic delivery of assessments. The system also takes into account the issue of interoperability of the new system with the Universities existing systems that support Virtual Leaning and Student Information Management.Item Achieving Smart Resource Management for Better Disaster Management using Space-based Technology in Lowershire Basin, Malawi(2015-11) Chilonga, DonnexAdvancements in new geo-spatial technologies across the globe are seen as a way to advance the decision-making process of first responders before and after a disaster. Unstructured disaster information and an infrastructure for accurate disaster information may be accessed and retrieved successfully through present new and important tools. Such tools could help improve the performance of disaster prediction in any country across the world. This paper illustrates a method based on incorporation of space and terrestrial technologies that aims at providing vital information to first responders for smart management of floods in Loweshire Basin, Malawi.Item Structuring and Implementing the Brazilian Academic Cloud: Strategy, Modelling, Challenges and Services(2015-11) Ribeiro Filho, José Luiz; Nunes, Antônio Carlos Fernandes; Nobuyoshi Dos Santos Makino, Ricardo; Barreto Araújo, Gorgonio; Machado Leopoldino Martins, Graciela; De Oliveira Guimarães, Leandro MarcosThis paper presents an overview of the strategies currently adopted by some National Research and Education Networks (NREN) to implement and offer scientific cloud computing services. It describes the constraints, opportunities and the strategy chosen by the Brazilian NREN – Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP) to plan, deploy and operate cloud services to and in collaboration with Brazilian public universities and research institutes. The hybrid, community and federated strategy was chosen as the most flexible and suitable for the current Brazilian NREN operation and funding models. It describes the cloud services that are in production or in a pilot phase, their status and next steps planned. Cloud service planning, deployment and operation are discussed, the alternatives considered and the chosen options. At the end, the cloud services deployed by RNP are presented and discussed, considering the technologies and benefits to the academic community in Brazil.Item Learning from Somalia and Ethiopia – the NREN as a Tool for Building National Expertise: A Co-Authorship Between SomaliREN and the World Bank(2015-11) Firestone, RachelCountries in the process of developing their ICT ecosystem often face the challenge of end users lacking the skills and information necessary for using the new technological service to its full capacity. States recovering from conflict and emerging out of long periods of isolation tend to experience this imbalance in infrastructure and soft-skill development even more poignantly as they work to expand many services and sectors concurrently. Somalia is a good example of this as its national technical capacity is too nascent to deploy national Research and Education (NREN) infrastructure without importing external expertise. Yet past development experience in-country also demonstrates that reliance on outside expertise can underemphasize local knowledge development and result in institution ill prepared to avail of the technology at their disposal at development project completion. This paper takes a comparative analysis of NREN and education-based technology project experiences in Somalia and Ethiopia aims to explore how an NREN can not only avoid this pitfall, but how the unique services it can provide in addition to connectivity can act as a tool to building out the technical skillsets necessary to support a vibrant ICT sector and competitive developments in the STEM professions across the board.Item Useful Flexibilities for African Regional Research and Education Networks(2015-11) Martin, Duncan H.The UbuntuNet Alliance is conceived of as an association of NRENs in a given region. The hierarchy Institutions → NRENs → Regional RENs characterises what may be called “the standard REN model”. Regional RENs provide transit to their member NRENs and interconnect with each other over interregional distances. The standard REN model expects no more of any Regional REN. The standard REN model evolved principally in Europe. In the writer’s view, the circumstances of African countries are too widely disparate for continued as-is adoption of the standard REN model. Greater flexibility is needed to allow UbuntuNet and other Regional RENs of Africa to serve universities that can be reached but are not yet served by an operational NREN. For example, some countries simply have too few universities to sustain the overhead costs or engender the significant buying power of an NREN. To overcome this, Regional RENs could offer a “catch-all” REN service to individual institutions that are not served by a recognised NREN. Some African countries are too large, too diverse culturally and/or too patchy in their infrastructural development to enable the ready establishment of a single NREN. Instead, collaborative REN organisations could be established at the sub-national level, and Regional RENs should accept such “District RENs” as legitimate customers. A Regional REN could also act as a proxy NREN in a country in which the universities use commercial ISPs but no organised NREN has emerged, and so facilitate the founding of a real NREN.Item Managing Science and Technology: The Mozambican Ecosystem(2015-11) Muhlanga, Marangaze Munhepe; Lima, Solange Rito; Massingue, Venâncio; Ferriera, João NunoThe Current Research Information System (CRIS) emerges as an embracing paradigm for managing the multitude of Science and Technology (S&T) components and players. Instantiating its concepts and directives in the S&T ecosystems of developing countries allows to save years of progress, bringing these countries directly to the European level regarding S&T management. In this context, this article aims at discussing the challenges and strategies for the implementation of technological platforms for managing S&T, taking Mozambique and its NREN as the primary goal. By identifying and understanding the components of the Mozambican S&T ecosystem, we expect to foster science in developing countries and promote international cooperation.Item Building a Cyber Security Emergency Response Team (CERT) for the NREN Community – The Case of KENET CERT(2015-11) Muia, Peter; Kashorda, Meoli; Aseda, Kennedy; Osure, Ronald; Njau, MartinKenya through the regulator, Communications Authority (CA) has setup a national Cyber Security Emergency Response Team (KE-CIRT). This national CERT in Kenya has several sector CERTs with the Kenya Education Network (KENET) having the mandate of setting up and running the education sector CERT in Kenya (Communications Authority of Kenya, 2015). The purpose of the KENET CERT is to identify threats in the Internet and communicate the same to its community (Kenya Education Network CERT, 2015). It also identifies threats within the community and communicates the same to the rest of the Internet community. Additionally, it provides a mechanism where security incidents can be reported and resolved within the KENET community. Experiences are shared with the community and documented for future reference. The CERT is also responsible for making sure that KENET systems and network are safe from security threats. KENET setup the KENET CERT that is run and operated at KENET by the KENET team. This paper and conference session describes the setup of the KENET CERT, the model of operation and the impact and experiences learned from running an NREN CERT in Kenya.Item Eduroam Implementation: Case Study Kenyatta University(2015-11) Njue, Maureen WanjaItem Virtual Research Environment for Value-Added Services in National and Regional NRENs: Case Studies(2015-11) Prnjat, Ognjen; Liabotis, Ioannis; Kanellopoulos, ChristosCase studies are presented for the role of national and regional NRENs beyond connectivity, encompassing computing (grid, cloud and High-Performance computing) services and big data management services. The case studies are the recently started VI-SEEM and MAGIC projects. The VI-SEEM project, started in October 2015, unifies the existing e-Infrastructures in South-East Europe (SEE) and the Eastern Mediterranean (EM), including Grid, cloud, and High-Performance Computing resources. It does so in order to better utilise synergies, for an improved service provision within a unified Virtual Research Environment (VRE) to be provided to the scientific user communities in this large region. The overall objective is to provide a user-friendly integrated e-Infrastructure platform for scientific communities in Climatology, Life Sciences, and Cultural Heritage for the SEE and EM regions; by linking networking, computing, data, and visualization resources, as well as services, software and tools. The Virtual Research Environment provides the scientists and researchers with the support in the full lifecycle of scientific research: accessing relevant data necessary for their research, using it with provided codes and tools to carry out new experiments and simulations on large-scale e-Infrastructures, and producing and integrating new knowledge and data - which is stored and shared within the same VRE. The project is founded on the serviceoriented data-driven approach, where a specific set of activities deals not just with simple eInfrastructure data storage (live, dropbox-like), but includes the support for the full data lifecycle for the 3 target communities. The value-added computing services provided to the researchers include grid and cloud computing, as well as large-scale High-Performance Computing platforms, with a set of management tools provided for the unified management of computing resources. All project services will be provided through a service catalogue. Similarly the MAGIC project, started in May 2015, aims to adopt a service-oriented approach to advertising specifically the NREN cloud services, and this approach will be implemented through a compatible service catalogue, based on the GEANT cloud catalogue: thus the envisaged MAGIC cloud catalogue is also briefly discussed.Item Multi-Conference Rooms: Architectural and Technological View(2015-11) Roesler, Valter; Coelho, Luiz; Longoni, Guilherme; Cecagno, Felipe; Ciuffo, Leandro; Duarte, RenatoItem Support to Emerging NRENs(2015-11) Stöver, CathrinItem National Research and Education Networks to support Healthcare: The Brazilian Telemedicine University Network RUTE(2015-11) Lopes, Paulo Roberto de Lima; Simões da Silva, Nelson; Coury, Wilson Biancardi; Ribeiro Filho, José Luiz; Caetano, Daniel; Machado, Patricia Almeida; Moraes, Max Pereira; Meireles, Luan Azeredo; Brito, Thiago Delevidove de Lima Verde; Messina, Luiz Ary; Pisa, Ivan Torres; Haddad, Ana Estela; Al-Shorbaji, NagibMotivation: National Research and Education Networks NRENs world wide are expanding capacities, forming Academic Telehealth Community Collaboration of health scientists, bridging Science, Technology, Innovation, Education, Assistance and Health Federal Authorities to discuss, finance and work together. The World Health Organization - WHO promotes Universal Health Coverage as a goal for equitable access to health services without pushing people to poverty. Using information and communication technology to bring healthcare to people in remote areas and to those who need health services most is one of the objectives of UHC. Problem statement: RUTE, the Telemedicine University Network from Brazil, under the NREN RNP (www.rnp.br) launched July 2015 its 118th Telemedicine Unit in University and Teaching Hospitals in all 27 states. Over the network collaboration model operates 48 Special Interest Groups in health specialties with 2 to 3 scientific videoconference sessions everyday (rute.rnp.br). RUTE is part of the Brazilian Telehealth Program (www.telessaudebrasil.org.br), coordinated by the Secretariat of Work and Health Education Management (SGTES) of the Ministry of Health, that seeks to improve the quality of the service and basic care of the Unified Health System (SUS). Approach: RUTE´s objectives are: 1. Implement infrastructure for the interconnection of faculty, university hospital and teaching units from different regions of the country, enabling the communication and collaboration between national and international educational and research institutions. 2. Improve care of populations in the most underprivileged regions without specialized medical care through the resulting benefits achieved by the exchange of specialized medical knowledge. The telehealth and telemedicine centers are equipped with cutting-edge equipment, for real-time communication, connected to high performance network infrastructure operated by the RNP. Results: Also newly composing the initiative – RUTE 2.0, started in 2011, today more than half of the federal university hospitals are managed by the Brazilian Enterprise for Hospital Services http://ebserh.mec.gov.br/. In partnership with 18 Latin American Ministries of Health through the Telehealth Regional Project from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), RUTE, was certified for best practice of telemedicine by IADB, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac). Conclusions: RNP offers advanced communication infrastructure. Healthcare, R&E has demonstrated more interest and developed into a Telemedicine University Network RUTE. Important also for its sustainability lies on the participation, coordination, integration and financing from the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation, Education, and Health. The model taken into consideration shows how an academic network manages to bring together a number of health institutions to work together to utilize information and communication technology to bring healthcare to people in remote areas and to those who need health services most, remotely manage, collaborate, educate, monitor and evaluate. RNP/RUTE´s unquestionable statement is its ICT and Health proved qualification for remote assistance, education and collaborative research.Item Building Institutional Repositories in Sudan: Keys to Success(2015-11) Abdelrahman, Iman Abuel MaalyAn Institutional Repository (IR) is a set of services that a university offers to its community members for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by its researchers and staff members. IR establishment is a challenge for information professionals because the main goal for implementing IRs is to provide Open Access (OA) to institution research output. The growth of open access institutional repositories has been very remarkable in the developed countries. However, in most of the developing countries like Sudan awareness of the concept of open access and IR is very low. Since its foundation, the Sudanese Research and Education Network (SudREN) has successfully implemented several library projects. The most successful one was a project funded by UNESCO in 2013. The main objective of that project was to implement Library Management Systems (LMS) and Institutional Repositories (IR) for three Sudanese universities based on open source Software Systems. Project components were technical and operational training, software customization, and hardware preparations. The main role played by SudREN was providing administrative and financial services through the Steering Committee that acted as an advisory body for the project during its lifetime. In addition to that, SudREN provided technical support to the project team. This paper describes the capacity requirements for SudREN to support the provision and use of value-added services to its member institutions focusing on the IR project. It describes the key success factors in implementing IRs in the Sudanese universities. It also discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the project to reach its ultimate goal. This paper gives examples of successful collaboration in practice between the three key groups of professionals – librarians, IT/information systems professionals, and engineers – whose collaboration have done much to the success of the project. The paper provides lessons learned and concludes ways of overcoming obstacles and achieving productive mutual understanding among SudREN’s stakeholders and with other players.Item How to Quadruple the Reach and Value of Your NREN(2015-11)Australia and Africa have much in common – vast distances, sparse population, heat, rain and of course the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). AARNet Pty Ltd (AARNet) is the Australian Research and Education Network in Australia (NREN). The building of long term and sustainable physical infrastructure has been one of the key strategies in building AARNet into what it is today; one of the worlds most advanced NRENs. Some 12 years ago, and almost by accident, AARNet became involved in major civil works projects simply because it could not procure dark fibre or services at a reasonable cost. Australia is either world’s largest island or the world’s smallest continent and this presentation will detail the journey in building more than 30,000 pair kilometres of dark fibre infrastructure, connecting every University, many schools, hospitals and research centres, across some 7 million square kms of the “wide brown land”. Today the network stretches from the northern tip of Australia, transiting some of the most inhospitable terrain to Western Australia, now the home of the Australian SKA. It has become vital underpinning infrastructure for sensor networks in the Great Barrier Reef and building it has been a fascinating challenge. Infrastructure begets infrastructure. Having built the initial fibre tails to its major customers, AARNet had currency. It had right and title to its own assets and was able to swap fibre pairs with councils, energy companies and other telecommunications carriers doubling that asset. It swapped many times over doubling the fibre footprint. It built a reputation for being a small and dynamic civil works group and soon was asked to partner with other carriers looking to build into remote and regional areas. AARNet simply built one side of a fibre ring and the partner built the other. AARNet proved to be a non-competitive partner simply looking for a lifetime interest in dark fibre. Today AARNet has more than quadrupled its fibre footprint courtesy of simply having taken the initial step to build fibre tails into the backbone network. Above the network products and services are now very important to AARNet but we recognise that we will do nothing without the ‘network’. This presentation will explore what worked and what didn’t; a virtual cookbook for building an NREN looking for a long term and economic competitive edge. Examples will be given for how to create a “dial before you dig system”, how to contract with civil works partners, how to partner with other infrastructure owners such as energy companies where there are specific requirements relating to regulated income, and how to deal with incumbent and dominant telecommunications carriers. Finally and most importantly the presentation will outline how message to government and relevant national and international funding bodies the return on investment in an NREN with long term sustainable research infrastructure.Item Building National and Regional Cybersecurity Competences through the UbuntuNet Alliance NRENS(2015-11) Ndiwalana, Ali; Tusubira, Francis F.Over the last 20 years, it has become routine in the more technologically developed countries to recognise what is considered critical infrastructure – infrastructure that, if damaged or knocked out would have serious implications to the health and safety/security of the population; national economies; and national security. At this level of elaboration, no distinction is made between public and private ownership of such infrastructure – the consequences of successful attack or compromise would be the same regardless. Mitigating measures – policy, legal, regulatory, and organizational – are then developed to ensure that critical infrastructure is identified, vulnerabilities evaluated, and measures taken for prevention, protection, and recovery from damage. In this respect, ICT infrastructure, including specialized applications that are, for example, used to operate utility infrastructure carries the greatest risks because it is subject to remote attacks: the threat of cyber-terrorism, cyber-blackmail at a national level, and cyber-war are now realities. The current growth of large networks, especially the integrated networks that are being rolled out by the national and regional research and education networks and the improvements in connectivity increase both internal and external exposure to threats. These networks, while affording the continent new research and collaboration opportunities, also create a better delivery mechanism that increases the speed, scale and power of potential threats. A challenge within most of Africa is that there is still very limited policy level awareness or action related to holistic identification and protection of critical infrastructure. There is an acute lack of expertise especially within the area of cyber-security at organizational, national, and regional levels. In this paper, we examine the vulnerabilities of cyber-infrastructure within the UbuntuNet Alliance region. We then evaluate the current state of play in the development of organisational and technical capabilities to protect critical ICT infrastructure within the region; and we discuss the opportunities this presents to research and education networks in the region to be the vanguard for developing the required organizational and technical capabilities to address cyber-security holistically at both national and regional levels.