SEERA-EI

www.seera-ei.eu

Needs of eInfrastructures in the regions: a case

study for SEE

Easter European Partnership Event, Bucharest, 7/11/2011

Dr Ognjen Prnjat Greek Research and Technology Network

Pan-EU e-Infrastructures vision

  The Research Network infrastructure provides fast interconnection and advanced services among Research and Education institutes of different countries

  The Research Distributed Computing Infrastructure (Grid, HPC) provides a distributed environment for sharing computing power, storage, instruments and databases through the appropriate software (middleware) in order to solve complex application problems

  This integrated environment is called electronic infrastructure (eInfrastructure) allowing new methods of global collaborative research - often referred to as electronic science (eScience)

  The creation of the eInfrastructure is one of the key objectives to facilitate building of the European Research Area

Network Infrastructure

e-Science Collaborations

DCI Infrastructure

SEE Model - Converged Communication & Service Infrastructure for South-East Europe

SEE-LIGHT & GEANT

Comp  physics,  Comp  chem,  Life  sciences  

Seismology,  Meteorology,  Environment  

HP-SEE

SEE eInfrastructure projects: past 8 years

  SEEREN1/2: regional inter-NREN connectivity and GEANT links [DGINFSO]   BSI: Southern Caucasus links [DGINFSO]   SEELIGHT: lambda facility in SEE [Greek HiperB]   Result: sustainable national & regional networks, most countries in GEANT

  SEEGRID1/2: regional Grid infrastructure, building NGIs and user communities   SEE-GRID-SCI: eInfrastructure for large-scale environmental science user communities:

meteorology, seismology, environmental protection. Inclusion of Caucasus. [DGINFSO]   Result: sustainable national Grids, all countries within European Grid Initiative

  HP-SEE: regional HPC interconnection and 2nd generation Caucasus link   Expected result in longer term: stable national HPC centers, European HPC Integration

modalities

  SEERA-EI: regional programme managers collaboration towards common eInfrastructure vision, strategy and regional funds [DGRTD]

  Result: common regional policy, identifying long-term national-level funds and regional funds to complement EC funds

SEE eInfrastructure partners

  Main “provider” partners:   National Research and Education Networks – NRENs – bodies that

provide network connectivity to universities, schools, research institutes, etc.

  National Grid Initiatives – NGIs – consortium of computing providers in the country.

  Affiliated “Stakeholder” partners:   Research institutes, universities

  Policy makers:   Ministries, research councils

  Western Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Southern Caucasus.

Timeline and funding

Network: SEEREN2 and SEELIGHT

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  SEE-LIGHT: South-East European Lambda Network Facility for R&E

  Deployment of an advanced regional network infrastructure (lambda network facility) for R&E, under the Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans (HiPERB).

  SEENet: a management body for SEELIGHT

  GEANT membership and national contributions are crucial

  On the par with EU, also added value through regional cooperation

Network sustainability: SEELIGHT

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Grid: SEEGRID1-2 and SEEGRIDSCI

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Grid sustainability

  Large infrastructure built through 3 projects   User community buy-in secured   National structuring via National Grid Initiatives   On the par with EU   All countries in European Grid Initiative, constant national-

Ministerial support is necessary   National-level projects important

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High-Performance & Supercomputing: HP-SEE

  120 Tflops aggregate   2 BlueGene machines   Larger procurements coming up

  Close links to PRACE   Possibility of a joint Tier-1 centre

  Balance of national and EC funds   Towards long-term sustainable

European hierarchical model

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User communities: SEE-GRID-SCI and HP-SEE

  Seismology, meteorology, environmental protection – 12 applications   Comp Chemistry, Comp Physics, Life Sciences – 26 applications   Cross-border user communities and beneficiaries

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Crucial sustainability building blocks: National support

  EC funds as catalyst and complementary long-term support

  National support   National projects   National contributions to GEANT / EGI.org / PRACE

  Regional collaboration   Technically strong   Lack of coordination between programmes and fragmentation of national

programmes   Wealth of things to learn between national funding agencies   The ground is set for common regional vision and concrete actions

Crucial for regional cooperation: policy development and political support

  Project: South-East European Area for eInfrastructures

  Area: "INFRA-2008-3.1: ERA-NET supporting cooperation for research infrastructures in all S&T fields“

  Start: 1 April 2009   Duration: 36 months   Project type: Coordination and support

action   Partnership: Ministry partners + eInfra

partners programme manager partners   Core Objective: Develop and strengthen

the coordination and cooperation of national eInfrastructures programmes in the region of South-East Europe.

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SEERA-EI: partnership Beneficiary name Beneficiary short name Country

1 Greek Research and Technology Network GRNET-GR GR

2. General Secretariat for Research & Technology, Greek Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning & Religious Affairs GSRT-GR GR

3. Ministry of Education and Science MoES AL 4. Polytechnic University of Tirana PUoT AL 5. Ministry of Communications and Transport MoCT BA

6. Executive Agency “Electronic Communications Networks and Information Systems” EA-ECNIS BG

7. Institute of Information and Communication Technologies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences IICT-BAS BG

8. Ministry of Information Society MoIS-MK MK 9. Macedonian Academic and Research Network MARNET MK 10. Academy of Sciences of Moldova ASM MD 11. Research and Educational Networking Association of Moldova RENAM MD 12. Ministry of Education and Science MoS ME 13. University of Montenegro UoM ME 14. National Authority for Scientific Research ANCS RO

15. Agency for Administration of National Research and Education Netwok RoEduNet RO

16. Ministry of Education and Science MoES RS 17. University of Belgrade – RCUB UoB-RCUB RS 18. Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey TUBITAK TR 19. ULAKBIM ULAKBIM TR

SEERA-EI: types of collaboration

  Establishing a communication platform for programme owners, at www.seera-ei.eu

  Analysis of past and current eInfrastructure programmes and funding modalities

  Joint training events; bilateral visits   Best Practices identification   National programme cookbook

  Studies for joint operations centers: network, HPC   Joint pilot call between Ministries in cloud computing   Join regional strategy and vision MoU, between Ministries dealing

with eInfrastructures: in the process of signing. Some of the Ministries present here fully involved.

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Conclusions

  eInfrastructures are core building block for new science and innovation

  Regional technical cooperation significant results and a stable, sustainable research infrastructure

  Policy-makers collaboration leverages these results with concrete long-term support for eInfrastructure activities in all countries in the region; as well as regional strategies and collaboration

  EC contributions are crucial catalyst and continuing support is necessary

  Regional collaboration brings added value   National contributions are crucial, in terms of funding, strategies

and wider collaborative support