M A R E NMalawi Research and Education

Network

Formation, Successes, Challenges and

Plans

Ulemu Nyasulu, Margaret Ngwira and Anthony Muyepa MAREN Co-founders and Task-Force members

www.malico.mw/maren (soon www.maren.mw )

Outline of Presentation

• Birth• Main Goals• Objectives• Phases• Partnership• Opportunities• Challenges

MAREN Stakeholder Consultation, 11 July 2007

Consultative Meeting

Welcome Startup Grant from FRENIA assisted with the July Stakeholder Consultation and set up of

secretariat

MAREN

MAREN is one of the five founding NRENs of UbuntuNet Alliance, and emerged from the MALICO

(Malawi Library and Information Consortium)

Birth of MAREN

The MALICO VSATs – Emergence of MAREN

• One response to the slow connectivity in the academic sector was to investigate the possible contribution of VSATs

• In February 2005 through MALICO, 4 VSATs were installed through funding from OSI, World Bank, and OSISA and local partners. 5 MB Aggregate bandwidth is shared between academic sites

Kampala16 – 17 October 2007

RENU: UbuntuNet Alliance : IEEAF Network Architecture Consultation

M A L I C O VSAT SITES

Mzuzu University

University of Malawi:

Bunda College of Agriculture

Chancellor College

College of Medicine

Image by CSIR

The College of Medicine MALICO VSAT

The 3.7m dish at College of Medicine, the connection to the Internet

Great Days in February 2005 - Mounting the 4 Dishes

MAREN Framework• Participating institutions must be research or tertiary

educational institutions

• Subject to an Acceptable Use Policy…

• MAREN will make peering/transit agreements with other RENs

Main Goals

Goals

• Provide cost-effective connectivity both among the Malawi tertiary education and research institutions and through UbuntuNet Alliance, to the rest of the World,

• Help universities and research centres build their information infrastructure

• Increase sharing of knowledge and electronic content including digital information

• Collaborate in research

Objectives

Objectives

• Connecting all the Malawi Higher Education and Research Institutions in a Network with high-speed access to the global Internet.

• Providing a platform for researchers in Malawi to participate in:– collaborative research – development projects nationally and on the international stage– access global cyber-infrastructure

Objectives (continued)

• Provide the infrastructure to support: – Online education– Development of learning and research networks in

Malawi

• Facilitate access to national and international information resources.

Members of Maren

Members of MAREN

• University of Malawi – Bunda College of Agriculture, Lilongwe– Kamuzu College of Nursing, Lilongwe and Blantyre– Chancellor College, Zomba– College of Medicine with Queen Elizabeth Hospital

(teaching hospital)– Polytechnic

• Mzuzu University

• Department of Agricultural Research Services

Members contd.

• Malaria Research Centres, Queen Elizabeth Hospital– Wellcome Trust– Apple Study Project (Wellcome Trust)– Malaria Alert Center/Blantyre Malaria Project– Johns Hopkins University Malaria Project

Potential Members

• National College of Information Technology • Malawi Institutute of Management• Lilongwe University of Science and Technology• Livingstonia University• Catholic University• Malawi College of Accountancy, • Malawi College of Health Sciences,

Phases

Blantyre Campus Fibre Backbone

• This phase aimed at interconnecting research and educational institutions within the vicinity of College of Medicine in Blantyre

• The equipment and services required for Blantyre Campus Network were funded as a joint venture between MIMCom and College of Medicine.

• Technical support was from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Sweden and College of Medicine ICT staff

Blantyre Campus backbone• The following institutions have been interconnected with

optic fibre:

– College of Medicine - clinical departments in Queens Hospital

– KCN Blantyre Campus – Polytechnic– Johns Hopkins– WellcomeTrust – Malaria Alert Centre– Lion’s Sight Eye Hospital

Malawi College of Medicine Mahatma Campus

Blantyre network layout

Network Design

• Actively switched daisy fiber chain was proposed, as opposed to passive fiber

• Each site has an active node, and requires a switch, a fibre distribution frame and a transceiver for each fibre cable that connects the node

• Traffic not destined at each switch is relayed to next.

Blantyre -Lilongwe Link

• The ultimate objective is to interconnect the Lilongwe cluster to the Blantyre cluster of high learning institutions with high capacity fibre and – where fibre is not available – high speed wireless links.

• Staff from ESCOM and UNIMA were to undergo fibre network management- and maintenance training at KTH, Sweden but there are some funding delays

Blantyre-Lilongwe Link

• Discussions in Progress with Cisco Foundation to assist

• KTH has provided technical support with Malawian ICT professionals or MSc students

• Norad/Dutch are to fund this phase but with key staff out of the country, there are delays

Opportunities

Opportunities coming along• Access to high speed communication networks will boost

research collaboration and exchanges on a national and regional scale

• Several initiatives to promote distance learning in the last few months. MAREN would like to participate

• Common document repositories and shared databases

• Voice and Video over IP

• Online Healthcare Support System

Partnerships

Existing Partnerships

• ESCOM – Fiber (delays need renegotiations)

• MACRA - harmonious regulatory conditions for academic connectivity

• MTL to access metro fibre, towers, and ducts

• CELTEL to access towers for wireless networks

• MISPA on the Malawi IXP activities and gain peering rights.

• International Collaboration through UbuntuNet Alliance

International Gateway Licence

• Negotiated at length with MACRA for Licence to operate a national network which will connect Tertiary Education and Research institutions and then connect regionally.

• MACRA had already been very facilitative in granting MALICO a 5 year academic VSAT licence

• International Gateway License granted to MAREN to peer with other UbuntuNet Alliance members across borders at the MAREN Launch

MAREN Task Force Chair, Ulemu, Minister of Information and DG of MACRA at handover of MAREN IGL!

• Use MAREN as a test bed for new applications:– Video conferencing– Knowledge management systems– Database management and system integration– content management systems– CCTV remote monitoring – Internal national e-mail system and instant messaging – Create virtual teams with communications technology expert

• Through MAREN, the academic sector will develop graduates who are bandwidth-hungry and will expand the customer base of the commercial sector - we should be viewed as strategic partners.

Sustainability

Challenges

• MAREN has currently no employees, and the people involved in its development have many additional academic and national responsibilities

• There is a critical current shortage of people with expertise in areas such as network engineering (we hope that this is short term until key people return from external studies)

Challenges

Acknowledgements

Professor L Kamwanja and Members of MAREN Task Force.

Professor Bjorn Pehrson and the KTH team for expertise.

Duncan Greaves and Duncan Martin of TENET for FRENIA Start up Grant.

Ministry of Information and Civic Education and MACRA for various types of support

ZIKOMO KWAMBIRI!

Ulemu Nyasuluunyasulu@chanco.unima.mw

Margaret Ngwiramengwira@kcn.unima.mw

Anthony Muyepamuyepaa@medcol.mw

MALICO:www.malico.mw/maren