1. Black Sea Initiative Ramaz Kvatadze (GRENA, CEENet) Jacek Gajewski (CEENet) Kiev, 11 October, 2006. http://www.porta-optica.org

2. EUMEDCONNECT ( The Mediterranean region ) EUMEDCONNECT ( The Mediterranean region ) SEEFIRE ( The South Eastern Europe region ) SEEFIRE ( The South Eastern Europe region ) PORTA OPTICA (feasibility) STUDY ( The Baltic States, Eastern Europe and S. Caucasus regions ) PORTA OPTICA (feasibility) STUDY ( The Baltic States, Eastern Europe and S. Caucasus regions ) SILK ( NATO project) ( The S. Caucasus and C. Asia regions ) SILK ( NATO project) ( The S. Caucasus and C. Asia regions ) ??? (Black Sea region) => GRENA and CEENet formed BS Initiative ??? (Black Sea region) => GRENA and CEENet formed BS Initiative EC/NATO regional networking initiatives

3. an easy way to extend GÉANT2 to Eastern Europe and Black Sea/Southern Caucacus regions an easy way to extend GÉANT2 to Eastern Europe and Black Sea/Southern Caucacus regions The Other Objectives

4. NATO Virtual SILK Highway Project To bring cost effective Internet connectivity to research and education community of 3 countries in Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and 5 countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Afghanistan joined the project in 2004. To bring cost effective Internet connectivity to research and education community of 3 countries in Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and 5 countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Afghanistan joined the project in 2004. Stage I - 2002-2006 -> Stage II - 2007-2008 Fully Satellite -> Hybrid/Fiber (except mountain regions ?) 4/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

5. Black Sea Initiative Goal of the BSI initiave is to: -prepare proposal for the establishment and interconnection of the FO NRENs in all countries of Black Sea region. - there was a preliminary meeting of several NRENs in Istanbul, May 2006 - Next meeting: 9 November 2006 again in Istanbul. NRENs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia,Turkey, Ukraine expressed interest to participate in BSI and are thus invited to participate. Please come with project ideas and offers of manpower to create a proposal; specific working groups will be formed. 5/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

6. Black Sea Initiative Black Sea Initiative Memorandum of Understanding TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK IN BLACK SEA COUNTRIES 1. To provide appropriate network interconnection for the purpose of development, testing and usage of advanced research and education applications; 4. To promote a coherent and effective presence of the undersigned NRENs to the Transeuropean Research and Academic infrastructure (GEANT), based on the common scientific, educational and cultural strengths of the region; 6/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

7. Black Sea Initiative Memorandum of Understanding TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK IN BLACK SEA COUNTRIES 5. To collaborate with each other and with Government Agencies and Departments and other research and education institutions in their respective countries, in order to promote and encourage the deployment of next-generation Internet technology and the proliferation of advanced networking technologies for the benefit of society in the Black Sea Countries, in general; 7/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

8. Black Sea Initiative Ministry Support letters  EC With my capacity of [Minister, Deputy Minister or Equivalent] I state hereby my full support to the Black Sea [NREN Fibre Initiative]. It is expected that the impact of this [Initiative] on our country’s e-infrastructure for Science and Education will be the largest from all EC projects so far. It will solve our international connectivity problem and enable our NREN, our research institutes and universities to build high capacity computer network, introduce new technologies and services and fully participate in international scientific cooperation. By linking the Black Sea fibre to GEANT2 backbone, this project will be decisive step towards integration of our country’s scientific potential with the pan- European e-infrastructure. With my capacity of [Minister, Deputy Minister or Equivalent] I state hereby my full support to the Black Sea [NREN Fibre Initiative]. It is expected that the impact of this [Initiative] on our country’s e-infrastructure for Science and Education will be the largest from all EC projects so far. It will solve our international connectivity problem and enable our NREN, our research institutes and universities to build high capacity computer network, introduce new technologies and services and fully participate in international scientific cooperation. By linking the Black Sea fibre to GEANT2 backbone, this project will be decisive step towards integration of our country’s scientific potential with the pan- European e-infrastructure. 8/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

9. BSI has good chances for support from EU (~2,5 MEuro) BSI has good chances for support from EU (~2,5 MEuro) - BSI will search for smaller contributions from NATO and fibre equipment vendors; fibre equipment vendors; -Under FP7 it is possible to get 80%/20% funding – but this self contribution of 20% should be from government; -To get funding we have to write a good proposal, which fulfills difficult requirements: - to find a credible coordinator - to find a credible procurement partner (and additionally ask DANTE/GEANT to be a procurement supervisor) - to make this project really regional (with viable idea) - to find a concrete usage of such created BS network - to mobilize steady governmental support. 9/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

10. Conclusions Conclusions NRENs, supported by EC and NATO: - are studying FO possibilities in East Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia; -Hopefully will be deploying FO starting from 2008 -are ready to enter consortia to get dark fibre (eg 15y IRU) -can mobilize high level political and PR support, whereas their financial possibilities are limited (but non-zero). Strong signal received from Georgia. Possibility of mobilizing GUAM support will be investigated. -A good example of such possible consortium: Odessa-Poti submarine cable 10/12 http://www.porta-optica.org

11. Thank You for your attention! Q/A ? Contacts: Prof. Ramaz Kvatadze ramaz@grena.ge ramaz@grena.ge Dr Jacek Gajewski gajewski@ceenet.org gajewski@ceenet.org 11/12 http://www.porta-optica.org