Co-ordination & Harmonisation of Advanced e-Infrastructures for Research and Education Data Sharing Research Infrastructures – Grant Agreement n e-Infrastructures and Applications in Sub Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities Tiwonge Banda, Margaret Ngwira and Bruce Becker

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December e-Infrastructure and applications initiatives Applications are at the heart of the research and education networking infrastructure Over the past 5 years, UbuntuNet Alliance has participated in initiatives looking at the state of content and applications in the region e-Infrastructure applications landscape initiatives FEAST ( ERINA4Africa ( CHAIN ( – grid computing, HPC etcwww.chain-project.eu Interacted with other initiatives EPIKH ( UNESCO-HP Brain Gain Initiative EELA ( BELIEF2 ( Current initiatives ei4Africa ( (Started 1 November 2012) CHAIN-REDS ( (Started 1 December 2012) iMENTORS (

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Much of Africa has been an e- infrastructure greenfield… Among the main challenges: cost of bandwidth – slow and poor connections low level of regional and international connectedness No previous e-Infrastructures activities Scarce knowledge and/or experience in deploying/managing large e-Infrastructures. Isolated spots of research activities with high computing demands. Greenfield countries e-Infrastructures already started/deployed Locally developed applications. Fair to good knowledge and experience in e- Infrastructures High quality research groups and institutions with world wide collaborations. Advanced countries

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December CHAIN Knowledge Base gives the picture The ground work is done: Regional RENs NRENs NGIs Grid sites HPC facilities Research centres and projects Research teams Already there: Patches of isolated projects Huge potential for e- Infrastructures Regional collaborations – RUFORUM, NAPRECA, AAP, Wellcome Trust Sanger activities, etc

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Transition… Eastern and Southern Africa is in transition Becoming more interconnected Bandwidth prices going down Research and education community becoming more organised NRENs, UbuntuNet Alliance and UbuntuNet: the Network, AfricaConnect project Awareness raising of new ways of doing science is in progress – e-Infrastructures

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December …the transition. Fibre to and within Africa Fibre to Africa Intra-Africa fibre map

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December …the transition. UbuntuNet, research and education network for SSA The initiative dramatically accelerates the development of the Information Society in Eastern and Southern Africa, providing advanced data communications infrastructure and enabling African researchers to collaborate more easily in advanced international research projects. Lusaka Blantyre Nairobi Mombasa Dar es Salaam Kampala Kigali Maputo Mtunzini Windhoek Kinshasa Terrestrial Ring: Nairobi Kampala Kigali Dar Backbone Ring: Nairobi Dar Maputo Mtunzini Backbone: Windhoek Mtunzini Backbone: Kinshasa Mtunzini. Khartoum Cape Town

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Growing momentum… The network opens up unprecedented opportunities for the research and education communities in the region Access, Collaboration, Data sharing, Resource Sharing South Africa has already made significant investments in a wide programme of e-Infrastructure for science, TENET/SANReN, CHPC, VLDS, SAGrid Grid sites and/or HPC clusters in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and many others in West and North Africa Genomics studies in human health in Malawi and Kenya collaborating with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Climate research around Lake Victoria Basin of East Africa (World Climate Research Program) Climate Change Urban Vulnerability in Africa –

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December UbuntuNet supporting radio astronomy HartRAO-SANReN- TENET-UbuntuNet- GÉANT-SURFnet-JIVE More researchers to participate in such initiatives

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Eyes ahead to the SKA

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December African participation in major international collaborations LHC Allow African scientists access to major projects UbuntuNet will provide the connectivity Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana also receiving equipment from CERN and hoping to participate in some research in the medium future

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Potential opportunities Many more fields of research stirring up: Agriculture Natural resources management Climate change and earth observation E-learning Astronomy High energy physics Bio-medical sciences, Arts and culture, etc CHAIN promoted establishment of National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) and Virtual Research Communities (VRCs)

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December CHAIN Applications Database Database ( Science Gateways will simplify access and usage

e-AGE 2012 – Dubai, 13 December Now to CHAIN-REDS Emphasis on Data Further development of the Africa-Arabia ROC Identity Federations to be developed Fostering of VRCs in selected disciplines including Climate-related areas

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