Sub-Saharan
Africa
The
UbuntuNet
Alliance
The
UbuntuNet
Alliance
is a
regional
association
of
National
Research
and
Education
Networks
(NRENs)
in
Africa.
It
was
established
in
the
latter
half
of
2005
by
five
established
and
emerging
NRENs
in
Eastern
and
Southern
Africa
and
now
has
a
total
of
14
NREN
members:
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Eb@le
|
Democratic
Republic
of
Congo
|
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EthERNet
|
Ethiopia
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iRENALA
|
Madagascar
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KENET
|
Kenya
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MAREN
|
Malawi
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MoRENet
|
Mozambique
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RENU
|
Uganda
|
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RwEdNet
|
Rwanda
|
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SomaliREN
|
Somalia
|
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SUIN
|
Sudan
|
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TENET
|
South
Africa
|
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TERNET
|
Tanzania
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Xnet
|
Namibia
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ZAMREN
|
Zambia
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The
UbuntuNet
Alliance
connects
from
the
UbuntuNet
London
router
to
GÉANT
through
two
separate
10-Gbps
links
to
London,
one
for
IP
traffic
and
one
for
dedicated
point-to-point
circuits.
The
10-Gbps
provides
for
increasing
traffic
from
the
UbuntuNet
Alliance,
with
NRENs
of
Kenya
(KENET),
Mozambique
(MoRENet),
South
Africa
(TENET),
Sudan
(SUIN),
Tanzania
(TERNET)
and
Zambia
(ZAMREN)
currently
connected.
eVLBI
traffic
from
the
Hartebeestoek
Observatory
in
South
Africa
will
be
one
of
the
beneficiaries
of
the
new
point-to-point
connectivity.
The
UbuntuNet
Alliance
is
one
of
the
partners
for
the
AfricaConnect
project
which
aims
to
procure,
implement
and
operate
a
regional
R&E
network
in
Southern
and
Eastern
Africa.
To
learn
more
about
the
UbuntuNet
Alliance,
visit
the
UbuntuNet
Alliance
website.
AfricaConnect
The
AfricaConnect
project
is
part
of
the
Africa
Caribbean
Pacific
Islands
(ACP)
programme
which
aims
to
procure,
implement
and
operate
an
R&E
network
in
the
region,
adding
to
the
connectivity
already
provided
by
the
UbuntuNet
Network,
interlinking
existing
NRENs
in
Southern
and
Eastern
Africa
and
provide
additional
connectivity
between
the
region
and
GÉANT.
The
project
has
a
total
budget
of
€14.75m
with
80%
of
funding
provided
by
the
European
Commission’s
EuropeAid
Cooperation
Office,
and
the
remainder
contributed
by
the
African
partners
in
the
project.
AfricaConnect
is
coordinated
by
DANTE
and
partnered
by
DANTE’s
regional
counterpart
organisations
in
Africa.
These
are
UbuntuNet
Alliance,
which
covers
Eastern
and
Southern
Africa,
and
WACREN,
which
covers
Western
and
Central
Africa.
Other
partners
in
the
project
are
the
Association
of
African
Universities,
existing
National
Research
and
Education
Networks
(NRENs)
in
Africa
(DRC,
Ethiopia,
Kenya,
Malawi,
Mozambique,
Namibia,
Rwanda,
Somalia,
Sudan,
South
Africa,
Tanzania,
Uganda
and
Zambia),
and
several
European
NRENs
(Germany,
Ireland,
Italy,
the
Netherlands,
Portugal
and
the
UK).
DANTE
and
the
European
Commission’s
EuropeAid
Cooperation
Office
announced
the
signature
of
the
AfricaConnect
contract
on
11th
May
2011.
The
project
lasts
four
years
and
comprises
two
phases:
the
first
is
the
planning
and
procurement
of
the
network;
the
second
is
the
operational
phase.
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