Currently, the national optical infrastructure operated by RNP, the Ipê Network, reaches more than 800 organizations, of the most varied types and sizes, such as universities, federal education institutes, university hospitals, technology parks, museums, libraries and research centers.

The e-Science Network will be a new infrastructure dedicated to research centers that work with “big science”, that is, have advanced requirements for processing, analyzing, transmitting and storing large volumes of data. Thus, unlike the Ipê Network, the e-Science Network will serve a select group of organizations and will have specialized policies and services for large flows of scientific data.

In this context, on March 11th, the National Research and Education Network (RNP) launched a call for the selection of the first 5 (five) STIs (science and technology institutions), public or private, to be served by the e-Science Network. The selected institutions will receive connectivity upgrades to a minimum capacity of 100 Gb/s, consulting services in network performance engineering, information security consulting services for the diagnosis and assessment of cyber risks, among other specialized services.

Over the course of 3 years, at least 12 new Brazilian research centers are expected to become part of the e-Science Network, in addition to the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC), SENAI-CIMATEC and the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC-INPE), whose connection to the new network is underway as a result of the predecessor project “eCiber” .

Proposals must be submitted by the proposing STI by completing and sending the form available (available for viewing here) at the electronic address https://forms.office.com/r/Fq9DSTLxLQ until 04/07.

A webinar to answer questions about the notice will be held on 03/25 at 2 pm, in this link.

Access the notice for more information.

Renewed infrastructure

In 2018, the first 100 Gb/s connections of the 7th generation of the Ipê Network were made available. Since then, the national optical infrastructure operated by RNP has been renewed, so that the backbone capacity can be easily scalable to multiple 100 Gb/s connections at a marginal cost.

“This structural change allows for the provision of connectivity with abundant bandwidth, which could especially benefit large Brazilian research centers that have demands for the movement of large volumes of data. However, simply increasing the connection bandwidth is not enough. These institutions need to be served with differentiated policies and services, different from those currently offered to institutions that operate in the ‘long tail of science’,” says RNP’s deputy director of e-Science, Leandro Ciuffo.

About the e-Science Network and the Conecta e Capacita program

The e-Science Network is a line of action financed by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) within the scope of the Conecta e Capacita structuring program, supervised by the executive secretariat of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and executed by RNP. This line of action aims to implement a secure, high-performance network with specialized policies and services for large flows of scientific data, dedicated to the integration of national research centers, including supercomputing centers, multi-user laboratories and research infrastructures.

The Conecta e Capacita program aims to expand the scope, quality and security of connectivity for education and research in the country. This will be possible with the completion of the new national research infrastructure, which includes the expansion of the Ipê network, the creation of the National Data Center (CND) and the expansion of the e-Science Network. The program will also provide significant progress in the interiorization of the states, through 18 information highways and 79 metropolitan networks in the interior, in addition to those already existing. A new cybersecurity model is also being developed on this infrastructure.

In total, around 40 thousand kilometers of optical fiber will be deployed throughout the national territory. The initiative will benefit around 1,600 university campuses and research institutes, 180,000 researchers, 3,880 postgraduate programs and 12 innovation environments and technology parks.