Seven of the world's leading regional and national Research and Education (R&E) networks and organizations have announced the establishment of the Bridging Europe, Africa and the Americas (BEAA) Collaboration, with the aim of increasing resilience of their networks through a set of transoceanic links that interconnect their communities in Eastern and Southern Africa, Europe and Latin America.

The BEAA Collaboration was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between Amlight/Board of Directors of Florida International University (United States), GÉANT (Europe), RedCLARA (Latin America), RNP (Brazil), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR - Africa), TENET (South Africa) and the UbuntuNet Alliance (Sub-Saharan Africa). All partners agreed to collaborate for an initial period of three years, providing mutual support through their high-capacity links and resources.

Backup connectivity enabled by the agreement will ensure that advanced Research and Education collaborations between regions continue even in the event of service interruption. Participating organizations will use the capacity provided by the agreed support arrangements to transport the large volumes of data needed for data-intensive research, including – notably – Earth Observation (EO) data from the European Union's Copernicus program.

Opening a new chapter in R&E collaboration between Europe, Africa and the Americas, the BEAA agreement will be an increasingly resilient, flexible and interconnected global ecosystem of R&E networks, ready to support scientists around the world in meeting the great scientific challenges of our times.

“Research and Education Networks' collaborative efforts to increase connectivity and capacity in the South Atlantic have been transformative. The BEAA collaboration will leverage this outcome to increase the network's resilience in support of global R&E communities,” said Julio Ibarra, head researcher at AmLight.

“GÉANT is pleased to reinforce the long-standing collaboration between Research and Education Networks in Europe, Africa and the Americas by joining the BEAA collaboration. This joint effort will contribute to strengthening the global fabric of research and education networks, ensuring mutual backup connectivity and increasing resilience for the maximum benefit of researchers, educators and students in our regions”, explained Erik Huizer, CEO of GÉANT.

“The agreement established to strengthen the connection between Europe, Africa and the Americas is a clear example of the value of cooperation between global research and education networks. Seven organizations participate in the agreement and, through it, will establish routes to support the existing connectivity between them. These efforts strengthen the network ecosystem that supports education, research and innovation at a global level and RedCLARA is very proud and grateful to its partners in this agreement for the enormous improvement in connectivity achieved”, commented Luis Eliécer Cadenas, Executive Director of RedCLARA.

“This BEAA MoU is very important for all NRENs that have international operations in the South Atlantic, as it establishes a mutually supportive collaboration through our high-capacity international links and resources operated by us. This will result in greater resilience of our infrastructures and, thus, will contribute to strengthening our advanced collaboration in research and education, interconnecting our respective links in the Exchange Points of the Global R&E Network”, said Eduardo Grizendi, director of Engineering and Operations at RNP.

“TENET is very proud to contribute to this collaborative effort, which highlights the power of NRENs working together and which will advance the interests of global research and education in general, as well as those of the communities that TENET serves”, said Duncan Greaves, CEO of TENET.

"We at UbuntuNet Alliance are delighted to be a part of this global initiative that aims to increase the resilience of the network across Africa, Europe and the Americas across the Atlantic. This collaboration means that researchers from these regions are much closer to each other and will have network services while working together in search of more knowledge", envisioned Professor Madara Ogot, CEO of UbuntuNet Alliance.

About the partners

The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) is a statutory body established and operating under the Scientific Research Council Act, No. 46 of 1988 and its amendments, and houses the National Research Network of South Africa (SANReN) as a business unit within the National Integrated Network Center for Cyber Infrastructure System (NICIS). SANReN is responsible for the design, acquisition and deployment of national and international capacity, as well as the development and incubation of advanced services. SANReN is a key component of the South African government's cyber infrastructure initiatives, along with the Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) and the Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA).

The Florida International University/AmLight Board of Trustees is an international research and education network that supports research and education collaborations between knowledge creation communities in the US and the nations of South America and Africa. AmLight provides 600 Gbps of upstream capacity between the US and South America and 100 Gbps for Africa. AmLight has points of presence in Miami and Boca Ratón, Florida; Fortaleza and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Santiago, Chile; Panama City, Panama; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

GÉANT is the leading European collaboration on networks and related infrastructure and services for the benefit of research and education, contributing to Europe's economic growth and competitiveness. The organization develops, offers and promotes advanced networks and associated electronic infrastructure services, and supports innovation and knowledge sharing among its members, partners and the broader research and education network community. For more information, visit geant.org or follow @GEANTnews on Twitter.

RedCLARA is the Latin American Research and Education Network, a regional leader and promoter of collaboration and development in education, science and innovation, through its infrastructure and services adapted to the needs of its community. RedCLARA offers regional interconnections and connections with the world through its international links and promotes the development of tools, services and research projects to enhance regional scientific and educational development and collaboration within R&E institutions in Latin America and Latin America with the rest of the world with an important focus on less developed regions.

RNP (National Education and Research Network) is Brazil's national education and research network (NREN). Created in 1989, the network began operating in 1992. It currently operates a national backbone, its own metropolitan networks in capitals and inland cities, international connections, with 27 points of presence, one in each of the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District, and connects more than 4 million users across 1,700 campuses across 800 institutions, supporting a portfolio of services aimed at the teaching and research communities.

TENET is a not-for-profit company incorporated under the laws of the Republic of South Africa and provides networks and services related to the higher education and research sector in South Africa. It is controlled and operates in collaboration with and for the benefit of South Africa's public universities and statutory research councils.

UbuntuNet Alliance is the regional organization of research and education networks for Eastern and Southern Africa. It is registered as a trust in Malawi, operates as an association of National Research and Education Networks and manages the UbuntuNet network that links NRENs across the region.

Source: RedCLARA