Over 55 million researchers, academics and students across the Asia Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, are set to benefit from a new phase of dedicated research and education (R&E) networking -Asi@Connect - which was inaugurated recently at the Asi@Connect local launch in Sri Lanka to seamlessly extend and further build on the successful Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN) initiative.
Asi@Connect is the successor project to TEIN4, the most recent phase of the TEIN initiative. It currently supports 24 countries and economies by providing a regional high-capacity internet backbone for R&E collaborations within the Asia Pacific region and its interconnection with the pan-European GÉANT network and with other parts of the world.
The contract for Asi@Connect was signed in December 2016 between the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) and the Korea-based regional networking organisation TEIN*CC, which has been managing TEIN4. Asi@Connect relates closely to the core project objective of 'digital connectivity'.
With a substantial five-year EU co-funding commitment of € 20 Million up to 2021, Asi@Connect is designed to support capacity building and network-enabled applications with high societal impact, particularly in the least developed countries in the region. The project sets out to meet these objectives through Call for Proposals open to the wider R&E and networking community.
Following the formal inauguration of the project at regional level in February 2017 in New Delhi during APAN43, this national launch event in Sri Lanka was hosted by the Asi@Connect partner LEARN, with representatives from the European Union delegation and Government officials.
European Union Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Tung-Lai Margue said, “The EU has long recognized the potential of promoting people-to-people connectivity. Asi@Connect is an excellent example of regional integration, with the R&E communities of 21 Asia Pacific countries interconnected by powerful high-capacity, high-quality internet links.
This project will be a vehicle for promoting a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative ICT environment between Asia and Europe, and in turn benefit society as a whole.”
“The official launch of Asi@Connect marks the opening of a major new chapter in research networking across Asia Pacific,” said Prof. P.S.M. Gunaratne, Chairman of LEARN. “Building on the considerable achievements of the predecessor phases, Asi@Connect will enable the connection of more countries at higher speeds, roll out advanced network services and contribute to achieving development goals through improved access to education and research resources, thus bridging the digital divide in the region.”
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