• General remarks
• Present situation with INTERNET connectivity within the Universities and research institutions in Ukraine
• URAN Idea and key players
• URAN Evolution
• URAN as an Organisation
• URAN as a Network
• Perspectives
• Problems
• Conclusion and acknowledgements

URAN is planned and designed as

1. an Intranet for the Ukraine’s research and academic community

and

2. a tool for their connection to the world INTERNET

Who are the users and beneficiaries of URAN ?

The higher education system in Ukraine comprises 911 higher education establishments distributed among four (I-IV) accreditation grades.

We consider all of them as a potential users of URAN and members of URAN association

Scientific Potential of Higher Education Establishments (III – IV grade) and Research Institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Approximately 1’300'000 full-time students within the establishments of III-IV grades

Example:
Two institutions in Kharkiv,
300m direct distance,
!3000 ms response time!

Critical Requirements for the national Research Network

• Bandwidth of the Backbone and user’s connection
• Connection to the INTERNET in Europe and USA
• Response time
• Reliability – 24 hours a day 7 days a week
• Networking Services - Support of heterogeneous systems, TCP/IP, DNS, FTP, Telnet, http, e-mail, etc.
• Information Services - Search engines, Databases, Help Desk etc.

How to overcome present problems and to achieve connectivity on the national level ?

Solution 1 .

To build own Network from the very beginning –

Very Successful example - RADIO-MSU in Russian Federation

Solution 2.

Transfer the responsibility for the Network’s transportation level to the strong provider (national telecom), who is able to offer a virtual private network service based on it’s national wide connectivity .

! "Last Mile" Problem !

Idea of URAN as a national research network

• Satisfies to the requirements of the best technical solution

• Based on a strong National wide User’s organisation to become a single representative of Ukraine’s academic and research community on the market of service providers, from the one hand, and governmental regulations from the other

Evolution of URAN idea

Financial Support from NATO Scientific Programme NIG 971779, active and informal participation of the western experts and joint efforts of initiative people and organisations in Ukraine gave a chance to the URAN idea

URAN as an organisation

• General Model for URAN as an Organisation
• URAN User’s Association
• Advisory Board of the URAN Association
• Networking Company as an executive body of the URAN Association, responsible for the URAN Network operation

General model for URAN as Organization

(click picture to enlarge)

URAN's Users Association

(click picture to enlarge)

Networking company as a single body responsible for the whole Network operation

(click picture to enlarge)

URAN as a Network

• URAN Backbone

• Network structure

• Networking services

URAN Backbone Topology

Solution for the Backbone:

1. Channelized E1/ISDN PRI interfaces in Cisco routers and their interconnection threw E1 interfaces in Ukrtelecom (the E1 switch/Multiplexer 3600 MainStreet).
2. All digital channels in Ukraine (long distance and inside city) are connected to Ukrtelecom node switch.
3. Scalability in Backbone Bandwidth - integrated bandwidth up to 2…4 Mbps on first steps and up to 8 mbps by adding second Channelized E1/ISDN PRI 2-interfaces module in Cisco 3600 router.

Servers of URAN

Hardware Platform for servers Intel P-II.
Main driving Operating System – Free BSD

Services of URAN

URAN Perspectives

Membership in International Networking organisations like TERENA, TEN

URAN Problems

Financial problem:

• International sponsors (NATO, EU, etc.)
• Optimal management of URAN in order to attract Ukraine’s internal funds and to collect User’s fees.

Recognition of URAN by Ukraine’s government authorities as a National Task!

Technical Problems :

• In comparison with Europe – General cabling infrastructure in Ukraine is not so good developed.
• We still looking for the best solution for the External connection of URAN to the INTERNET!

Conclusion

• UARDN Project is aimed on the creation of the National wide Backbone for the research Network URAN in Ukraine and it’s connection to the INTERNET
• User’s organisations are self responsible for their connections to the URAN network – Last mile Problem should be solved by Users themselves .

So future success of the National Research Network in Ukraine is a common Task for the URAN itself and User’s Organisations

Subsidy from the West (INTAS, NATO, EU Commissions, etc.) should be considered as a starting but temporary solution for the financial side of the problem

National research Network in Ukraine should become a not-for-profit but self-supporting Network, which can attract national and international support. It is possible only under the following conditions:

• Users should realise importance of fees
• Co-operation with Ukr.Telecom
• Reasonable integration of "third" subscribers from the market at commercial rates to support the budget.
• Support of the State
• Membership in the international Networking organisations TERENA, TEN, etc.

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