Tuesday plenary key note 1: Extreme networks, building a high speed fiber network in the Arctic and Eastern and Southern Africa

Deploying an optic research network in arctic environments
Uninett is at the forefront at global level in the deployment and management of optical networks for research purposes in arctic environments. Extreme arctic temperatures, as well as icebergs, permafrost, whales, polar bears combined with complex logistics, are all very challenging factors in these environments. This keynote presentation features photos and live video footage from our optic subsea cable project, where 2x270 kilometers of optic cable was laid on the seabed outside Svalbard, an arctic archipelago located between mainland Norway and the North Pole.

Building National Research and Education Networks in Eastern and Southern Africa
The case of KENET in Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa represents a very large land mass equivalent to China, US and India with limited penetration of broadband networks. Although the first undersea fibre cable only landed in the Eastern Africa coast region in 2009, emerging African NRENs in Eastern and Africa have been able to build networks to connect universities and research institutes to the Global research and education network. This paper will describe the specific example of KENET in Kenya that has been able to overcome the obstacles of lack of adequate road/electricity infrastructures, limited penetration of fibre networks, and low network engineering skills to build a high-speed network.

Speakers

• Helge Stranden UNINETT

• Meoli Kashorda Kenya Education Network