The hidden economic and societal issues of policies on advanced networking

Abstract

Much attention has been focused on advancing the state of research networking in Europe. Several countries have made significant strides in their national networks and the European level interconnections of these networks will be improved with the implementation of the trans-European TEN-34 project. As attention turns to funding advanced networks, so the level of financial support that has benefited all countries in the past becomes more focused, with the consequent danger that costs will rise for legacy networks. The Eureka Project EuroCAIRN prepared the foundation work for advanced 34 Mbit/s networking in Europe. The Project's aims expressly require that all of Europe's researchers be able to benefit from advances in networking. It is evident that there will always need to be provision for those countries not ready or not funded to participate at the leading edge to sustain interworking between networks at different levels of technology. Sources of financial support will need to be identified to ensure that the gap in the quality of facilities available to researchers does not widen. Without attention to these issues, European research networking will not present a pan-European pervasive service to all researchers.