SokREN is born!

Ahmed Chafe of the Usmanu Danfodyo University announced last week that ten institutions in the North West of Nigeria led by his institution signed a communique to establish the Sokoto Research and Education Network in a workshop held on the 18th November 2011.  The World Bank/STEP-B assisted workshop was attended by representatives of the following institutions;

  1. Usmanu Danfodiyo University
  2. Federal College of Education Technical, Gusau
  3. Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto
  4. Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi
  5. School of Nursing Sciences, Sokoto
  6. Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero
  7. Sokoto State Polytechnic, Sokoto
  8. Abdu Gusau Polytechnic, Talata Mafara
  9. Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda

 

The week long workshop included a training on campus network and systems administration as well as presentation of papers on the formation of the Nigerian Research and Education Network and experiences of Eko-Konnect as a template for establishing regional clusters. More information at http://sokren.udusok.edu.ng.

Clusters connected by a high-speed national backbone has emerged as the preferred strategy for the establishment of the Nigerian REN as proximity fosters the creation of the human and physical networks required for a viable R&E community.   The chair of the Eko-Konnect board of Trustees, Prof. Charles Uwadia commented that Eko-Konnect and SokREN will continue their pioneering work and establish interconnection as momentum continues to build in the other regions.

National Stakeholders meeting on the Nigerian Research and Education Network (ngREN)

In recognition of it's pioneering role in Nigerian Research and Education Networking, Eko-Konnect has been invited to a National Stakeholders meeting holding on Thursday 16th June 2011 at the National Universities Commission.

An Eko-Konnect representative is expected to present the experience in Lagos to the stakeholders offering suggestions and recommendations on how to coalesce the various efforts into a national REN.

The expected audience include Vice-Chancellors and Directors of ICTs of the 36 Federal Universities, invited private sector participants, the World Bank, and the National Project Coordinator of STEP-B.

Related information: How does Eko-Konnect contribute to ngREN ; Eko-Konnect presentation at stakeholders meeting

Eko-Konnect wins award to connect to University of Jos

Eko-Konnect has won an award to connect the University of Lagos to the University of Jos and the National Film Institute as part of the establishment of a World Bank/STEP-B assisted Center of Excellence in Multimedia Technology and Cinematography. 

The tender attracted several high profile companies but competitiveness, the expansion of the growing research and education networked community and its implication on the efforts to establish the Nigeria REN (ngREN) were strong arguments in favour of the metropolitan network.  Establishing this link through Eko-Konnect adds value to the Center of Excellence because it expands the collaboration from 2 institutions to all the members of the network.

The link will be used to support project communication between the collaborators, for video-conferencing and access to e-Learning platforms hosted in Lagos.  It is expected to go live by the end of June.

Eko-Konnect goes live!

The first phase of Eko-Konnect linking the University of Lagos, Federal College of Education (Technical), Yaba College of Technology and the Lagos University Teaching hospital is now complete. 

The ring is also connected to the Nigerian Internet Exchange point by a 100Mb fiber link where a hub for ngREN connectivity has been provisioned.  The ngREN hub exists to connect to similar R&E networks from different parts of the country and is currently the peering point for local ISPs and content providers. Eko-Konnect is also peering at this point with the Google University Access Program with its's partner insttutions and as such linking directly with the Lagos State University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Benin, Benson Idahosa University and Convenant University.

A WACREN hub has also been provisioned at the IX and early talks are in progress for connections to Ghana and other WACREN networks for connectivity to global R&E Networks.

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LUTH Router Presentation
Yabatech Router Presentation
FCET Akoka Router Presentation
UNILAG Router Presentation

Team members installing the bridges and presenting routers to the principal officers in connected institutions.

Eko-Konnect pilot update

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The project team is waiting to take delivery of the high-speed wireless bridges that will be used to temporarily connect the institutions in the pilot while negotiations for fibre right of way are ongoing.  These are expected in the coming week but deployment will start on Monday 20th September as some team members will be heading to Port-harcourt for the ngNOG workshops.

The carrier grade open source routers on the right are based on the Bifrost Network Project and come equiped with 3GB of RAM,  Quagga routing suite and four 1GE SFP ports in which you can plug in optical or copper transceivers.

Eko-Konnect pilot gets support from Google Inc.

The Eko-Konnect collaboration with Sweden's premier technical university, KTH Sweden to connect four institutions in Lagos in a capacity building exercise and set the groundwork for the Nigerian REN has received support from Google Inc, as part of the Google University Access Program - http://www.google.com/university/africa/index.html

Eko-Konnect collaborates in WACREN Pilot with KTH Sweden

The Lagos Higher Education Connectivity Project is collaborating with the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden in a pilot to establish an NREN network operating centre and build local capacity in the technologies required to support the evolution and management of the physical network. The project will demonstrate a template for the establishment of the Nigerian network (ngREN) and WACREN member NRENs.

Welcome from the Chair at Eko-Konnect launch

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Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen of the press, invited guests, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos Professor Tolu Odugbemi, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this forum of stakeholders on the Lagos Higher Education Connectivity Project (LHECP) tagged Eko-Konnect.

We are all aware of and have witnessed the enormous power and capabilities of communication and connectivity in various spheres of our lives through telephony and the Internet. In particular, the educational sector has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the digital revolution. For us in the  developing economies, the digital revolution has been accompanied by a digital divide between the rich north and the struggling south. This digital gap is  more pronounced and glaring in the relatively high cost of communication and connectivity in developing countries.

We are therefore quite pleased with the  efforts of the Internet Exchange Point (IXP) geared towards reducing the cost of communication and connectivity in Nigeria by ensuring that local Internet traffic is indeed kept local. The University of Lagos decided to connect to IXP in order to enjoy the benefits that will accrue from doing so. We urge other institutions that have not done so to do this as a matter of urgency.

As we are aware, a very important derivative of connectivity is the ability to share information in a cost-effective manner. The promoters of LHECP  reasoned that if institutions of higher learning in the Lagos area can connect to IXP, then this will create opportunities for the institutions to share  multimedia information, create and disseminate content, and collaborate in areas of mutual interest. This, we believe, could be the beginning of a joint academic and research network in Nigeria, similar to what already exist in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

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