It is the end of Gigaport as we know itAmsterdam 11 October 2002 Advancing the design, specification, realisation and use of broadband innovative and experimental networking for in the Netherlands is the goal of the Gigaport project. Two main activities were the funding of the next-generation research network, the connection of that network, and the access to that network by SURFnet, and several large-scale demonstration projects on application level, mostly initiated and managed by the Telematics Institute. At the end of this year, the Gigaport project will be finished. There will be a follow-on, called Gigaport Next Generation, aimed at next generation datacommunication networks, including full QoS, and custom ownership. Gigaport Next Generation will also look into generic utility components on middleware level.
The Gigaport project is a public-private co-operation project of more than euro 160 million with over euro 60 million public funding. As such, the project was aimed to improve the market for broad band networking in the Netherlands. The actual work of the projects initiated in the Gigaport project, was carried out in permanent organisations, like SURFnet and the Telematics Institute.
The Gigaport network will be continued after December 31st, 2002 by SURFnet as SURFnet 5. SURFnet is the organisation that manages the Dutch research network. With SURFnet 5 it has one of the most advanced research broadband networks in the world.
During the project the bundling broadband availability for access through "GigaMans" became en vogue. Currently, there are several metropolitan area networks (Mans) in preparation or in realisation in Dutch cities, based on fiber. Planning and realisation still takes time. Also the connection between the Dutch research network and the European network Géant is already one of the fastest international connections through the Amsterdam Internet Exchange.
Another important still ongoing activity is a new test network of managed dark fiber to the five main Dutch university cities. It will also provide GigaPort networks the necessary robustness for market instabilities. With the current problems in the telecom industry, one has to take into account that every supplier could go bankrupt. Today, this could mean that the advanced research network could stop functioning. Something has to be done to prevent that from happening.
Gigaport has financed a number of application projects that show the possibilities and difficulties of high-speed bandwidth network applications and underlying technologies. These projects were not basic research, but aimed at implementing demonstrations to show industry how new technologies can be applied. This has led to a number of reports on, for instance, e-business, XML-technologies, and video-on-demand using MPEG-7 in several domains. These projects were managed by the Telematics Institute, that apart from the reports also produced working prototypes. Nice feature is that they all fit in a large framework, so facets of new technology can be demonstrated in relation to emerging technologies in other emerging areas.
Gigaport is working on a series of concise reports to consolidate all the results in the current organisations like SURFnet and the Telematics Institute.
The iGrid2002 Conference in Amsterdam was co-organised by Gigaport and the WTCW-organisation (Science Park Amsterdam). Reason is, that, according to Gigaport, Grids developments are driving in considering amount the next generation data networking and have a great potential not just in science but also in e-business. Broadband networks and full Quality of Service of these networks are important prerequisites for large Grid applications. This is exactly the area where with the projects initiated by Gigaport, the Netherlands have gained valuable experience during the past 3,5 years.
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