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--></style></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Dear Ina,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Who is the author of the Policy Brief for Stakeholders on African NRENs? <a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AAU-Riding-the-NREN-Train-final-draft-.pdf">Riding the National Research and Education Networking Train in Africa: A Policy Brief for Stakeholders</a>/Association of African Universities. When was it prepared? It is interesting reading. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>KENET aims to be in Level 6 while being the primary provider of Internet bandwidth to member institutions for sustainability. We openly discourage purchase of commodity Internet from commercial providers because it weakens us. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By the way, in Europe and North America, NRENs are already moving out of community cloud services (SaaS or PaaS) because of lack of scale. NRENs then simply provide high-speed specialized connectivity + access to commodity Internet + peering. The research or educational technology value-added services are all FREE and funded through research grants. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Meoli<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>From: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><african-open-science-platform@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ina Smith <Ina@assaf.org.za><br><b>Date: </b>Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 4:18 PM<br><b>To: </b>"african-open-science-platform@googlegroups.com" <african-open-science-platform@googlegroups.com><br><b>Subject: </b>African NRENs<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>During the past <a href="https://events.ubuntunet.net/indico/event/10/overview">UbuntuNet Connect 2018 conference</a>, it was clear that more and more NRENs are becoming geared to host Software as a Service (SaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS). This can be services such as identity management, data management, cloud services, security certificates, repositories, and more. See the <a href="https://www.africaconnect2.net/Partners/African_NRENs/Pages/Home.aspx">List of African NREN Partners</a> to find the NREN in your country, and to inquire about services offered.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>NRENs can and in some instances already play an important role in making open science and the sharing of research data (incl. Big Data) a success.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="https://repository.ubuntunet.net/bitstream/handle/10.20374/69/NREN_Capability_Maturity_Model.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">An NREN Capability Maturity Model</a>/Duncan Greaves</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>Level 6 (Elaborated service offering)</span></b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> marks a fully mature NREN of the kind that characterises Europe, North America and comparable contexts. The NREN is richly connected at high speed to many other networks and resources. Numerous value-added services are available, such as grid and cloud computing resources, user-controlled lightpaths, videoconferencing, and federated identity services. The NREN’s value proposition lies primarily in these services, since bandwidth pricing in such contexts is transparently cost-related. Many institutions will purchase commodity bandwidth from a commercial provider in addition to NREN-specific bandwidth. A culture of collaboration is deeply established. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>Levels of African NRENs</span></b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> according to the following studies:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WB-Report-Role-and-Status-NRENs-Africa.compressed.pdf">The Role and Status of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Africa</a>/Michael Foley (World Bank Study)</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AAU-Riding-the-NREN-Train-final-draft-.pdf">Riding the National Research and Education Networking Train in Africa: A Policy Brief for Stakeholders</a>/Association of African Universities</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'>More reading:</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="https://www.africaconnect2.net/Partners/African_NRENs/Pages/Home.aspx">List of African NREN Partners</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="http://edutechdebate.org/research-and-education-networks/">Educational Technology Debate: Exploring ICT and Learning in Developing Countries</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Ina Smith</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Project Manager: <a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/">African Open Science Platform</a> <br>SciELO Planning Manager</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<br><a href="https://blog.doaj.org/2016/09/07/the-doaj-ambassadors-biographies/">DOAJ Ambassador, Southern Africa Region</a><br><a href="https://loy2016blog.wordpress.com/">LIASA Librarian of the Year 2016</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://orcid.org/"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#338CAF;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=16 height=16 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.gif@01D383E8.0A783DE0" alt="ttp://orcid.org/sites/default/files/images/orcid_16x16(1).gif"></span></a><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'> <a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668">http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668 </a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Switchboard: +27 12 349 6600 </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Tel: +27 12 349 6641 </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Fax: +27 (0) 86 576 9512</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Email: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="mailto:ina@assaf.org.za"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>ina@assaf.org.za</span></a></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1F497D'><img border=0 width=184 height=75 id="_x0000_i1026" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D383E8.0A783DE0" alt=ssafemail></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Website: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic"'><a href="http://www.assaf.org.za/"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>www.assaf.org.za</span></a></span><i><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic";color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span></i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-- <br>You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "African Open Science Platform" group.<br>To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to <a href="mailto:african-open-science-platform+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com">african-open-science-platform+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com</a>.<br>To post 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