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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><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<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>Level 6 (Elaborated service offering)</span></b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>Levels of African NRENs</span></b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'> according to the following studies:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><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)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><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<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>More reading:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="https://www.africaconnect2.net/Partners/African_NRENs/Pages/Home.aspx">List of African NREN Partners</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="http://edutechdebate.org/research-and-education-networks/">Educational Technology Debate: Exploring ICT and Learning in Developing Countries</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Ina Smith</span></b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Project Manager: <a href="http://africanopenscience.org.za/">African Open Science Platform</a> <br>SciELO Planning Manager<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;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><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://orcid.org/"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#338CAF;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=16 height=16 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.gif@01D383D9.E01EE7A0" alt="http://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",sans-serif'> <a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668">http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668 </a></span><u><span style='color:#0563C1'><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Switchboard: +27 12 349 6600 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Tel: +27 12 349 6641 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Fax: +27 (0) 86 576 9512<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Email: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><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",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></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="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image004.jpg@01D383DC.AE29B8D0" alt=assafemail></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Website: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><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",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> </span></i><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>-- <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 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