“Virtual Silk Highway” Project

“Virtual Silk Highway” project of NATO Science Program covers Azerbaijan , Armenia , Georgia , Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan .

The purpose of this project is connection of the research and educational organizations of Middle Asia and South Caucasia countries to a high-speed Internet of Europe network by means of satellite technologies. The aim of this Project is also enlargement of data exchange among the research and educational organizations in these countries. For this goal achievement every country participating in the Project should be supplied with VSAT-terminals, a satellite antenna and network equipment. After that they will have a high-speed access to Internet Backbone of Western Europe with use of ground satellite station EUROASIASAT.

In Azerbaijan the Project is being implemented by Azerbaijan Research and Educational Networks Association (AzRENA). This system set in operation will allow freely connecting of research and educational enterprises to high-speed Internet. Recently AzRENA has already created a network system among research and educational institutions. Through this system the research and educational structures have got an opportunity of data exchange among themselves.

It should be noted that in 2000 Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and leading universities of Azerbaijan founded on the basis of the Academician network Azerbaijan Research Educational Network Association - AzRENA. The main strategy of AzRENA includes development of regional networks and regional training centers, development of the national information resource, implementation of data exchange in the field of education and science via Internet with a high-speed external connection, creation of distant education systems etc.

OOCASION Project

OCCASION project would both manage the Silk Project and provide network management for the Silk Network. It would also coordinate the provision of information on the NRENs of the Silk countries, and their research activities. Other direction of the project is to provide the tools for researchers in the Silk countries to collaborate with their colleagues in the European Union; these tools are mainly Voice/IP (VoIP) and multimedia conferencing (MM-Conf). It also includes providing a minimal set of equipment at each NREN, to allow both VoIP and MM-Conf to be used. For taking advantages of the project it's planned to hold a number of workshops in each country within the framework of OCCASION.

Another aspect of the project is to identify significant User Groups, active in both the Silk countries and the European Union, who need to use the Silk network for their collaborations. There will be training, so that researchers in the Silk countries can use the services provided.

OPENING CEREMONY OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT "VIRTUAL SILK HIGHWAY"

On May 15, 2003 an opening ceremony of the "Virtual Silk Highway" Project implemented under NATO Research Program for the counties of Middle Asia and South Caucasia was held in the Institute of Information Technologies of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Mr. Lord Robertson, NATO General Secretary, ambassadors of foreign countries, eminent scientists, representatives of some ministries, research and educational institutions took part at the ceremony. NATO General Secretary Mr. Lord Robertson cut a red ribbon off and solemnly announced joining of Azerbaijan to "Virtual Silk Highway". At the opening ceremony a video-conference with the Central HUB located in Hannover, Germany was arranged by means of AzRENA Network Operational Center (NOC).

Equipping of NOC was carried out under the International project "Virtual Silk Highway" of NATO Research Program. The purpose of this project is connection of the research and educational organizations of Middle Asia and South Caucasia countries to a high-speed Internet of Europe network by means of satellite technologies. The aim of this Project is also enlargement of data exchange among the research and educational organizations in these countries. For this goal achievement every country participating in the Project should be supplied with VSAT-terminals, a satellite antenna and network equipment. After that they will have a high-speed access to Internet Backbone of Western Europe with use of ground satellite station EUROASIASAT.

In Azerbaijan the Project is being implemented by Azerbaijan Research and Educational Networks Association (AzRENA). This system set in operation will allow freely connecting of research and educational enterprises to high-speed Internet. Recently AzRENA has already created a network system among research and educational institutions. Through this system the research and educational structures have got an opportunity of data exchange among themselves. By means of a satellite system the organizations connected to the network and received access to Internet, may collaborate and conduct data exchange with research and educational institutions of foreign states. Within the framework of "Virtual Silk Highway" Project it is planned to increase a satellite channel capacity from 3 Mbps up to 24 Mbps until the end of 2004. Commissioning of the system will also allow developing of distance learning. Along with the organizations located in Baku, the research and educational institutions in various regions of Azerbaijan including Nakhichevan will be connected to the system too.

AzRENA network includes up to 15 educational and research centers. At present via AzRENA over 900 workstations are connected to Internet, which in their turn, provides services to 6000 users. In this field AzRENA has got relations with other donor organizations. The memorandum of joint activity with SOROS OSI, IATP/IREX has been signed.

The main strategy of AzRENA activity established in 2000 by leading research and educational institutions of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan includes development of regional networks and regional educational centers, development of national information resources, data exchange in the field of science and education via a high-speed Internet, creation of distnce learning systems and others.

For achievement of this strategy AzRENA is preparing new projects. With the purpose of creation and development of the network infrastructure in the research and educational institutions of Azerbaijan and increase of this network integration efficiency into the world Internet network, AzRENA has developed a project on opening of Distance Learning Center (DLC) in Azerbaijan, the preliminary talks have been conducted with UNDP and SOROS regarding enlargement of AzRENA structure, the financial issues have been agreed. Moreover, a project on distance education between INDIANA University, USA and AzRENA has been developed. DLC will be supplied with state-of-the-art telecommunication facilities, high-speed channel for access to Internet, high capacity computer, network and projecting equipment.

On May 30, 2003 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the meeting was held with participation of the established commission on work with NATO, AzRENA's members and representatives of the universities for approval of the project on connection of the organizations to Virtual Silk Highway.

The preliminary decision has been made with regard to connection of one computer classroom (up to 10 workstations) of each organization to VSAT system via 128 Kbs link. For this project drawing-up, it has been decided to prepare a questionnaire, to send it to the institutes of higher education and in accordance with the received replies to prepare a technical project, which will be submitted for discussion.
The questionnaire can be downloaded from our site as Microsoft Word file - questionnaire_en.doc.

The developed project "Virtual Silk Information Highway" will allow increasing a bandwidth up to 24 Mbps with a guaranteed capacity 3 Mbps by the end of 2004. The configuration that is necessary to achieve this goal consists of VSAT-terminal equipment, a central distribution point (hub) with a dish and network equipment in Western Europe, a contract with a satellite vendor, and Internet access.

As a mainstream of the developed strategy of society informatization in Azerbaijan is informatization of educational and scientific institutions, realization of the project "Virtual Silk Highway" and participation of Azerbaijan in this project is one of the basic stages of informatization of our society and integration of Azerbaijan into the world community.

Schematic of Satellite/Earth Station System