Researchers and students across Latin America will benefit from a €12 million EU investment in networking infrastructure. This funding will underpin the ALICE2 project, which will provide a high speed network that links Latin American researchers to their peers within the region and in Europe.

The new network is based on the successful ALICE project, which ran from June 2003 to March 2008 and built the first research and education network infrastructure in Latin America. This first phase of ALICE was managed by DANTE, the operator of research and education networks. The new ALICE2 project will be co-ordinated and co-financed by CLARA, the Latin American research networking organisation, with support from partners that include DANTE and National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) from across the region and Europe.

This existing network already interconnects 12 countries in the region and provides them with connectivity to GÉANT2, the high-bandwidth, pan-European research network. ALICE2 will run until August 2012 with the goal of reaching and connecting more Latin American countries and broadening the possibilities for collaborative research and regional development. The first new country to join ALICE2 will be Costa Rica, which will join Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela in the network.

“The announcement of ALICE2 is a major step forward for research in Latin America and will deliver benefits to the whole continent,” said Dai Davies, General Manager of DANTE. “We are very pleased that the impetus gained during the ALICE project has enabled CLARA to take full responsibility for Latin American research and education networking. Whilst we will continue to be a partner in the ALICE2 project and will provide management and technical support, CLARA will drive the future development, expansion and sustainability of the RedCLARA network and the growth of the user community in Latin America.”

Many examples of successful on-going projects in the fields of health, physics, astronomy, climate change and environment, information and communication technologies, and education are proving that the connection to the regional research and education network infrastructure, and to the rest of the research world via other networks, is a key factor for the development of Latin American nations.

"ALICE2 will permit CLARA to create a state-of-the-art network by deploying an Optical Network Infrastructure that will provide first class support to networked research and education, thus facilitating the creation across Latin America of virtual research laboratories and educational facilities. The project will also target researchers, educators, and technicians, by empowering them through training and community-building so that they can jointly create solutions to some of the more pressing regional problems while improving collaboration with Europe and the rest of the world”, explains Florencio Utreras, Executive Director of CLARA.

Based on an up-graded hybrid network of IP, dark fibre and wavelengths, an important aim of the project will be to establish long-term stability and sustainability for Latin American regional research and education networking through a high capacity network, services, training and tools delivered across the region.

Source: DANTE