TEIN2

TEIN stands for Trans-Eurasia Information Network. It was "one of the new initiatives endorsed by ASEM III (October 2000, Seoul, Korea) to connect research networks between Asia and Europe by linking EU's GEANT, the pan-European gigabit research network, with Asia's research networks such as the APII Testbeds in order to promote information exchanges in research and development and education".

TEIN2 is the second generation of the TEIN project and the first large-scale research and education network for the Asia-Pacific, which connects ten (10) countries in the region, and provides direct connectivity to Europe’s GÉANT2 network.



TEIN2 has created the first large-scale research and education network for the Asia-Pacific region, linking the national networks in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia at speeds of up to 1Gbps. The high-capacity network aims to bridge the digital divide between different countries across the region. Its dual routes from Asia to Europe provide important inter-regional resilience. The network operations centre (NOC) is run by Tsinghua University (China).

The network is part-funded by the European Union’s EuropeAid programme, which is contributing up to EUR10 million towards the costs of connecting partner countries. Additional support has been provided by the Japanese networks Maffin, NICT and NII, who are contributing regional connectivity; a link from Japan to North America is provided by TransPAC2. Further assistance comes from Juniper Networks, which is sponsoring the Internet routing equipment located in TEIN2’s three network hubs in Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong.

TEIN2:

• 9 Asian countries and Australia connected since 2006
• Serving 30M users in 3,800 institutions
• Major uses include:China/EU traffic, Tele-medecine, E-learning programmes
• Strong co-operation between partners
• TEIN2 recently extended from Dec 2007 to Sept 2008
• TEIN2 partners wish to sustain the programme
• EC approving further funding to 2011 for TEIN3
• TEIN3 plans to
  
  
  • Expand coverage to South Asia
  • Further stimulate applications deployment
  • Transfer project to Asian-lead organisation
  • Secure long term funding
  • Work co-operatively with other regional networks

TEIN2 has three main objectives:

• Increase direct Internet connectivity for research and education between Europe and Asia
• Improve intra-regional connectivity within Asia
• Act as a catalyst for the development of national research networking in the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The (TEIN2) project is divided into two phases.

• Phase 1 began in May 2004. It comprised a feasibility study to explore user needs and the connectivity market, and to plan further stages of the project. Phase 1 was successfully completed and the feasibility study accepted by the European Commission in November 2004.
• During Phase 2, the network has been built and is now being operated for the benefit of the TEIN2 partners. After planning studies and a major procurement programme, the first links came into service in December 2005. The network was fully deployed during the first half of 2006. This phase of the project is scheduled to run until the end of 2007.

TEIN2 (Source/Courtesy TEIN2; Dante)

Credits : DANTE / cathrin-at-dante.org.uk