Enhancing R&E Connectivity to and within

South AsiaCountry Report: Sri Lanka

Nimal RatnayakeTechnical Manager/LEARN

R&E Networking in Sri Lanka

● Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN): www.learn.ac.lk Focus: Higher Education / Research All 16 state funded universities (26 campuses) University Grants Commission (UGC) 5 Research institutions

● SchoolNet: www.schoolnet.lk Focus: Secondary Education 1000 schools, 90 computer resource centers 17 national colleges of education Ministry of education National institute of Education etc

LEARN

● Started in early 1990s● We interconnect

All 15 state funded universities (26 campuses) University Grants Commission (UGC) 5 Research institutions

● Provide Internet access Purchase commodity Internet bandwidth in bulk

● 100% self funded Members charged for the services provided Not directly dependent on govt. funding

● Full member of APAN● No direct connections to academic Internet

Past

● Started in the early 1990s Before Sri Lanka got Internet connectivity UUCP based e-mail facility (LEARNMail)

● Phase 1: 1994 – 1998 1994: 3 universities (CMB, MRT, OU) Initial funding provided by the UGC Internet connectivity in 1995/1996 By 1998 most universities connected

● Phase 2: 1999 – 2004 Upgraded link bandwidths to 2Mbps [Suntel] Funding provided by Sida/SAREC (Sweden) Internet Access Bandwidth: ~3Mbps Video conferencing between 4 sites

Past (2)

● Phase 3: 2005 – 2006 IP-VPN over MPLS network [SLT] Servers hosted at SLTiDC Many sites had one/two 2Mbps links Others are 256kbps – 1 Mbps Jan 2005: Internet access BW 4.5Mbps Dec 2006: Internet access BW 45Mbps (LEARN and

SchoolNet) Routing voice calls between some sites

Present

● Phase 4: 2007 – 15 links to be upgraded to 10Mbps over fiber 6 links already completed Remaining links by June 2007 Funded partially by the IRQUE project (WB loan) Possibility to upgrade to 100Mbps Internet access BW 155Mbps

(shared between LEARN and SchoolNet)

Services

● Video Conferencing/Remote teaching/ Meetings Among institutions International Conference bridge to be purchased soon

● Voice SIP based infrastructure Gateways to PBXs sip.edu implementation

● MIT Open Courseware Mirror● Other mirrors● Technical Training/Workshops● SPAM Filtering/Virus Scan

Achievements

● Interconnect all state funded universities Overcome skepticism about benefits

● Benefits Lower prices for local links Lower prices for Internet access Access to any unused bandwidth of Internet access

during off-peek hours Value addition (e.g. spam filtering) Sharing of expertise / Technical workshops

● Driving force for Telecom operators Our requirements push them to upgrade their

networks and practices

Collective purchasing power vs. artificial prices

● Artificial prices of telecom services ● Internet Access

LEARN paid $15,000/month for 7Mbps SchoolNet offered $80,000/month for 155Mbps, but

their budget is only $60,000/month LEARN and SchoolNet share 155Mbps LEARN gets 45Mbps for $20,000/month

● Local links UoC paid $120/month for 2Mbps UWU paid $1300/month for 2Mbps Upgrade all LEARN links to 10/100 Mbps via optical

fiber: $950/month for each 10Mbps link

Challenges

● Insufficient bandwidth of links Some links still congested (even at 10Mbps) Universities now really need high speed

(eLearning, Video Conferencing, Voice) Need to upgrade at least some links to 100 Mbps

● Limitations in national telecom infrastucture Specially in the areas outside the capital

● Lack of connectivity to other NRENs We are a full member of APAN Yet to get connected to APAN or other academic

network TEIN3 (June 2008) is a possibillity, with

government/external funding

Congested links

< 2Mbps links (before upgrade)

10Mbps links >(after upgrade)

Challenges (ctd)

● Silo syndrome Different projects funded by different donors Build separate networks instead of strengthening

existing ones Co-ordination among donors is essential

● High prices of Internet bandwidth International connectivity almost a monopoly Much higher than in US or Europe High profit margin of telecom operators Getting connected to APAN/TEIN will enable us to

purchase Internet access at much lower prices

SchoolNet

● 912 nodes up to March 31 Ministry of Education: 8Mbps National Institute of Education: 4Mbps National Colleges of Education: 512Kbps/2Mbps Provincial IT Centers: 512Kbps Computer Resource Centers: 256-512 Kbps Schools: 64Kbps/128Kbps (about 850)

● local link bandwdth upgrade is being done Schools from 64K to 128K Doubling of bandwidth for some other places

● 50% links are wired, rest wireless● Target: 5000 schools by 2010

400-500 more nodes before end of 2007

APAN-South Asia Net Group

● http://www.apan.net/regional/south-group.htm

● Formed in Sep 2003 Several “official” meetings at each APAN meeting until

about 2005 Informal meetings afterwards

● Jan 2006 – Tokyo meeting (informal) Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka Decided to work on a South Asia Net proposal Each country was to contribute towards a single proposal

● Progress slow

Other possibilities

● Pursuing in SAARC forums Better participation at meetings Possible government support In line with clause 14 of the declaration made after

the 14th summit (April 2007)● Co-ordination with the South Asian University

effort UGC of Sri Lanka supportive Next meeting in June

● ? External political pressure To work together instead of individually