Image courtesy US DOE
The EU-funded regional research and education network Black Sea Interconnection (BSI) links the South Caucasus countries and connects them to the high bandwidth, pan-European Geant network that already serves 30 million researchers. This new connection will enable researchers and students to collaborate with their European peers in 40 countries.
Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said the €1.4 million investment will bridge a major digital divide, connecting scientists from the Black Sea region to the global research community and providing high speed internet connections to universities and research centres in the South Caucasus. “I expect better collaboration with Geant’s 4,000 EU research institutions will lead to better research and better results in Europe and beyond.”
The Black Sea Interconnection project links the countries of the South Caucasus to the pan-European Geant academic internet at previously unavailable speeds (from a minimum of 34 to 100 Megabits per second), allowing the deployment of advanced services across the region.
The connection will bring 377 universities and research institutes in the South Caucasus into the network, which now connects 35 national research networks worldwide. The Black Sea Interconnection project will run for 24-months from 17 March 2008.
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