"The availability of a true Next Generation Network," commented Minister Francesco Profumo, "will be an important ally in introducing 'more Europe' into the Italian research and innovation system—aligning our programming, mechanisms, and tools with European ones.
This is a strategy we are strongly pursuing at the Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research, and it was also the inspiration behind the recent public consultation on Horizon 2020.
To improve our position in Europe, it is important to create a system, not only at the level of Big Science but also for all those sectors now embracing new technologies, starting with schools. Indeed, such an infrastructure has already enabled the first 100 institutions to be connected via broadband, up to 1 Gbps, with the addition of another 100 shortly.
With the aim of reaching the majority of school buildings, this will significantly accelerate the process of computerization and the use of digital educational content in schools. With its vast user base and a total traffic volume of over 85 Petabytes, recorded between January and October 2012, GARR-X is the largest and most significant community network in our country. Designed around the needs of users, the infrastructure is adaptable to real demands.
Thanks to direct control over the lower levels of the infrastructure and synergy with local government networks, GARR-X is ready to adapt to future developments, both in terms of bandwidth needs and technological evolutions, without the need for significant investments due to the absence of constraints on capacity and connection technologies.
All of this has been made possible through extensive planning and collaboration with key players in the Italian network landscape. "The collaboration with GARR has led to the creation of something truly innovative," emphasized Telecom Italia's CEO, Marco Patuano. "For us, it was also an opportunity to leverage our expertise in designing increasingly advanced and high-performance networks.
This initiative also further strengthens our relationship with the academic and scientific community, with the belief that education, research, and innovation are the driving force behind the country's growth."
In short, GARR-X should not only be seen as a new tool, however powerful and innovative, in the hands of researchers, teachers, and students, but also as an experience to be replicated in other contexts, capable of having an impact on the infrastructure of the entire country.
"NGN has been widely discussed and continues to be talked about in our country, but so far, little has been seen in practice," concludes Marco Pacetti, President of the GARR Consortium, the non-profit organization that created GARR-X. "Today, Italy is still far from a 'true' broadband network, widely distributed. With GARR-X, we wanted to create an infrastructure that could fill this gap, at least for the education and research community, and help it reach the goals of Europe 2020."
Currently, our member institutions can access the network with connections of at least 100 Mbps. We hope this will be a signal for others."
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