High-speed network to boost African research and education
A new high-speed network will boost the connection of African research and education institutes to the world.
DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) and the UbuntuNet Alliance have awarded a 15 year contract to WIOCC to build a high-speed backbone network for the AfricaConnect project.
AfricaConnect is a collaborative partnership between Africa and Europe – represented by the UbuntuNet Alliance and its 14 member National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), the Association of African Universities (AUU), and the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN).
Ten organisations from Africa and Europe submitted tenders for the high-speed network – and after a competitive negotiation process, WIOCC won the 15 year contract.
“We selected WIOCC for its excellent track record in delivering high-performance; end-to-end managed international connectivity services,” said Cathrin Stover, Chief International Relations & Communication Officer, DANTE.
“The winning solution offered carefully tailored performance, reach, resilience and management, which matched the strict requirements set out in the Invitation to Tender for AfricaConnect.”
WIOCC will provide high-speed data transmission capacity between a set of Sub-Saharan Africa locations and Europe, along with housing space for UbuntuNet routing, switching and monitoring equipment.
The connectivity procured under the AfricaConnect project complements the UbuntuNet network, a high-capacity network for research and education in Sub-Saharan Africa which creates a regional gateway for global research collaboration, DANTE said.
“Whilst the long-awaited internet backbone will improve the lives of millions of Africans through accelerated research and education, the connectivity will equally benefit collaborative scientific research the world over, in areas such as climate change, malaria, biodiversity and medicine,” the organisation said.
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