During the TEIN and APAN41 meetings in Manila, GÉANT and NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Japan) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen network research cooperation between Europe and Japan by signing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
At the signing ceremony on January 26 Dr. Makoto Imase, Vice President of NICT said: “NICT’s goal is to develop a reliable and energy-conscious global network infrastructure utilizing innovative technologies. Such a goal is widely shared by many organizations across the world, including our partners in Europe. In the framework of Horizon2020, NICT has built a sound partnership with European players through participation in various EU-Japanese network research projects. We therefore welcome extending the MoU to continue our collaboration with GÉANT and to jointly support our many researchers across Europe and Japan.”
NICT is Japan’s principal ICT research organization and, through the JGN-X (JGN eXtreme) network, provides advanced, new-generation research testbed facilities for the development of cutting-edge Internet technologies and applications at national and international levels.
For its part, the GÉANT Testbed Service (GTS) delivers integrated virtual environments to test novel networking and telecommunications concepts, at scale, and across a geographically dispersed footprint.
The primary areas of cooperation agreed upon in the memorandum include testbed interconnection and interoperability and research in the field of Software Defined Networking (SDN). Further areas of mutual interest are expected to be identified during the term of the MoU.
Steve Cotter, CEO GÉANT, welcomed the new cooperation opportunities: “The relationship between the GÉANT community and Japan is longstanding. NICT has been a major partner in the TEIN program from its outset in 2004 and this has helped foster the good relations between us. We look forward to joining forces with NICT to continue shaping Future Internet research and are happy to be the bridge between NICT and the European NRENs and their users for better collaborations and improved research outcomes in the future.”
More information
- For more information on NICT visit: www.nict.go.jp/en/
- To learn more about GÉANT Testbed Service (GTS) visit:www.geant.org/Services/Connectivity_and_network/Pages/GEANT_Testbeds_Service
