The South African Research and Education Network (Sanren) admits it is struggling to meet its deadline to connect over 35 universities and research campuses to its high-speed network by 1 December.
In a response to parliamentary questions posed to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), minister Naledi Pandor said that, while the project has remained within budget, meeting the impending deadline has been challenging. This would not affect the deadline, she added.
Sanren is a high-speed network dedicated to dealing with research traffic and providing research into networking and broadband infrastructures. The network was approved by Cabinet in 2006, and budget and implementation plans were passed at the same time.
“Eleven campuses in Gauteng are now using the network and work is under way to complete the main component - the national backbone of the Sanren - by 1 December. Another 24 institutions and campuses in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban would also have to be connected by the same deadline,” noted Pandor.
However, Marian Shinn, the Democratic Alliance's shadow deputy minister of science and technology, says the DST's plans are unrealistic as the department will have to complete implementation and testing within a limited time period.
“This is extremely ambitious and I hope that it can be met so any technological glitches can be ironed out before the start of the 2010 academic year and Sanren's scheduled completion date of 31 March 2010,” she says.
The R365 million nationwide network is funded by the DST, and is planned and implemented by the CSIR's Meraka Institute. The Tertiary Education Network (Tenet) will manage the network.
A three-year contract was signed between the CSIR and DST in 2006 for the implementation and management of the project ending in the 2009/10 financial year. The contract included all aspects of the research, design, planning, implementation and monitoring of the network for the period.
Sanren has engaged the services of Telkom and Neotel for the rollout of the network.
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Pandor said the original specifications have changed and expanded over the past three years, but some progress has been made.
The minister emphasised that the prompt implementation of the network was critical for the transmission of high-speed data for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and added that metropolitan networks would be implemented in time.
”The initial focus has been on the planning, design and procurement work necessary for the metropolitan networks that will interconnect institutions within the major cities. Johannesburg's network is complete. The City of Tshwane's network is being installed, proposals have been submitted for Durban's network and discussions are under way with Cape Town.”
Pandor added that the DST is working hard to ensure the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) is connected to the Cape Town metropolitan network by deadline.
The Telkom high-speed link from SALT terminates at the CHPC, from where data will be transmitted to the South African Astronomical Observatory. It then moves from there to the undersea Seacom cable and on to internationally-based astronomers.
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