Local non-profit organisation Tenet has released a call for expressions of interest for the provision of connectivity to 100-odd research and educational sites in SA and surrounds.
Tenet runs a national research and education network (NREN) on behalf of 40 research and educational institutions in SA and surrounding areas. It is responsible for securing connectivity and associated services for the institutions it serves, and which control it. These institutions include all 26 of SA's universities.
The organisation is currently acquiring connectivity from Telkom, in terms of a deal (known as the GEN2 agreement) signed between itself and Telkom in 2004. The contract, which has been in effect since 1 January 2005, terminates on 31 December this year and Tenet is going to tender for its next two-year service provision period.
The new contract (the GEN3 agreement) will be valid from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009. Tenet says the current contract value, on an annual basis, is roughly R80 million, and expects this to jump to R96 million for the following two years.
"We need a service provider or consortium of service providers that can inter-connect the 100 sites and provide the bandwidth, nationally and internationally, on the scale we require and in the time scales we require," says Tenet CEO Duncan Martin. Applicants must also be licensed service providers.
Services needed include:
* At least 300Mb/s of international connectivity between either Tenet's existing data centre and external gateway in Cape Town, or the data centre/external gateway that it is currently commissioning in Johannesburg, and the UbuntuNet research and education hub in London.
* 1Gb/s connectivity between the Cape Town (Beachhead) and Johannesburg (Reefhead) external gateways.
* A connection between each site and, depending on the site, either the Beachhead or the Reefhead external gateway. Each site connection will be specified in terms of the dedicated last-mile connection bandwidth at the site, says Tenet.
In addition to the above network, Tenet is also, separately, provisioning its Johannesburg data centre, procuring VOIP services for all of its institutions, securing connections to educational institutions in Europe, the US and elsewhere, and securing connections to sub-Saharan African NRENs that form part of the UbuntuNet alliance.
"High-speed Internet access is vitally important for research and education," say Martin and Tenet CTO Andrew Alston, who see the GEN3 procurement as an exciting opportunity for the 40 institutions and the local Internet industry.
Interested parties can find the call for expressions of interest on www.tenet.ac.za.
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