International Relations

NIIFI (the Hungarian National Information Infrastructure Development Institute) and HUNGARNET (the HUNgarian Academic and Research NETworking Association) keep intense and fruitful international relations - organisational, technical, and networking ones - with all those international organisations characterised by network development aims and goals similar to those of the Hungarian research, education and public collection communities.

By providing excellent co-operation opportunities, these intense and successful international relations duly serve in Hungary the outstanding role played world-wide by the research networking communities in developing, testing, piloting and disseminating new ICT solutions, services, and applications.

Most important aspects and elements of the international relations are:

• the background of the relations (abilities and intentions of the NIIF/HUNGARNET community wrt. the development of the computer networking infrastructure, the services, and the applications)

• the role of the relations in the international objectives of the NIIF/HUNGARNET community (global aims, European goals, Central and Eastern European missions, national tasks and duties)

• the crucial conditions of successful international relations (co-operativeness, activity, legitimacy, EU-conformity)

• tasks and duties stemming from the international co-operation (representing professional and political interests, accessing and disseminating wide spectrum of information, education and training, joint technical activities in the fields of research, development, and standardisation)

• completeness of the coverage in technical co-operation (infrastructure, services, applications, content)

• taking share of international efforts related to new technologies, methodologies, and processes (development, testing, dissemination)

• role of the NIIF Program and of HUNGARNET in the development of the pan-European research network backbone, and of the related network services (consortial collaborations, contractual duties, DANTE relations).

Most important elements of the organisational, professional, and networking activities within the international relations of NIIF/HUNGARNET from the early 2000s:

· TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association): full national memgbership, participation in the activities related to representing the members' interests, to disseminating key networking information, to the technical programme, and to organising conferences and meetings

· DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe): full membership and contribution to the development and utilisation of the pan-European research networking infrastructure and the related services

· GEANT (Gigabit European Academic Networking Technology): participation in the NREN (National Research and Education Networks) Consortium and in the NREN PC (Policy Committee) - full membership and contractual relation wrt. executing the GEANT-related projects and subscribing to GEANT connectivity

· e-IRG (e-Infrastructures Reflection Group): participation in the professional activities of the working group devoted to developing the electronic subset of research infrastructures in Europe

· ENPG (European Networking Policy Group): taking part in the co-operation related to the development and funding of the pan-European and the national research networks

· ISOC (Internet Society): organisational membership and participation in the wide spectrum of activities related to the global Internet, including involvement in the work of the ISOC AC (Advisory Council), and the ISOC-ECC (ISOC European Coordinating Council)

· RIPE-NCC (Réseaux IP Européenne - Networking Coordination Center): membership (LIR) and participation within the European segment of the ICANN supervised global activities related to, among others, Internet address allocation/administration

· CEENet (Central and Eastern European Networking Association): full membership and participation in the regional organisation operating as the Central and Eastern European complement of TERENA

[Important earlier international relations of NIIF/HUNGARNET have been: EUnet (European UNIX Users Network), EARN (European Academic and Research Networking Association), and RARE (Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne), all three from the mid-80s to the mid-90s; TEN-34 SG (TEN-34 Steering Group), QPC (QUANTUM Policy Committee), CCIRN (Coordination Council of International Research Networking), UCAID (University Corporation of Advanced Internet Development), NATO-CNP (NATO Computer Networking Panel), etc., all from the mid-90s to the early 2000s or beyond.]

Some important results of the successful international relations:

• the Hungarian research and higher education institutes are competitive and co-operative partners of their foreign equivalents:-
• identical or similar conditions of co-operation and competition
• full spectrum of electronic communication and co-operation
• full access to the global information content
• advantageous conditions for regional co-operation
• outstanding conditions for praticipating even in the most demanding international project co-operations
• possibility of early meeting and rapid mastering of most recent technological novelties
• opportunity of entering, being involved, and taking roles in:
• preparing straightforward network development strategies
• standardisation activities
• assessment of technological, social, economical, political, legal, moral, etc. effects
• outstanding potential in the area of national cultural values for:
• saving cultural heritage
• cultivating creativity
• enriching cultural production
• international dissemination/transmission of cultural goods

• enhanced capabilities for the country-wide and competitive distribution of the information technologies

• the development of the national infrastructure keeps pace with the international development of the technological leading edge in all areas of the:
• infrastructure
• services
• applications
• content

• features of the NIIF/HUNGARNET network are practically equivalent to those of the European leading edge:-
• between 1995 and 2005.the international and internal network connectivity has increeased from 1...2 Mbps to 2 x 10 Gbps
• network technology enters a new generation in about every four years

• multiple advantages wrt. network costs are stemming from common network development in Europe:-
• pan-European procurement/tendering and installation/operation of the joint network
  
• multi-NREN cost-sharing
• continuous decrease of the relative (per Mbps) costs
• advantageous impact of the decreasing costs on the liberalised and more competitive internal telco market

• indirect (TEN-34, TEN-155) and direct (EuropaNET, GEANT) share received from RN-related EU development funds (earlier Phare, later EU FP4, FP5, FP6, and most recently EU FP7)

General characteristics of the NIIF/HUNGARNET international relations:

• pleasing, in many respects outstanding, position/status of the research network
• widely acknowledged results, legitimate representation of the user community, full-value presence in European/global research networking
• stable, mostly advantageous contractual relations (infrastructure and services)
• active presence in the international organisations related to research networking
• intense participation in elected bodies of the international organisations
• positive feedback on the development of the internal/national research network
• stable and dependable background for future progress.