2008.11.3 2008.12.16(revised) ************************************************************** Position Paper(Draft) Africa Asia Forum on Network Research and Engineering (AAF) ************************************************************** Contents: I. Backgroun II. Objective III. Scope IV. Scheme V. Members VI. Schedule I. Background The first encounter of Africa and Asia took place in 1995 during INET Conference there African discussed on the Internet and the related organizations with Asian participation. African was also invited to some of Asian Internet meetings including APRICOT, and Asian are invited to participate AfNOG later. However, the collaboration has been minimum until now. Today, there are around 1.5 billion Internet users around the world with Asia as the largest group. There are 5 billion non-Internet users around the world, and most of them belong to Africa and Asia. It is very important to increase the Internet users since the Internet is becoming critical social infrastructure. Africa and Asia are facing similar problems to increase the Internet users now with geographical overlap of West Asia and Mediterranean. For Africa, almost every country can find a similar country in Asia in term of the Internet development with sharing similar problems. For Asia, solving the Intenet development of 4 billion Asian would not be much different from solving 5 billion African and Asian. In the other words, solving the non-Internet users of 3 billions in Asia would not make much difference from solving the non-Internet users of 3.8 billions in Asia and Africa since they share the similar problems such as economy, infrastructure, culture/language, and electric power. Recently, the Future Internet technology research was promoted around the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Its primary focus is on the current Internet users of 1.5 billions. By analyzing the technologies, it is evident that the Future Internet technology research is also needed for the current non-internet users of 5 billions, most of which reside in Africa and Asia. Thus, sharing the research effort between Africa and Asia as well as them and the rest of the world would be very beneficial. If we don't focus on these issues, we simply increase the digital divide globally, which would destablize the world further. Thus, the collaboration between Africa and Asia, as well as them and the rest of the world is very important. Please also note on our fair share on open research. For the original Internet research in the 20th Century, North America contributed most with secondary contribution from Europe. Africa, Asia and Latin America did not contribute much. With nearly 50% of the global Internet users in Africa and Asia, we had better contribute on Future Internet research as much as North America and Europe. We need to work toward the Africa-Asia collaboration on this open research. II. Objective The objective of Afrca-Asia Network Research and Engineering Collaboration Forum is to develop the relevant community so that the network research and engineering collaboration could take place effectively. This kind of collaboration is necessary to support Internet for development. It has been noted from that Research leg of Internet development has been missing in all our strategy for the past and we are expecting to reinforce this so that Africa and Asia really develop the Internet that addresses their development needs. III. Scope The collaboration forum is expected to cover both the Internet technology and the Internet applications. Specifically, we expect to cover the following technologies as parts of the Internet technology; - IPv6 - Future Internet - Network Measurement - Power/Energy Management We plan to cover the following applications as parts of the Internet applications; - eEducation - eGovernment - Sensor Network IV. Scheme 4.1 Meetings We will have the coordination committee meetings regularly(around 2~4 times per year) in Africa and Asia, either co-locating the meeting with another Forum event, and/or colocating the meeting with some of the regional meetings such as AfNOG, AfriNIC, AfREN, APRICOT, APNIC, APAN and so on. We will also hold the joint workshops regularly(around 1~2 times per year) in Africa and Asia with the appropriate co-location. The workshop may cover the Internet technology and/or the Internet application. 4.2 Joint Research and Engineering Project We may carry on the joint network research or engineering projects as appropriate. 4.3 Human Resource Development We may have mutual professional visit; both short(1~2 weeks) and long(6 months ~ 2 years). We also focus on graduate education including both Ph.D and MS programs among the leading universities on network research and engineering. V. Members We plan to include the following member categories; - regional organizations(Internet organizations) - domestic organizations(institutions, companies) - individual members VI. Schedule 2008.6~2009.5 Preparation - Series of the collaboration meetings - Experimental seminars and workshops (Mauritius/AfriNIC in 2008.11, and Kaohsiung/APAN in 2009.3) - MoU to be signed to form Coordinating Committee with the founding members, and the formation of selective SIGs(IPv6, Measurement,.....) 2009.5 Annual Joint Workshops(during AfNOG/AfREN/AfriNIC Meetings)