The Department of Science and Technology is implementing a high-speed South African National Research Network (Sanren), says minister Mosibudi Mangena.
The network aims to give scientists and researchers infinite computational power, bandwidth and data capability.
"To ensure our researchers and scientists interact seamlessly with their peers globally, we are implementing Sanren as part of our growing cyber infrastructure initiative," explained Mangena.
The minister made this announcement during the Southern African Telecommunications Networking and Applications Conference (Satnac) 2008, this week, at the Wild Coast Sun, in the Eastern Cape.
Mangena said his department is developing Sanren alongside the establishment of the Centre for High Performance Computing, to enable faster communication with regards to science, engineering and technology, between local scientists and their global peers.
"These two projects are geared towards the goal of infinite computational power, infinite bandwidth and infinite data capability.
"Sanren has enabled South African radio astronomers to participate more fully in the electronic-Very Long Base Interferometry project," noted Mangena. This is a system for high-precision measurements of relative point positions and spatial baseline orientation.
Mangena added that as a part of Sanren, the connectivity provided to the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (Hartrao) is via a 10Gb ring network connecting the CSIR main campus to Hartrao. In turn, the Sanren ring has been connected to all the major universities and research institutions.
"The Johannesburg Sanren ring has effectively removed the local institute connectivity bottleneck, and focused attention on why addressing international connectivity is important to SA's longer-term goals of becoming a major world player in ICT," said Mangena.
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