As academic and research institutions become more digitally-driven they need specific services to support their collaboration activities and to enable them to access resources worldwide. In this context, AfricaConnect3 will deploy the following R&E services and applications:
Trust & Identity services
The partners will gather the requirements of end users and identify technical recommendations for the deployment of additional e-services and applications such as Trust and Identity services. Leading examples include:
In light of the fact that the increasing reliance on ICT in all aspects of daily life has created an environment susceptible to criminal activities, the partners will also implement proactive cybersecurity by establishing security team services and a cooperation framework for NREN Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs). They will also provide a platform for cooperative processing of threat intelligence and attack data.
Federated Identity Management for Libraries
Following the growing trend towards freely available scholarly content and free and open channels for the dissemination of scholarly information, AC3 partners will provide specific support to libraries and NRENs for the strategic development of shared Open Access (OA) infrastructure.
Finally, ASREN, UA and WACREN, assisted by GÉANT, will promote awareness through workshops and webinars among the African NREN and R&E community. These workshops will explore the existing available services on top of connectivity (covering network management, trust and identity, cloud, security, real-time communications), and provide demand-driven support for their uptake and local deployment.
eduroam
Free Wi-Fi for students and researchers in over 100 countries worldwide with easy to use secure log-in and authentication.
eduroam (education roaming) is the secure, world-wide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community.
Having started in Europe, eduroam has gained momentum throughout the research and education community and is now available in 100 territories.
eduroam allows students, researchers and staff from participating institutions to obtain Internet connectivity across campus and when visiting other participating institutions by simply opening their laptop.
The eduGAIN service interconnects identity federations around the world, simplifying access to content, services and resources for the global research and education community. eduGAIN enables the trustworthy exchange of information related to identity, authentication and authorisation (AAI).
Today, online services are crucial to research and education. Students, teachers, researchers and institution staff rely on them for collaboration through webmail, e-learning, teaching and conferencing, for analysing and sharing data, and for accessing journals and libraries.
Normally, each individual online service requires a separate user account to be set up. Through participation in national identity federation and international interfederation agreements, eduGAIN enables users to access services from other participating federations with just one trusted identity, provided by their institution as part of an Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI), using a single sign-on (SSO).
Both the UbuntuNet Alliance and ASREN give access to Science Gateways that allow data sharing of applications in various fields of study, from computer sciences to cultural heritage, to high energy physics, among others.
eduGAIN