Prague Hosts Meetings of TERENA's Task Forces

Last week, Prague hosted the meetings of two specialized Task Forces of TERENA, the Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association. The meetings were hosted by CESNET, an association of Czech universities and the Czech Academy of Sciences, which has been building and developing the Czech national network of CESNET2.

Representatives of the TERENA Task Force on European Middleware Coordination and Collaboration (TF-EMC2) met on September 4–5. The primary purpose of this Task Force is to establish a discussion forum on middleware issues and to foster cooperation in this field across Europe and all over the world. The Task Force facilitates experience and knowledge exchange, supports the development and testing of innovative middleware technologies and the use of common standards and procedures for the authentication and authorization infrastructures, the actual on-campus middleware implementation as well as cooperation with other international middleware activities, such as the Open Grid Forum (OGF) or Internet2. One of the main topics of the meeting in Prague related to security issues in voice-over-IP service authentication and authorization, which was discussed during a joint meeting with the TF-ECS Task Force.

The Task Force Enhanced Communication Services (TF-ECS) convened in Prague on September 5–6. This Task Force deals with the support of tools and technologies facilitating easier availability of voice-over-IP services and video conferences. Therefore, this Task Force coordinates specific national activities in real time communication and provides support to next-generation services.

The CESNET association was founded by universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The association is currently financed mainly from the resources of the governmental Committee for Research and Education and from the funds of the association members. The association is involved in the research and development of information and communication technologies, in building and developing the CESNET2 national gigabit optical network, which is designed for research and educational purposes. With its research activities and accomplishments, CESNET represents the Czech Republic in the pan-European GÉANT2 network construction project as well as in other international projects.