Further Development Strategy of CESNET a. l. e.
The Association was founded in 1996 by all the universities in the Czech Republic, together with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The main goals of the Association include the development and operation of the National Research and Education Network of the Czech Republic (Czech NREN), research and development of advanced network technologies and applications, and dissemination of related information.
1 Association Mission and Status
The Association endeavors to be a center of internationally comparable research in the area of high-speed computer networks and their applications, providing a National Research Network offering a high standard of services both to the members and partners of the Association. The purpose the Association sees in its existence is the development and support of joint activities with the objective to develop and utilize the research and development information infrastructure, particularly high-speed data networks. The goals are to create a communication environment with non-standard and unique services, supporting domestic research and education and providing for full-featured communication of distributed teams as well as full-fledged participation of research and education institutions from the Czech Republic in promising research trends within the international scope.
These goals are achieved by the Association in particular through the following means
Active participation in the research and development in the area of new IT applications, especially high-speed computer networks.
Implementation of new network elements and products in non-standard research and education conditions.
Development of international as well as national cooperation with relevant organizations.
Operation and development of a high-speed backbone network and provision of high-quality communication services for organizations connected to this network.
Utilization of the Association's organization structure to support collective participation of the Czech research and development organizations in international and national programs aiming at a higher usage level of data communication.
Provision of non-routine, unique services to authorities coordinating the research and development activities in the Czech Republic, based on non-standard utilization of advanced IT and telecommunications equipment in the research and development environment.
With this objective in mind and using the aforementioned means, the Association develops its activities in the spheres defined by the Founding Contract of the Association and other basic documents.
The activities of the Association focus on its members—public universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic—as well as on other universities, high schools and elementary schools, research organizations and teams, libraries, university hospitals, and public administration bodies—especially those taking care of the research and development organization.
Consistently following the initiative and common interests of its members and other partners, the Association is built around their creative potential and places the main emphasis on respecting their needs. The Association's activities are based on cooperation of its organizational units with computing and information centers and technical, research, and scientific workers of the Association's members and other partners.
The Association now comprises 27 members from the sector of public universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The Association financing sources are member contributions, subsidies for implementation of national and international research activities and projects, and other income resulting from the Association operation. The total revenue is reinvested to support the Association's activities within its mission.
2 Development of the National Science, Research and Education Network
Application of results of the research and development in the area of information and communication technologies in the development of the national science, research and education network (NREN) remains the key activity of the Association. This network has two crucial roles in the Association's activities: On one hand, the network is used as a communication infrastructure for members and other organizations connected. Their users need to be provided with a wide scale of reliable top-level services. On the other hand, NREN operates as a platform for testing and application the Association's own research results. To accomplish this, the network needs to be as flexible and open as possible. Harmonization of these two roles is the most important task of the Association as the NREN operator. The following is required to achieve this task:
Continuously monitor the development of information and communication technologies in selected areas and actively participate in this development.
Apply—in a creative way—the knowledge obtained when developing the NREN.
Engage in relevant international projects and use them to gain access to services of international science, research and education networks. Cooperate with foreign partners on creating and developing the European Research Area (ERA).
Separate components used for the research from elements providing services to members using allocation of selected routes, virtualization, and other suitable methods. Ensure redundancy of key network components and minimize impacts of possible downtimes.
Expand the portfolio of services offered towards a complex e-infrastructure, integrating in addition to transmission services also higher-layer services (middleware, computing and storage environments, cooperation environments etc.).
In order to provide users with advance services, it is necessary to harmonize the development of the Association member networks with the NREN backbone infrastructure development and transfer results achieved within the network development between the backbone and networks of the connected organizations. To accomplish this objective, an intensive cooperation of the Association and its members is needed, in particular in the following areas:
Mutual handover of information and knowledge and cooperation on implementation of new services.
Cooperation on search for network development financing sources and application for joint research and network projects.
Cooperation on creation of network policies and in the network security and network user security area.
Creation of mechanisms for discussing needs of members and other users from the perspective of the NREN services portfolio development.
Collective identification of needs of users with demanding requirements in the area of information and communication technologies.
In the sector of services provision for the science and research the Association needs to create suitable organizational, economical and technical conditions to open access to its services to the widest range of institutions dealing with all types of research and development (basic, application, industrial). Priority is given to organizations working on government-supported research and development tasks. However, connection to the NREN should also be attractive for other entities engaged in this area.
It is necessary to increase the efficiency of the exchange of information on the activities of the Association and NREN capabilities with users. The Association should seek new ways to contact potential users of the complex e-infrastructure and its services.
3 Research Activities
The Association has been acting in the Czech Republic as a technology innovator in the long-term perspective, creating inspiration for other entities engaged in the area of data communication. In order to maintain this position and allow for developing a NREN meeting even the highest demands, it is imperative for CESNET to carry on its research activities in the fields relating to the e-infrastructure, further developing the results achieved so far. Strategic goals in the research area follow:
Strengthen and expand its position of one of the world's leading organizations in the area of network and new network applications research. Concentrate mainly on those areas where the Association succeeds in obtaining results respected in the worldwide scope.
Find other leading global organizations from various continents for long-term research and implementation partnership.
Engage in research projects with global impact and projects supporting the Association's strategic goals and/or initiate such projects.
Develop a network of contacts with research workers of its members, significantly expanding the research cooperation with members within international projects and in other areas.
Join efforts with other entities (companies, users etc.) who are active in the research sector or would be suitable as result applicators.
The strongest domain of the Association is the applied research and development, oriented on solutions to practical problems and enabling practical usage of the results achieved. The research activities therefore need to include practical application of the results, both contributing to the development of other e-infrastructures in the Czech Republic and potentially representing one of the Association's financing sources. To simplify the practical application of results, mainly the following criteria need to be met:
Follow up the existing experience and quality results in this area, using them within new options emerging by putting more emphasis on the practical application of results in new subsidy programs.
Boost the focus on preparation and implementation of research projects with a participation of the universities, research institutes, other NRENs, productions plants and user communities, which would increase the likelihood of acceptance and success in the research-production-application cycle.
Significantly support the practical application of own results and products.
Develop an environment for sharing and applying knowledge; create innovation-oriented work atmosphere.
Protect selected research results in order to create conditions for their efficient practical application, including the possibility to obtain private funds for co-financing.
Test and apply research results also in the e-infrastructure development and cooperate in this area with organizations connected to the NREN.
Keep supporting new application within the infrastructure research and other projects. Extend the participation in crucial international network application and grid projects supporting migration of the science and research to a networked environment.
4 Organizational Aspects
Meeting the aforementioned objectives requires considerable resources. Therefore, from the organization viewpoint, the key role of the Association is to secure appropriate resources needed to develop the NREN and implement the Association's own research activities. Considering the long-term stability, the financing sources need to be diversified and the widest range of available tools must be used. Priorities follow:
Successfully implement mainly large research and development projects, using them as references when applying for new projects.
Continuously evaluate the programs announced, mainly in the area of research of communication services and their applications and science, research and education infrastructure, using them as a source of new high-profile projects.
Keep on developing the participation in foreign projects and increasing the share of resources obtained in this way in the Association's budget.
Obtain additional resources in the form of service payments provided to organizations connected to NREN and resources generated by practically applied results.
Use fund-based management as a tool supporting accomplishment of the Association's strategic goals.
The existing legal form of the association of legal entities seems to be optimal given the existing conditions. A transformation would only be meaningful if the relevant laws changed.
Since the Association operates in a very dynamic area, its internal structure needs to be flexible enough to respond to changing external conditions. The key prerequisite is a team of qualified, adaptable and creative employees, mainly in departments dealing with the NREN research and development. For the personnel and organizational structure the following aspects are critical:
Handle the existing lack of premises. Analyze needs of employees (in particular relating to the access to equipment and infrastructure and mutual communication), design and implement suitable means for expanding the existing workplaces.
Maintain and further develop the Association's ability to hire staff in a way targeted to work on specific projects and use other ways to adjust the structure of the Association to match the current needs.
Use suitable forms to motivate employees to engage in research and development projects and mainly achieve successful practical application of the results obtained.
Attend to the professional development of employees and increase the personnel structure quality. Use appropriate steps to stabilize key employees and ensure their substitutability.
Support creativity of employees and minimize the administration load put on creative staff members.
Establish mechanisms for an effective horizontal and vertical information flow among employees and partners and for planning activities that will ensure the maximum efficiency of this flow.
Prague, 10th July 2008