Opening of the HEAnet First National Networking
Conference
Tipperary Institute, Thurles, Thursday 15 November 2001
I am delighted and honoured to have been asked to open this conference.
I would like to congratulate HEAnet, and its chief executive John Boland,
for organising this conference and for drawing up a very interesting programme.
I am also delighted to speak for the first time at the Tipperary Institute.
I would like to congratulate the Institute and its Chief Executive, Padraig
Culbert on developing its unique and exciting mission.
I regret that my first visit to the Institute is a virtual one but I intend
to make good that shortcoming.
My colleagues, John Hayden and Mary Kerr have also asked me to let you know
that they are sorry that they cannot join you today. There was an unavoidable
clash between the HEAnet Conference and critical meetings in the PRTLI process.
Knowledge and information - the sources of future prosperity
I would like to share some thoughts with you about knowledge and information
as the sources of future prosperity.
We are all used to disagreement between pundits, commentators and analysts
about the interpretation and meaning of recent events and indeed about the
short-term future.
However, it is interesting that most if not all analysts, when they look
to the long-range future, are unanimous in agreeing that knowledge will be
the keystone of future societies.
The success or otherwise which communities, countries and economic groupings
have in transforming themselves into knowledge societies will be the key
determinant of economic and social progress.
We have heard this time and time again - so frequently, in fact, that it
runs the risk of becoming commonplace and that policy makers are in danger
of overlooking its implications.
Knowledge capital is the source of future growth. Information is an essential
feedstock of knowledge. Because of ICT, and particularly because of the Internet,
knowledge and information have now become as mobile, if not more so, than
the traditional forms of capital - finance and enterprise. E- knowledge will
become critical to, and indeed may overshadow, e- commerce! Where is Ireland
positioned? We then need to look as to where Ireland is positioned.
The mission of HEAnet includes the delivery of quality Internet access
to world-wide resources to put our students and researchers on the same platform
as the most advanced countries.
This transcends the education sector and is a vital part of our national
development strategy.
HEAnet developed its Next Generation Internet proposal about two years
ago.
The HEA was delighted to support the proposal.
Many of you will recall that the project was annouced by the Taoiseach at
a reception for President Clinton when he visited Ireland last year.
Bringing important proposals like this to the implementation stage requires
hard work and persistence.
John Boland was a key player and the support of Brendan Tuohy, now Secretary
- General of the Department of Public Enterprise, was hugely important. Mary
Kerr of the HEA Executive and Paddy McDonagh, Assistant Secretary and his
colleagues in the Department of Education and Science made sure that the
proposal was included in the strategic financial allocations.
Following strong cross-government support and, in particular, funding from
the Departments of Public Enterprise and Education and Science as well as
from the Information Society Development Fund, I am delighted that HEAnet
have now delivered on this proposal.
The launch of the NGI connections to the US, Europe and Northern Ireland
at this conference gives an enormous boost to our international Internet
connectivity.
It lifts Ireland from having one of the lowest levels of capacity in Europe
to being in the leading pack of the most advanced European countries. Ireland
now has direct relationships with Internet2 in the US and with the
state-of-the-art Pan-European Research network, Geant.
We are part of developing the new Internet which will run at speeds of 1000
times the speed of today's Internet.
Our researchers, students and staff can now collaborate worldwide - and are
poised to do so - in the areas of advanced applications such as security
and Public Key Infrastructure - which will underpin the development of
e-Government and e-Society.
However, clearly there is no room for complacency and we must continue to
drive forward our international connectivity and collaborations to keep pace
with the rapid developments which are taking place globally.
Localising the National Backbone - the next steps
The Higher Education Authority has been extremely pleased to provide the
funding to build and manage a national broadband infrastructure for education
and research.
This has provided a high-speed backbone at the centre. But the challenge
ahead now is for HEAnet to extend this backbone right out to the front door
of every higher education organisation.
We need to bring the highway right out to the third level institutions. It
will not be good enough to have boreens connecting the institutions to the
backbone highway. We will support HEAnet in developing and bringing forward
proposals to Government to achieve this objective.
These developments are necessary to enable all of the institutions to obtain
maximum benefit from the enormous advances that we making and must continue
to make in the coming years.
In order to assist in the transition towards this major goal we have agreed
with HEAnet to provide some funding for this academic year to upgrade connections
to the backbone for all third level institutions funded by the Department
of Education and Science and by the HEA.
Closing
Finally, I would like to congratulate HEAnet on organising this conference
and particularly to congratulate them on their achievements to date…
and to wish all of you a most successful and valuable conference. |
