The Internet2 Technology Exchange (TechEx) conference is one of the largest technology and networking conferences in the R&E community.

This year it took place from 18 – 22 September in Minneapolis and provided 15 tutorials and 100+ technical talks covering advanced networking, cloud technology, identity and access management, and information security.

During the conference, the Global Network Advancement Group (GNA-G) members gathered in a side meeting to discuss GNA-G activities and a range of topics. A welcome speech by Internet2 CEO Howard Pfeffer was followed by a GNA-G leadership team update by Ivana Golub.

The two discussion sessions followed. The first focused on the use of self-assessment tools, where Maria Isabel Gandia Carriedo from CSUC presented on the Orchestration, Automation and Virtualisation (OAV) Maturity Model and Steve Wallace from Internet2 presented on the Routing Integrity tool.

The second session explored the planning and development of R&E Networks. A summary of outcomes from similar discussion sessions held at previous events was provided, including TNC23, which was presented by Bram Peeters from GÉANT, and APAN56, which was presented by Alexander van den Hil, SURF.

Key takeaways:

  • GREN security is an important area that should be taken up by the GNA-G, as it provides a space for collaboration and sharing knowledge and experience from the local level and looking at increasing the security at the global level.
  • There is a demand for sharing global R&E network usage information to better understand the collective network usage in support of research and education, as well as data intensive science. This ties together with an existing need to understand big science demand.
  • Self-assessment tools are useful for seeing how our R&E networks are performing, where they want to be, and where other networks are, to make informed decisions, as a means for speaking with management, and for risk management.

The next GNA-G meeting will take place at SC23 on 14 November 2023. Find out more

Author: Ivana Golub, PSNC (Poland/Croatia)