'Knowledge Network' to connect academia

The National Knowledge Commission (NKC), constituted by the government last year, is proposing to build a network which will interconnect educational and research institutes in the country. The network will allow universities and institutes like IITs and IIMs to share research data and information on a common network.

NKC is proposing to connect 5,000 entities in the country which would cover universities, academic institutes, research and development labs and libraries. It started studying the project, titled 'Knowledge Network', three months ago and expects to submit a report on the project shortly. Based on the report, NKC will make recommendations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within the next 60 to 90 days.

It has already held discussions with premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) on the proposed network. The network will use a Multiprotocol Label Switching-Virtual Private Network (MPLS-VPN).

With 100 megabytes capacity, the interconnected institutes will be able to exchange information in real time. "The project is feasible. Infrastructure backbone for a national education and research network already exists in the country, so the capital cost will be very minimal. However, there will be some recurring costs on the network," he added.

US and Europe already have similar networks connecting educational and research institutes. In the US, it is the Internet2 which is a networking consortium comprising more than 200 US universities, in co-operation with 70 corporations, 45 government agencies, laboratories and other institutions. Europe has the GEANT network which is a multi-gigabyte pan-European research and education network. The GÉANT network connects 34 countries through 30 national research and education networks.

NKC's model is not based on these network's though there may be some similarities between the US and Europen model and knowledge network envisaged for India.