NKN

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National Knowledge Network

Background

One of the important recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) is to inter-connect all knowledge institutions through high speed data communication network. This encourages the sharing of knowledge, specialized resources and collaborative research.

Objectives

The objective of the National Knowledge Network is to bring together all the stakeholders in Science, Technology, Higher Education, Research and Development, GRID Computing, e-governance with speeds scalable eventually up to the order of 10s of gigabits per second coupled with extremely low latencies.

NKN will interconnect all the research, higher education and scientific institutions in the country, over a period of three years. The joint proposal for the establishment of NKN was initiated by the PSA’s Office and the National Knowledge Commission and then has been driven forward by the the Department of IT.

Implementation strategy and targets

The architecture of the NKN will be scalable and the network will consist of an ultra-high speed Core (multiples of 10Gbps and upwards). The Core shall be complemented with a distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating institutions can connect to the NKN at speeds of 1 Gbps or to the distribution layer through a last mile connectivity bandwidth.

The NKN will provide nation-wide ultra high-speed backbone/data-network highway. Various other networks in the country can take advantage of this ultra high-speed backbone, with national and international reach to create independent and closed user groups.

The NKN will have about 25 core Point of Presence (PoPs) and 600 secondary PoPs. It will connect around 1500 Institutions. The physical infrastructure (setting up of core network) is expected to be completed in a span of 24 months.

NKN Features

  • High Capacity, Highly Scalable Backbone
  • Provide Quality of Service (QoS) and Security
  • Wide Geographical Coverage
  • Bandwidth from many NLD’s
  • Highly Reliable & Available by Design
  • Test beds ( for various implementation)
  • Dedicated and Owned.
  • Connectivity for International & other global R&D Networks

Major impact

NKN will enable scientists, researches and students from diverse spheres across the country to work together for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas. NKN will catalyze knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between stakeholders seamlessly – that too across the nation and globally. NKN is expected to encourage a larger section of research and educational institutions to create intellectual property. NKN would enable use of specialized applications, which allow sharing of high performance computing facilities, e-libraries, virtual classrooms and very large databases.

Health, Education, Grid Computing, Agriculture and e-Governance are the main applications identified for implementation and delivery on NKN. Applications such as Countrywide Classrooms will address the issue of faculty shortage and ensure quality education delivery across the country. The crux of the success of the Knowledge Network is related to the education related applications, databases and delivery of services to the users on demand.

Current status of Initial Phase

In the initial phase a core Backbone consisting of 15 Points of Presence (PoPs) have been established with 2.5 Gbps capacity. Around 40 institutions of higher learning and advanced research have already been connected to the network and 6 virtual classrooms setup.