Message from the Chairperson, Prof. Zimani Kadzamira

UbuntuNet Alliance has been established to capitalise on the emergence of optical fibre and other terrestrial infrastructure opportunities and thus become the Research and Education Network (REN) backbone of Africa! Tertiary education and research institutions throughout the rest of the world are connected to the Internet using fast low-cost fibre. This gives them a huge research and learning bonus. Until now, most of Africa has been missing from this connected world. However, this is changing with the emergence of UbuntuNet Alliance which enjoys close linkages with the Association of African Universities and the regional higher education bodies.

Established and emerging NRENs (National Research and Education Networks) in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa came together as the Founders of a new grouping: the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking. The vision of delivering very high speed - gigabits (Gb/s) connectivity instead of the current kilobits (kb/s) between African Universities and Research Institutions is driving the Alliance forward at a rapid pace. The founding NRENs have been joined by DRC, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and most recently Ethiopia and SomaliREN. In addition several NRENs in construction are working with the Alliance in capacity building. The UbuntuNet Alliance is registered as a non-profit association of NRENs in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Amsterdam.

UbuntuNet Alliance is a partner in the EU FP7 e-Infrastructures project, GLOBAL and ERINA4AFRICA