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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BELLA-S1 (BELLA-S1 Building Europe Link with Latin America)

Teaser

Summary

The BELLA (Building Europe Link with Latin America) programme provides for the long-term interconnectivity needs of the European and Latin American research and education networks.

The aim of the BELLA Programme is to strengthen connectivity between Europe and Latin America, ensuring very high capacity on a short route, bringing cost benefits and stimulating diversity over the transatlantic segment (BELLA-S). BELLA is also upgrading the RedCLARA backbone in Latin America to a 100Gbps-capable network (BELLA-T). The BELLA-S1 project supports BELLA-S as a constituent part of the BELLA Programme.

The BELLA-S aim is met by securing guaranteed long-term spectrum on a direct telecommunications submarine cable between Latin America and Europe and implementing sufficient capacity between the GÃ‰ANT and RedCLARA networks to provide for the immediate capacity requirements of the research and education communities in the two regions.

By obtaining spectrum on a direct cable between the two regions, latency will be reduced, benefiting users for whom data transmission speed is important. Furthermore, data security will be enhanced, as traffic will be routed directly between the two regions, and not via other third-party countries.
The outcome of BELLA will significantly improve the long-term potential for research and education communities to collaborate.

Examples of the user groups that will benefit from the connectivity obtained and implemented by the project include European researchers who need access to data collected by the large array of astronomy infrastructures in Chile, and researchers in Latin America, particularly Brazil, who collaborate with the LHC.

The project will also contribute to strengthening the close working relationship between the European and Latin American research and education networking communities.

The objectives of BELLA are:
- To procure and sign a contract for a long-term Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) for 40%-50% of the spectrum of one fibre pair on a submarine cable directly linking Europe and South America for use by the research and education communities and not-for-profit organisations of both continents.
- To deploy a minimum of one 100Gbps wavelength between GÃ‰ANT and RedCLARA to serve the research and education communities of both continents, and additional links as may be determined by the Steering Committee of the BELLA Consortium, which will be established to oversee the progress of BELLA activities.
- To carry out dissemination activities to raise awareness among the research and education networking communities of Europe and Latin America and promote usage of the new infrastructure.

Work performed

The BELLA-S procurement was launched on 10 June 2016, in adherence with European Union Directive 2014/24/EU (26 February 2014) as enacted by the UK Public Contract Regulations 2015, using the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation. The negotiation phase was completed on 7 March. Following an Intent to Award notification published on 26 March 2018, and the successful completion of the subsequent ten-day standstill period, the procurement was concluded on April 2018. Preparations for contract signature were subsequently started.

The BELLA website has been created at www.bella-programme.eu as well as a Twitter account (@BELLA_Programme).

Final results

By obtaining and implementing transatlantic capacity on a direct cable connecting Europe and Latin America, BELLA will provide a previously unfeasible ability to provide for the long-term capacity needs of research and academic collaboration between Europe and Latin America. Furthermore, by obtaining capacity on a direct cable, latency between the GÃ‰ANT and RedCLARA networks will be more than halved.

It is common for research and education networks to procure long-term contracts (known as Indefeasible Rights of Use) for access to dark fibre. This enables the networks to be lit quickly and at low additional cost to meet capacity requirements. However, this business model has hitherto only been implemented within individual countries or geographical regions. All of GÃ‰ANTâ€™s interconnections with other world regions are currently provided through short-term capacity leases, or at best, leases of up to ten years.

In Period 1, BELLA-S1 has made progress towards advancing beyond the state of the art by completing the BELLA-S procurement for capacity between Europe and Latin America for research and education purposes on a direct cable connecting the two regions. The delivery of the capacity in Period 2 will enable BELLA to complete this work.