To promote global integration, supported by information and communication technologies, to generate knowledge and maintain excellence in the segments of education and research. With this focus, RNP is conducting new partnerships, and one of them stands out in the Middleware project for Collaborative Applications and Virtual Global Communities (Magic), which began its activities in May 2015, after approval by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Program. The initiative intends to improve the capacity for collaboration between researchers and college students throughout the world.

The goal is to share the positive results and lessons learned by the Elcira project (Europe Latin America Collaborative e-Infrastructure for Research Activities) with the academic networks (NRENs) from other regions. “Elcira had as a main focus to help the performance of collaborative projects between researchers in Latin America and Europe. After 29 months running, the project was finished, in November 2014, with every benchmarks met and an official opinion by the European Commission stressing the excellent work done by the management team. The next step is to share these benefits globally”, RNP’s Service Manager, Leandro Guimarães, highlights.

Not only did RNP contribute to the success of Elcira, but it also took an active part in the project, coordinating two works. One of them was the development of four identity federations in Latin American academic networks and their adhesion to eduGAIN, a service that allows a trusted exchange of information on identity, authentication and authorization between federations and service providers, with other three in pilot. The other consists of the expansion of eduroam, which had a significant growth in Latin America and currently accounts for 1,400 secure wireless access points, distributed through various countries. Out of these, Brazil hosts the vast majority, with 1,110 points.

As a result of the performance obtained during the developed works, RNP became a member of Magic. “This project brings an even greater challenge, because it shall address themes such as cloud computing, global science communities, real-time collaboration, in addition to identity management, to be developed in an articulate, collaborative manner by academic networks in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Oceania, Middle East and Latin America, with a greater participation by RNP”, Service Manager Deputy Director, Antônio Carlos Fernandes Nunes, assures.

Representatives of the academic networks (NREns) that integrate Magic were presented in the initiative’s launch event, held on June 11 and 12, in Paris. The gathering was a great opportunity to stress the goals and challenges of the project, assuring the participation of every region in the world. “The kickoff gathering demonstrated the strength and interest generated by the project, with representatives from the five continents, focused on the development and integration of their respective regions. For RNP, it was fundamental to present the actions planned under its responsibility, in addition to establish the commitments necessary with the other partners, also bringing the experience accumulated by Elcira. In fact, an initiative that aims to leverage global collaboration, this is Magic”, Nunes states.