Cooperation between NSF, Pakistan and EU-funded TEIN2 program delivers connectivity to enable global collaboration

Connection between PERN/PERN2 point in Pakistan and TEIN landing point in Singapore.

October 28, 2008

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) applaud the creation of a functional U.S.-Pakistan network connection. This connection was "inaugurated" last week during the Internet2 Emerging National Research and Education Networks ("NREN") session at the Fall Internet2 meeting in New Orleans.

Representatives from the HEC in Pakistan participated in the meeting via a 155Mbps connection from Islamabad to the TEIN2 network, the NSF- funded TransPAC2 network, and the Internet2 network. The virtual participants from Pakistan were joined by virtual participants from Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, India, Ecuador, Chile and Sweden.

"This represents a major milestone in the development of physical network connectivity between Pakistan and the global scientific community," said Arden L. Bement, Jr., director of the National Science Foundation. "I applaud the diligent and sustained efforts of technologists and governments in the U.S., Europe and Pakistan needed to make this vision a reality. Now we must continue those efforts toward our true goal of enhancing global research and education collaborations."

This network connection represents a unique cooperation between the United States, Pakistan and the European Commission (EC). The physical network connection between Karachi and Singapore was co-funded by the US-NSF and the Pakistan-HEC. In Singapore the network connects to the TEIN2 point of presence and via the EC funded TEIN2 network and the NSF-funded TransPAC2 project—led by Indiana University—to the global research and education network.

"Europe is delighted that Pakistan's scientists and academics are now connected to the global research and education community thanks to this new link," said Viviane Reding, European commissioner for Information Society and Media. "This is an excellent model for co-operation between the United States and European programs, which I hope we can build on in the future."

The introduction of high speed connectivity between the two countries was one stated objective that emerged from a Feb. 13-14, 2007, U.S.-Pakistan Joint Committee Meeting on Science and Technology co-chaired by Bement in Washington, D.C. Other proposed collaborative activities are outlined in the meeting's public report, which may be found at: http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/or/82287.htm.

This new network connection will enable Pakistani scientists from 60 universities and institutes, linked via the Pakistan Education Research Network (PERN), to work with their international peers on research projects that require fast data transfers to share information across the globe.

"I would like to congratulate all who have been involved in the development of this high-performance network connection," said Indiana University President Michael McRobbie. "In today's global marketplace, advanced computer networks have become essential, and through this new network connection, we can expect even greater levels of international participation in the advancement of education and research."

"This network connection is the result of the hard work of many people and groups from the U.S., Pakistan and the EU. It is now our responsibility to continue that hard work and cooperation as we transform this link into a valuable piece of international cyberinfrastructure," said James Williams, principal investigator, Indiana University.

Media Contacts
Lisa-Joy Zgorski, NSF (703) 292-8311 lisajoy@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
James Williams, Indiana University 812-855-5742 william@indiana.edu

Related Websites
Trans-Eurasia Information Network: http://www.tein2.net/
Higher Education Commission, Pakistan: http://www.hec.gov.pk/
Indiana University Press Release: http://uitspress.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9124.html
US-Pakistan International Research and Education Network Connection project: http://www.pakistan.indiana.edu
European Commission Press Release: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1590&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=de

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Read Original Article at : http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112503

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ISLAMABAD (August 13 2007): WiMax service, a high-speed wireless telephone and internet facility, will be launched nation-wide next month for the first time in the country, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Shahzada Alam Malik said on Thursday.

"The infrastructure developed for Wimax Service in Pakistan is the biggest in the world," he said while speaking at a mobile phone company's license extension ceremony here.

The PTA Chairman said the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) license holders in 3.5 GHz frequency have now established their networks using WiMax technology after issuance of commencement certificates by the Authority.

Shahzada Alam said the Authority has issued the certificates to Buraq Telecom, Wateen Telecom and MyTel to start their operations across the country next month.

The rest of the WLL operators holding spectrum in the 3.5 GHz were also in the planning stage while DV Com was also holding WLL license in all 14 telecom regions, he said.

"The networks developed by these companies have been checked and all the commencement certificates have been issued after thorough evaluation by the concerned authorities," he said.

The mobile operators such as Mobilink are also expected to join the WiMax market in the future. China's ZTE Corp has built a pre-WiMax trial network comprising one six-sector Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and 17 CPEs (Customer Premises Equipment) for Telecard.

The infrastructure put in place by various companies is a milestone in the spread of WiMax, a super-fast wireless technology that has a range of up to 30 miles and can deliver broadband at a theoretical maximum of 75 megabits per second. The 802.16-2004 standard, which is used in fixed WiMax networks, is being skipped in favour of a large-scale introduction of 802.16e, which was only recently agreed upon by the WiMax Forum.

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As wireless network equipment emerges, interest in the use of wireless within industrial environments has surged. But navigating and understanding the technical aspects of the various technologies and standards is essential in the selection of suitable wireless equipment for your application.

Selecting the right technology and equipment will ultimately lead to a successfully installed, well-designed, reliable and efficient communication system. The following diagram and chart offers insight into the different wireless standards and applications best suited for each of the new Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN), Local Area (WLAN) and Metropolitan Area (WMAN) Networks applications. These include wireless standards and acronyms such as: 802.15.4 and ZigBee, 802.1a and Bluetooth, WUSB, Proprietary Radio Modems, 802.11 and Wi-Fi and finally 802.16 and WiMAX.

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Wireless LAN Configurations

Currently, most wireless networks (WLANs) are based on the IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a or 802.11g standards. These standards define how to wirelessly connect computers or devices to a network. Wireless enabled devices send and receive data indoors and out, anywhere within the range of a wireless access point.

The choice of standard depends on your requirements, including data communications speed and range, the level of security, noise and interference concerns, compatibility issues and cost.

• 802.11b was the first 802.11 standard to be released and have commercial products available. Also called Wireless Fidelity, or Wi-Fi, it has a range suitable for use in big office spaces. Wi-Fi is currently the most popular and least expensive wireless LAN specification. It operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz radio spectrum and can transmit data at speeds up to 11 Mbps within a 30m range. It can be affected by interference from mobile phones and Bluetooth devices which can reduce transmission speeds.
  
• 802.11a has a couple of advantages over Wi-Fi. It operates in a less-populated (but also unlicensed) frequency band (5.15GHz to 5.35GHz) and is therefore less prone to interference. Its bandwidth is much higher than 802.11b, with a theoretical peak of 54 Mbps. However, actual throughput is typically closer to 25 Mbps.
  
• 802.11g is the latest standard and promises to be the most popular format. It combines the speed the 802.11a and backward compatibility with 802.11b. It operates in the same frequency band as 802.11b but consequently also can be affected by interference.

The following table provides some comparative communications distances at various data communications speeds for each of the 802.11 standards.

Table 1. 802.11 a, b, g Range Comparison

The following table provides information on data rates for each standard. Note that 802.11g systems operate significantly faster when there are no 802.11b clients in the network.

Table 2. 802.11a, b, g Data Rate Comparison

Basic Wireless Network Topology

When upgrading to a wireless network the overall layout can be a bit confusing. In the figure below we can see a typical wired client/server network setup including a network hub or (more often in modern networks) switch, a dedicated server, PC and a serial device connected to the network via a serial server. This is referred to as a wired infrastructure configuration.

Figure 1. Wired Infrastructure Network Configuration

A simpler wired network configuration (shown below) dispenses with the server and only consists of computers and other networked devices connected via their Ethernet interfaces through the hub or switch. This configuration is called wired peer to peer network.

Figure 2. Peer to Peer Configuration

To give either of these existing networks wireless capability, connect a wireless access point (AP) to the network switch as shown in figure below. Laptop or desktop computers equipped with wireless cards, or other wireless devices such as wireless serial servers, communicate with each other and the wired network via the AP. Wireless devices connect to the switch as if they are connected via a normal network cable. A major benefit to adding the wireless segment is that you can avoid running new cables. Another is that you can add up to 32 wireless computer users without having to buy a bigger switch with more ports.

Figure 3. Infrastructure Wireless Network

Wireless devices also can be set up as a peer to peer, or Ad Hoc, network configuration, as shown below.

Figure 4. Adhoc Wireless Network

Extending the Range

WLANs have a flexible architecture. You can easily extend the range and allow seamless roaming between APs. The preferred setup method for roaming within the office environment is to install multiple APs with the same Service Set Identifier (SSID) and security settings, however with each on a unique channel. 802.11 has three truly unique channels: 1, 6 and 11. You can spread out the APs in an overlapping channel layout as shown below:

Figure 5. Extending Range

802.11 Authentication & Encryption Security Basics

Like installing locks and keys on a door to control entry, wireless LAN security is designed to control which users can access the wireless LAN. The following table provides a summary of various WLAN security protocols and techniques.

Table 3. Security Types available for 802.11

Default Security Settings

To provide basic authentication, most APs support simple MAC address filtering. Default security values are built-in and, in most cases, the AP implements these values on power up. However, you may want to make changes. Typically the following three parameters are configurable:

• SSID – The Service Set Identifier will normally default to the manufacturer's name. You can set it to any word or phrase you like.
• Channel – Normally the channel setting will default to channel 6. However, if a nearby neighbor is also using an access point and it is set to channel 6, there can be interference. Choose any other channel between 1 and 11. An easy way to see if your neighbors have access points is to use the search feature that comes with your wireless card.
• WEP Key – WEP is disabled by default. To turn it on you must enter a WEP key and turn on 128-bit encryption.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

WEP is the original security protocol for WLANs, defined in the 802.11 standard. WEP was the only encryption available on early 802.11 devices and is not an industrial security algorithm. Although simple to implement, WEP is easily hacked. Significant security improvements can be made simply by implementing two options built in to the Access Point: MAC address filtering and hiding the SSID. These measures will stop unwanted traffic from accidental intrusion and casual hackers, but are not sufficient for sensitive data or mission-critical networks.

Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP)

LEAP is a proprietary authentication solution that is based on 802.1X but adds proprietary elements of security. The standard was developed by Cisco and, although implementation is simple, it shares some weaknesses with WEP and should not be used if high security is required for your configuration.

LEAP helps eliminate security vulnerabilities through the use of the following techniques

• Mutual Authentication – The client must authenticate the network and the network needs to authenticate the client.
• User-Based Authentication – LEAP eliminates the possibility of an unauthorized user access the network through a preauthorized piece of equipment by the use of usernames and passwords.
• Dynamic WEP Keys – LEAP uses 802.1X to continually generate unique WEP keys for each user.
  

Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)

PEAP is a flexible security scheme that creates an encrypted SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security) channel between the client and the authentication server, and the channel then protects the subsequent user authentication exchange. To create the secure channel between client and authentication server, the PEAP client first authenticates the PEAP authentication server using digital certificate authentication. When the secure TLS channel has been established, you can select any standard EAP-based user authentication scheme for use within the channel.

After the user is successfully authenticated, dynamically generated keying material is supplied by the authentication server to the wireless AP. From this keying material, the AP creates new encryption keys for data protection.

Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)

TKIP is part of the IEEE 802.11i encryption standard for WLANs and is the next generation of WEP. It enhances WEP by adding a per-packet key mixing function, a message integrity check and a re-keying mechanism. TKIP encryption replaces WEP’s small (40-bit) static encryption key, manually entered on wireless APs and client devices, with a 128 bit per-packet key. TKIP significantly mitigates WEP’s vulnerabilities but does not provide complete resolution for its weaknesses.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)

WPA was introduced as a subset of the 802.11i security standard based on TKIP. WPA addresses the weaknesses of WEP with the dynamic encryption scheme provided by TKIP. WPA dynamically generates keys and removes the predictability that intruders rely on to exploit the WEP key. WPA also includes a Message Integrity Check (MIC), designed to prevent anattacker from capturing, altering and resending data packets.

Table 4. WPA and WPA2 Mode Types

Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)

Launched in September 2004 by the Wi-Fi Alliance, WPA2 is the certified interoperable version of the full IEEE 802.11i specification which was ratified in June 2004. Like WPA, WPA2 supports IEEE 802.1X/EAP authentication or PSK technology. The authentication method used depends on whether Personal Mode or Enterprise Mode is being implemented. Encryption is the same in both modes. The encryption mechanism is the Counter-Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP) called the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES satisfies U.S. government security requirements.

When a user associates with an access point, WPA2 mutual authentication process is initiated. The AP blocks access to the network until the user provides the appropriate credentials. The mutual authentication process ensures that only authorized users can gain access to the network. It also ensures that the client is connecting to an authorized server. If the user’s credentials are accepted by the authentication server, the client is admitted to the WLAN.

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