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Lars raised the interesting question of what NRENs do the fundamental role of an NREN is and whether it they can be summarized as package forwarding. It was brought up that the just Internet Protocol packet forwarders or something more. The presentation sought to encourage a discussion about if the current NREN pillars - which include Trust and Identity, Connectivity and Data (but with Data being addressed indirectly) - are in coherence with address the user’s need of having data in the right place at the right time and delivered to the right person. However, the users These questions raise important topics, as users increasingly want to move and orchestrate data in real-time and space also always more quickly, securely and reliably.
The presentation challenged the participants to rethink the NREN network and its purpose so that it can address all user users’ needs. NRENs can facilitate data capture, movement and access for researchers anywhere. The networks should ensure that researchers are well equipped for easy capture, movement and access control of data so that they are able to fully use the capabilities of this network. In ten years from now, NRENs should ensure that researchers are able to move any amount of data anywhere at any time in a seamless and secure way. This will result in more efficient and valuable networks for the users.
The presentation was followed by a discussion on how data transfer services are just one of the many functions that NRENs have since perform. But they do not provide the integration and dissemination of data within the research institution. Also, the use of and tools such as Globus (data transfer provider) is not likely to be accomplished on the wide scale. Making sure that a backend procedure allowing to accept and integrate different data source , which provides secure data transfer between systems within and across organizations, are not likely to become more popular, due to addressing only a part of the users research lifecycle. Therefore, making sure that a transparent procedure allowing acceptance and integration of different data sources is in place seems to be a valuable solution. Software and metadata management were identified as important aspects in this subject. Participants agreed on the importance of having the reference architecture blueprints and components to serve NRENs as foundations on which they can rely on to build and operate their services available to users around the globe in a timely fashion.
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Chris reminded that the TF-RED Blueprint document which describes what research engagement is as a topic and provides basic information to act as foundation for research engagement professionals to conduct their work, is available on Wiki:
https://aarnet.gitbook.io/tf-red-res-blueprint/-MabeTtuCkEpnEmGwNfD/
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