• Announces

Alcalá de Henares University's Escuela Politécnica Superior hosted the 20th Anniversary RedIRIS
Conference (which corresponded with the 19th edition of the Technical Conferences). Experts and
heads of ICT from the universities and research centres in the RedIRIS community attended the
conference to exchange information, reviewed the past and shared a vision of the near future of which
all the member organisations will be a part. The highlight of this conference was the RedIRIS NOVA
project for the roll out of a dark fibre network to replace the current network (RedIRIS 10). Eighteen
sponsoring companies of the event were represented at the conference. 
 
The inaugural ceremony, which took place on 19 November, was presided over by Virgilio Zapatero,
chancellor of Alcala de Henares University, who shared the table with Juan José Moreno, director
general of planning and co-ordination at the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de
Ciencia e Innovación, MICINN); Sebastián Muriel, general director of Red.es; and Gustavo Severien
Tigeras, Alcala's deputy mayor.
 
The inaugural address was given by Enrique Fernández, chairman of the scientific committee of the
largest research experiment in the world, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), in which R&D work
depends heavily on advanced communication networks, such as RedIRIS. 
 
This was followed by a round table, moderated by RedIRIS' current director, Tomás de Miguel, in
which the various stages of the advanced communication network for the Spanish academic and
research community were discussed. Also taking part in this round table were former directors of
RedIRIS: José Barberá, advisor to the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information
Society (Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce) and Víctor Castelo, director of
communications and security at the Spanish National Research Council, and collaborator of MICINN, 
as well as Juan Riera, professor at the Politécnica University in Madrid, who has played a very
important role in the development of RedIRIS since its beginnings. 
 
Lastly, Andreu Veà, lecturer at Stanford University, read a paper on the history of the Internet world-
wide, with special reference to its development in Spain where RedIRIS has been one of the most
active agents. 
During the three days of the conference, several parallel sessions were held with talks on different
subjects, such as multimedia services, identity and security, collaboration services, emerging network
technologies, services development and high performance computation. 
 
The closing ceremony was held on Friday 21, attended by José Ignacio Alonso Montes, deputy
director general of planning, studies and monitoring (MICINN); Francisco López Ferreras, director of
the Escuela Politécnica Superior at Alcala University; and Tomás de Miguel, director of RedIRIS.
Prior to the ceremony, Bert van Pinxteren, Chief Administrative Officer of TERENA (Trans-
European Research and Education Networking Association) gave a speech in which he presented a
vision of RedIRIS from the European perspective.
 
 Apart from the various sessions, which could be followed online using streaming technology, the
collaborating companies exhibited their products on stands located in the same area as the conference.
At this conference marking the 20th anniversary of RedIRIS, a TV studio was set up in which Andreu
Veà, lecturer at Stanford University, interviewed people who have played an important role in the
birth and development of the Internet in Spain. Additionally, there was a Timeline in the exhibition
area showing the most significant milestones in the development of the Internet and of RedIRIS,
which was completed with contributions from the conference participants.
As customary, the conference was preceded by Working Group sessions held on 17 and 18 November
in the same centre and by a meeting between RedIRIS and the regional academic and research
networks, which took place on Tuesday 18 November.
 
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