• Announces

On the 19th of February, The Princes of Asturias visited Red.es, a public entity whose main remit is to promote Information Society in Spain. The Princes met first with the President of Red.es, its Director-General and members of its Administration Board.

After that meeting, they visited the main office of RedIRIS, the department of Red.es which manages the Spanish National Research and Education Network (NREN).

Tomás de Miguel, the Director of RedIRIS, briefed the Princes about the ICT services provided by RedIRIS to its 350 affiliated research and academic institutions. In particular, RedIRIS provides high-speed connectivity to the Spanish research centres and universities, allowing them to collaborate remotely with its national and international peers, even when massive transfers of data are required.

Tomás de Miguel also informed the Princes about the RedIRIS NOVA project, whose budget amounts to 130 M€, and which will allow RedIRIS to acquire a dark fibre backbone for at least 10 years.

RedIRIS is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and is included in the Ministry's map of Special Scientific and Technological Facilities. RedIRIS is managed by the public agency Red.es, which belongs to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce through its State Department for Telecommunications and Information Society.