JUCC & HARNET
July 2004
Cairns, Australia
JUCC Offsite Workshop at Tsinghua University – Nov 2003
The Value of JUCC
Joint Universities Computer Centre (JUCC)

Founded in 1970

Consortium of all University IT/Computer
Centres in Hong Kong

JUCC leads in IT excellence for the universities

Good cooperation among IT/Computer Centre
colleagues

Strong computer and network expertise
HARNET

Hong Kong Academic and Research NETwork
(HARNET)

Managed by the Joint Universities Computer
Centre (JUCC)

Supports the eight Universities funded by the
University Grants Committee (UGC)

Also supports some non-profit organizations in
Hong Kong
JUCC members

The University of Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

City University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong Baptist University

The Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology

Lingnan University

The Hong Kong Institute of Education
Other JUCC members

Affiliate Members



Open University of Hong Kong
Vocational Training Council (Institute of
Vocational Education)
Network Members


Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment
Authority
Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks
History of HARNET

1985 - Set up with UUCP connections

1989 - Connected to BITNET with dedicated link

1991 - Connected to Internet at 64 Kbps to USA

1992 - JUCC takes over management of HARNET
funded by University Grants Committee

1993 - 128 Kbps Internet link

1995 - 1.544 (T1) Mbps Internet link with local
T1 star network

1996 - 64 Kbps connection to CERNET (via CityU
of HK to Tsinghua University)
History (cont’d)

1997 - 2 (E1) Mbps IPLC link

1998 - 6 Mbps IPLC link, plus 4 Mbps ISP

1999 - 12 Mbps IPLC link plus 12 Mbps ISP
512 Kbps link to TANET (via HKU to


Academic Sinica of Taiwan)
2000 - 48 Mbps for ISP Internet
2001 - 72 Mbps
- 2 Mbps to CERNET (via HARNET hub to
Tsinghua University)
History (cont’d)


2002 - 96 Mbps
- 10 Mbps to TANET (via HARNET hub to
Academia Sinica’s co-location site in HK)
- 45 Mbps IPLC to Internet2 at Chicago
STARTAP
2003 - 155 Mbps ISP Internet
- 300 Mbps HKIX
- 155 Mbps to CERNET (via HARNET hub to
CERNET co-location site in HK, Feb 2004)
- 45 Mbps to TANET (via HARNET hub to
Academia Sinica’s co-location site in HK)
Upgrade Plan for 3rd Quarter 2004



Dual ISP links - 155 Mbps plus 155 Mbps
400 Mbps HKIX scalable to 1 Gbps
90 Mbps IPLC to Internet2
HARNET Usage

Commodity Internet traffic, electronic mail, file
transfer, library catalogues, supercomputers,
bulletin board services, video-conferencing, etc

TCP/IP network

Very Congested (>90% for 20 hours per week)

Over 10,000 staff and 50,000 students
Management of HARNET

Managed by JUCC

Financial approval by JUCC Board of
Management

Network Task Force for operational and
technical issues

Video Task Force for video applications

Security Working Group
Funding Management

Substantial investment in Internet links

Mainly supported by special UGC funding and
donations

Request for funding reviewed each year

Use of HARNET is free (up till now)

Charging model established since July 1996

Only usage exceeding allocation is charged
Network Management

Never saturating demand for bandwidth

QoS program to regulate usage according to
member institution’s bandwidth allocation

Charging is imposed on bandwidth usage above
the allocation

Charge only imposed if usage is over 95%

Not possible to allocate bandwidth for urgent
needs

Priority setting by individual institutions
Development Plan

Upgrade Connection to Internet2

Promote application of Next Generation Internet
(NGI) technologies

Video Conferencing in all institutions

IPv6 and Multicast

Support Electronic Service Delivery

Certificate Authentication
Future Information Network

Greater use of e-Cert and digital signatures

Video conferencing and video-on-demand

Integrating data, voice, video and web

Optical wavelength networks

Electronic signatures and forms with workflow

High performance computers

Grid Computing

Wireless LANs & wireless access to the Internet
The Value of JUCC


Joint tendering exercises have yielded many
benefits to member institutions and vendors
Premier in Internet development and the
administration of the .hk domain name
registration…


Transferred and re-delegated to a new
membership-based Corporation set up by the
Hong Kong SAR Government in March 2002
Contribution recognised by the Hong Kong SAR
Government
The Value of JUCC (cont’d)

Cooperative model well recognized by UGC, with
success attracting funding for HARNET upgrades

Attract donations from industry for pilot projects

Gathering momentum for more participation
from other organizations

JUCC member is Director of Board of Hong Kong
Internet Registration Corporation

HKCERT Steering Committee
JUCC Organization

Lean Organization
- Director (free service)
- Office (supported by HKU)
- Staffing (2.5 admin staff & 1 tech staff equiv.)

Well-controlled Finance
- Income:
- Contribution from members
- Service fee (software, network)
- Expenses:
- Administration (staff costs, general expenses)
- Software and Training
- Accounting service by PolyU of HK
Current Services

Network Services

Software Licensing

Tenders

Training

Workshops and conferences

Joint off-site workshops with leading higher
education institutions in Mainland China
Visiting Beijing University – Nov 2003
Future Directions (1)

JUCC has laid a good foundation for interinstitution cooperation

The network task force is concentrating on
Next-Generation Internet technologies

The video task force is working on joint video
conferencing among the eight universities

Seed money for future network development

HKSAR Government puts emphasis on IT
development
Future Directions (2)

Explore opportunities for joint software
development

Improve negotiation with vendors, regarding
software and hardware pricing

Develop more inter-institutional cooperation
on new technologies, training, network
security, administrative applications and
support

Promote exchange with sister institutions in
Greater China and Asia Pacific regions
Vision: HK a leader in the use of IT

Support high-bandwidth applications

Facilitate research into new Internet technologies

Develop into Research Internet hub for Asia
Pacific

Expand to be a Hong Kong wide Education
Network for all the school sectors
Thank you