The 100 Gbps link directly connecting the Philippines to the Arterial Research and Education Network in Asia-Pacific (ARENA-PAC) via Guam is now activated. 

Figure 1. Concept of ARENA-PAC backbone network (Photo from ARENA-PAC) 

This milestone follows the signed agreements on 15 November 2022 between ARENA-PAC, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) to promote cooperation and coordination on research activities, resources, and services that can benefit from high-speed networks; sharing of research data; and Open Science.  

In his speech during the activity, ARENA-PAC Co-Director Jun Murai conveyed that, working with DOST-ASTI for high-speed additional connectivity is a starting point of the next phase of contribution to the advanced science and technology development not limited to the Asia-Pacific region but also the global research and education community.

Figure 2. (From left) DOST-ASTI Director Franz A. de Leon, DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum, ARENA-PAC Co-Director Jun Murai, and SOI Asia Project Lead Prof. Keiko Okawa during the MOU signing on 15 November 2022 

DOST-ASTI's Philippine Research, Education, and Government Information Network (PREGINET) will play a major role in this collaboration. With the link now fully operational, DOST-ASTI shifts its focus to utilizing the use of this link by facilitating research collaborations and engaging with research and academic organizations that can benefit from it. 

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More about ARENA-PAC 

ARENA-PAC is a project of the Asia Pacific Internet Development Trust (APIDT) and is operated by the WIDE Project with support from the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). It started in 2020 to establish a wide-reaching and high-capacity backbone network spreading across the Asia-Pacific region through interconnections with other research and education networks.