The GÉANT (GN5-1) Project initiative elevating community expertise in advanced networking technologies keeps expanding its reach and growing, with new educational resources, additional learning units, and entire new programmes. In this article, we launch the Quantum Tech eAcademy, disclose plans for the upcoming Optical Time & Frequency Networks (OTFN) eAcademy, and provide updates on various developments such as the anticipated AI section in the Network Automation eAcademy.
What does it take to keep up with the rapid pace of digital transformation, while at the same time driving change and innovation? And how can NRENs continue to evolve their services and networks to maintain the high standards their users rely on, while learning from each other? In this rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, staying ahead requires continuous training, common frameworks, shared skills and learning resources, as well as guidance, direction, clear routes and… maps to help navigate uncharted territories.
When it comes to new frontiers and emerging areas in networking, the GÉANT Network eAcademy perfectly caters to these needs. Created by the Network Development team within GÉANT projects (GN4-3 and then GN5-1) and supported by the GÉANT Learning and Development (GLAD) and Marcomms teams, the Network eAcademy is a service that includes a growing section of GÉANT’s eAcademy platform entirely dedicated to different areas of advanced networking. It provides a wealth of free courses and learning materials for NRENs and for the research and education community at large, and especially for engineers, managers, researchers, students, who want to advance their knowledge in technical domains of network technologies and services.
Courses in the Network eAcademy are created ‘by the community and for the community’. Trainers are usually from NRENs and connected organisations, and course programmes are tailored to the needs of the R&E community, with the inclusion of NREN use cases, of references specific to the R&E context, and of relevant content from global R&E institutions.
Whether you’re an experienced professional looking to expand your expertise in specific areas, or a student exploring the basics, the Network eAcademy is designed to meet your needs. There is no single way to follow the training either: while all courses include an introductory line, more advanced users can decide to engage with specific tracks and topics or to undertake independent units. Intermediate and advanced units always list all pre-required skills and knowledge in the first tab, and link to the units available to fill in possible gaps in those topics.
Navigation through the courses is easy and flexible. Interactive metro maps – a defining and now familiar feature of the Network eAcademy – accompany each course, serving as a visual companion tool and guiding learners through their self-paced learning journey across the different tracks.
Finally, all learning units contain indications about the overall time and commitment required, hands-on exercises, game elements, videos and supporting materials. Units are usually followed by a final quiz to test the knowledge gained and culminate in a certificate of completion.
Network Automation eAcademy – What’s new?
Launched in 2021, the Network Automation eAcademy was the spark that ignited GÉANT’s Network eAcademy initiative. The work initially started with a strategic focus on Orchestration, Automation and Virtualisation (OAV), responding to a need for a common OAV framework across NRENs, common terminology, architecture mapping, documentation and knowledge.
Since then, the Network Automation eAcademy has registered wide growth and uptake, playing a key role in the digital transformation of the R&E networking community. With new units being continuously released, the programme is now comprising 37 units as well as numerous reports, white papers, mapping analysis and terminology documents produced by the team, plus external links and materials.
And that’s not all – new sections and units keep being added, in line with the latest technology developments and dynamic community requirements. Most notably, the ‘Intelligence Management’ line has now been expanded with a new section of ten courses soon to be released covering the field of Artificial Intelligence.
In parallel with the training programmes, the Network Development team continues their work to enhance the community’s OAV maturity by organising knowledge-sharing activities as Infoshares and workshops and developing fundamental resources. These include architecture mapping to the TM Forum Open Digital Architecture, Terminology documentation, service provider architecture, an OAV community portal, an OAV Maturity Model for organisations to self-assess their level of OAV maturity.
Quantum Tech eAcademy – now out!
With this article, the GÉANT (GN5-1) Project’s Network Development team is excited to officially announce the launch of the Quantum Tech eAcademy, a new training series entirely focused on Quantum technologies. The training programme will cover elements of quantum communications, quantum computing, quantum simulation and resources, sensing and metrology, as well as standardisation. In perfect Network eAcademy style, the Quantum Tech course is also introducing its own brand-new interactive metro map to guide users across the different tracks and units.
An introductory block of five units is already available, covering the basics of Quantum Algebra, and specifically the theoretical principles of QuBits, their quantum entanglement and the process of teleportation. These aspects are the fundamentals used in quantum computers, quantum networks and quantum security, and as such we highly recommend starting your quantum learning journey from here and in the right sequence, to then proceed in the preferred direction after the exchange point marked by the big circle.
Additionally, two other units are already available beyond the introduction, covering IBM Qiskit, an open-source toolkit helping to schedule and run quantum programs, and ETSI standard key exchange APIs.
Networks (OTFN) eAcademy – Coming soon!
Looking ahead, we are excited to unveil an upcoming third programme in the GÉANT Network eAcademy, which will be covering Optical Time & Frequency Networks (OTFN).
As Optical Time & Frequency (T&F) transfer as a service keeps gaining interest, and with many European NRENs now either supporting or planning to support T&F services for their users, the need for shared knowledge on these technologies and services is becoming clear. As such, experts working on OTFN in the GÉANT (GN5-1) Project’s Network Development team started working on new training resources for the OTFN eAcademy, building on the same approach used for the Network Automation and Quantum Tech eAcademies.
While the first units of the OTFN eAcademy are currently under development, we are now ready to pre-announce the course structure and map, which is still following the popular metro-style, but this time in a “clock format”. The course will include eleven units, covering different types of T&F services, monitoring, how-to cookbooks, and a specific focus on CERN’s White Rabbit technology.
Join the Infoshare on 17 December 2024, at 13:00 CET, to hear more about all updates in GÉANT’s Network eAcademy: https://events.geant.org/e/NeA
Read more about different areas of GÉANT’s Network eAcademy in the NetDev wiki: wiki.geant.org/display/ NETDEV
And access all courses in the GÉANT eAcademy at eacademy.geant.org – simply via your home institution credentials using eduGAIN, or alternatively with your social media accounts.
