Project Description
The main goal with BalticOpen.net is to enable for and arrange an event in the first week of May that will demonstrate an interactive workspace between Ventspils University College (VeA) and The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). After this demonstration there will be a good platform for increasing the collaboration between the two Universities

In order to reach the goal there are a lot of circumstances and tasks that need to be fulfilled. This leads us to break down the overall goal to two less extensive but manageable goals after which the project organization will be structured. The goals are the following:

Establish a high speed direct link between KTH and VeA.

Implementing an interactive workspace at VeA.

Link

The goal is to establish a direct link between KTH and VeA using the existing fiber pair that is available between Fårösund in the north of Gotland (an island outside the east coast of Sweden) and Ventspils in Latvia. This is preferably done with the use of cutting edge, but cheap, equipment with potential to become a showcase for stakeholders involved.

Even if there is an available fiber pair between the two points in Latvia and at Gotland there are a lot of obstacles regarding the direct link that complicates the task. iSpace requires at least 128Kbps but preferably 512Kbps so there is a high demand of capacity in the link. Then there are potential problems regarding all the different stretches of the link and as an example there are now no connection between VeA and the fiber link that comes to Latvia. These are some of the factors that leads iBaltNet2 to further break down the goal into smaller sub goals. For the project team this means that the project will be considered a success even if just some parts of the link will be working at the end of the project period.

iSpace

The goal is to establish an interactive workspace that meets all the demands from the involved universities but still is created under a very restricted budget. This interactive workspace will then be used in the event (presenting the interactive workspace) in May that will show the high quality communication that will be provided between VeA and KTH.

Though there are problems that need to be considered while the goal is dependent on the Link between KTH and VeA and therefore must be adjusted to the results of that part of the project.

More information regarding the project can be found in the Project Plan. That document can be downloaded from this web page under “deliverables”.