Asia Pacific Advanced Network

The objectives of APAN are

• to coordinate and promote network technology developments and advances in network-based applications and services across the Asia-Pacific region;
• to provide a forum for user communities to come together with network engineers to help promote and exploit opportunities to enhance research and education in disciplines that are relevant to the member economies;
• to hold meetings, workshops and conferences relating to network technology, the development of advanced communication services, and the exploitation of these, resulting in compelling new applications;
• to arrange and organize education and training workshops, and to operate a fellowship programme to support and develop the next generation of network engineers and network leaders in the Asia-Pacific region;
• to work closely with relevant organizations, institutions, groups and individuals around the world to further enhance the adoption of and research into advanced network applications and technologies;
• together with peer organizations in North and South America, Europe and Africa, coordinate the building of global infrastructure that will transform the way that education and research is undertaken, leading to improvements in societal benefit.

Full membership of APAN is open to NRENs (one per country or economy). Non-voting membership is available for persons, organisations or corporations that have common interests in the objectives of APAN.

Similar organisations elsewhere in the world include GÉANT, UbuntuNet Alliance, WACREN (West and Central African Research and Education Network), ASREN (Arab States Research and Education Network), and CLARA (Cooperación Latino Americana de Redes Avanzadas).

The necessity for high-end internet for researchers in the Asia-Pacific region was recognized at the APEC Symposium in Tsukuba, Japan in March 1996, and then at APII Test-bed Forum in Seoul, Korea in June 1996, the creation of APAN was proposed. Meetings were held with the attendance of the delegates from North America or Europe for one year, and the APAN Consortium was formed under a Memorandum of Understanding in June 1997 to promote advanced research in networking technologies and the development of high-performance broadband applications.

APAN is designed to offer a high-performance network for research and development on advanced next-generation applications and services. APAN provides an advanced networking environment for the research and education community in the Asia-Pacific region, and promotes global collaboration.

Twice a year, APAN runs a conference for academic networkers called the APAN Meetings. Each conference is hosted by a member NREN and attended by around 200 delegates from academic backgrounds including networking specialists and managers from networking and research organisations.

• Official website