Infrastructure & Networks
The Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN) intends to bridge the digital divide of less developed countries in Asia by improving the Internet connectivity for research and education institutions. It provides large capacity Internet connection to universities, research centers and academic institutions to increase the exchanges of knowledge among them and make big international research projects real.
What is TEIN ?
The second phase of the project (TEIN 2) started in 2004 and allowed the network to reach the speed of up to 2.5 Gb per second. Thanks to a big success of the network, the European Commission has decided to fund the next phase: TEIN3 (2008-2011) will upgrade the network and will invite new countries from South Asia to join the programme.
Regional Research & Education networks already exist in other regions of the world: GÉANT is the European network, Alice covers Latin America, EUROMEDCONNECT the Mediterranean countries, BIS the Caucasus, and a network named CAREN is starting in Central Asia .
With its direct connection to GÉANT, TEIN allows researchers, educators and students in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan not only to collaborate among each other but also to engage in joint projects with their peers in Europe and in other parts of the world.
Who are the TEIN Partners?
The second phase of the project (TEIN 2) started in 2004 and connected 11 countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam.
During the year 2009, TEIN 3 will invite new countries from South Asia to join the network: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
How is TEIN funded?
The European Commission is contributing to 80% of the costs. The remaining funds are provided by the partners on the basis of a cost-sharing model.
The EC will fund the thrid phase of the programme for 12 million in the period 2008-2011 and additional funding is foreseen for a fourth phase.
Which are TEIN success stories?
Thanks to TEIN, students are benefiting from better internet access, researchers from increased speed and capacity, which enables exchanging big amounts of data and makes international research collaboration possible.
Thus TEIN2 enabled doctors in Vietnam to provide surgery with the remote consultation of Australian experts (telemedecine), and the Philippines meteorologists to predict the typhoons with the help of German scientists (meteorology predictions) and a lot of students to receive international knowledge using e-learning. These TEIN success stories are presented within the following memo 
[95 KB] .
Where can I get further information?
More information can be obtained on the TEIN website.
Please do not hesitate to consult the memo [95 KB] to know more on TEIN success stories.