How to become a member of the CEENet Association?

What is CEENet? - History - Organization and Structure
CEENet in Action - The Gateway to Networking in CEE - CEENet Secretariat
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What is CEENet

Central and Eastern European Networking Association (CEENet) is an association of national organizations which focus on the academic, research and educational networking.

CEENet membership comprises of 23 national research and education networks from the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

The primary mission of CEENet is to co-ordinate the international aspects of the academic, research and education networks in Central and Eastern Europe and in adjacent countries.

This mission is attained by fulfilling the objectives such as:
• The promotion and support of the technical and organizational collaboration between national research networks;
• The support and organization of conferences, workshops and courses;
• The preparation and submission of project applications to European and other international organizations for promotion of the development of research networks;
• The formation of working parties to undertake technical activities which comply with the objectives of the Association;
• The publication and distribution of relevant documentation, brochures, magazines, in particular through the use of electronic media;
• The promotion and support of the development and establishment of corresponding national network services;
• If necessary the establishment and operation of joint network services and technical facilities;
• The safeguarding and pursuit of the common interests of the Association and its members in relation to other Organizations.
• The exchange and provision of operational, organizational and technical information relating to research networks;

A Touch of History

In the eighties, it was Bitnet in the space of global academic communications, and EARN in Europe. The wave of inevitable democratic changes in the beginning of the nineties, translated into the political, economical and social transformation, recognized in Western Europe and United States resulted in the EARN membership of Poland, soon followed by Czechoslovakia and Hungary

Inspired by the need to identify common challenges and to induce joint efforts in development of research and education networking, the representatives from several countries in Central and Eastern Europe and NSF, RIPE and DFN met in Prague, in 1992, and signed a memorandum for co-operation. The very same year, in Vienna, with five more countries present, the Project group was formed to set up an association of research and education networking organizations. In the September of 1993, eleven CEE countries signed a letter of intent to form an association. The first General Meeting of CEENet was held in February of 1994, when the constitution was passed and the executive bodies of the Association were elected.

ACONet, the research and education network of Austria, throughout the early years of the Association has played a profound role both as one of the founding members of CEENet and as a source of financial and technical assistance for many countries in the CEE region in order to establish their connectivity to Internet.

Organization and Structure

Central and Eastern European Networking Association (CEENet) is a non-profit organization registered in Vienna, Austria under the Austrian law. Ordinary members of the CEENet are officially authorized national organizations, which focus on the research networks. A country is represented by a single ordinary member in the Association. CEENet might also accept other legal entities and individuals as supporting members.

Representatives of all the members form the General Meeting (GM) which is the highest governing body that defines the policy, the objectives, the strategies and the tasks of the Association. The Management Committee (MC), headed by a chairman, executes the decisions of the GM. The Secretary General of the Association is in charge of the CEENet Secretariat, which takes care of the daily duties as defined by the MC.

The Association with its simple and effective structure, low membership fees, small, yet propulsive Secretariat, and numerous activities and projects has attracted many countries to join, and has gained wide international prominence.

CEENet in Action

CEENet has early recognized that the widespread usage and acceptance of Internet, networking and information technology depends on well trained and educated individuals involved in building the infrastructure, enacting the services, and effecting the management that emanate of the networking phenomena. The main instruments of the Association education initiative are workshops and conferences, which promote know-how transfer of new concepts and paradigms in the areas of network technology, management and policy.

At the seven CEENet workshops on Network Technology (in Warsaw, Budapest, Zagreb, and Bratislava), the attendees have had the opportunity to learn through lectures, labs, tour de table discussions, and group projects, advanced networking concepts, to meet the industry leaders from the major CIT companies, and to identify possible venues of co-operation, common problems and applicable solutions.

The international team of CEENet lecturers, consisting of distinguished scholars and experts in network technology and its applications, has educated more than seven hundred individuals from CEE countries. The students of the CEENet Technology Workshops have become the pioneers and the pillars of networking and Internet proliferation in their countries.

The necessity to address issues beyond the technology level with respect to organization, management, structure, funding, and international co-operation have induced another type of workshops, such as the ones for policy and management, held in Tartu, Yaroslavl, Tbilisi, Ohrid and Bishkek.

The CEENet Tartu Declaration describes the state of the affairs in each member country related to networking. It posits a set of recommendations to governments, national networks, telecoms, international organizations and agencies. The Declaration unequivocally states the objectives, the principles and the means how to improve NRENs in CEE countries and converge to the Information Age.
In order to document its activities and to disseminate its results and accomplishments in an efficient and lasting manner, CEENet has established a series of publications. The books from the CEENet Editions are distributed to the member countries, corporations, international organizations and governments.
CEENet has formed an extensive database that reflects the current situation in each of the member countries related to the research and education networking in the country, the state of the Internet development, and the fundamental telecommunication services both on a commercial and non-profit basis.
The foundation of CEENet has proved to be a catalytic factor for the inception and improvement of many national networks in the member countries. The Association will continue to seek new tasks and challenges for the benefit of the research and education networking organizations in CEE countries and the world wide Internet community.

The Gateway to Networking in CEE

Through co-operation with CEENet and involvement in its projects, a large number of CIT corporations and international organizations have affirmed themselves in the CEE region, establishing a strong presence on a wide and huge market and opening new frontiers for its ventures.
If one wants to know the state of networking in each CEE country, major communication policies and issues, the perspectives and the sense of what possibly future brings, CEENet is the right point of reference.
The Association is the most conversant and familiar international entity in the CEE region that provides a multidirectional flow of knowledge and actions related to information, communication, networking and Internet technology.

To access the Gateway to Networking in Central and Eastern Europe, please contact:

CEENet Secretariat
Pasteura 7
02-093 Warsaw, POLAND
Tel: +48 22 668 58 07
Fax: +48 22 668 58 07
E-mail: secretary (at) ceenet.org
URL: http://www.ceenet.org

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