MANILA, Philippines – In today’s data-driven world, the ability to send and receive data quickly and effectively is just as important as simply having access to important information. This big data revolution is prompting the call for better networks.

The European Commission and Japan responded to this by announcing 6 projects they have funded to attend to the explosion of data and the human need for better connectivity. The projects are intended to find ways to improve the Internet architecture and enhance a network’s efficiency in carrying data.

The 6 projects, which will receive a total of 18 million euros (approximately P1 billion) in funding, are:

• STRAUSS: a project that aims to enable fibre optic networks to offer 100Gbps connectivity.
• MiWEBA: a project that hopes to make better use of existing radio frequencies to boost ultra-high speed and mobile connections.
• NECOMA: a project that will look at enhancing data security in sensitive environments. This includes improving data security for things like medical history records by developing new metrics to evaluate threats and potential impact of cyber attacks.
• GreenICN: a project that will try to ensure efficient energy use in information networks. This project will also test network reliability in post-disaster situations, such as when a calamity lessens the energy resources but requires network performance to be at its best.
• ClouT: this project will try to allow real-time sensor control for smart city operations, such as energy use, traffic flow or emergencies. This project will try and join together cloud computing with features utilized by the Internet of Things, and
• FELIX: a project to ready joint EU-Japan experimental platforms for testing new network technologies between universities and research centers.

With data volumes doubling between 2012 and 2013 and expectations for people’s data growing 12-fold by 2018, finding better ways of sending more data does show itself to be an important step for the future. – Rappler.com

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