What is TEIN/Asi@Connect?

TEIN is an EC co-funded project providing the regional research and education network for Asia-Pacific, connecting researchers, academics and students in the region.
Via direct links to the pan-European network GÉANT, TEIN connects users to their counterparts in Europe and the rest of the world, providing a gateway to global
collaborative research and education. The current project phase, Asi@Connect, is a 60-month project which started on 1 September 2016; the project is jointly funded
by the European Union and Asian partners and is managed by TEIN*CC (TEIN*Cooperation Center) based in Seoul, Korea.

How is Asi@Connect funded?

Asi@Connect is part-funded by the European Union with €20 million contribution. The remaining funds are supported by the Asian-Pacific partner countries.
Further substantial funding and link capacity is being provided by more advanced Asia-Pacific partners.

How many users are connected to the TEIN network?

TEIN currently supports more than 55 million users at approximately 15,000 institutions in 21 connected countries across Asia-Pacific. Additional partner countries,
namely Bhutan, Mongolia and Myanmar are expected to be connected to the network during the project phase.

What are the origins of TEIN?

The TEIN initiative was launched at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Seoul in October 2000 (ASEM3) and its first project phase started in December 2001
with the installation of a France-Korea dedicated high-capacity internet connection (TEIN1). Since 2004, the TEIN projects have been co-funded under the European
Union’s EuropeAid Programme and the EU contribution amounted to about €21 million under TEIN2 and TEIN3.

The TEIN regional network has been managed since 2006 by GÉANT (formerly DANTE), a not-for-profit organisation that operates regional network projects across the
globe. In September 2012, responsibility for TEIN4 was transferred to the TEIN* Cooperation Center (TEIN*CC) which was officially established and legally registered
as a non-profit foundation corporation in Seoul, Korea in August 2011.

Why do we need TEIN?

TEIN promotes digital inclusion in Asia-Pacific. TEIN promotes regional cohesion, creating more equal access to cutting-edge network resources. It acts as a catalyst
for co-prosperity by stimulating the development of research networking in less advanced countries. In addition, many of today’s global challenges require global
collaboration to tackle issues such as climate change, avian influenza and HIV/AIDS. TEIN fully integrates Asian researchers into the global information society.

TEIN maintains in a more cost-effective way the high-bandwidth connectivity established by its predecessors and continues to serve a growing number of projects
for which the network has become an essential infrastructure. The advanced connectivity allows researchers to run data-intensive applications at speeds that are
unavailable, unreliable or unaffordable over the commercial Internet

TEIN promotes digital inclusion, providing wider access to cutting-edge network resources and reducing the digital disparity between Asian countries and Europe.
It also furthers regional integration by linking research and academic communities throughout the Asian-Pacific region.

Many of the applications supported by this state-of-the-art infrastructure have a high societal impact, thus contributing significantly to the population welfare and
sustainable development in the region.

In addition, many of today’s global challenges, such as climate change or epidemic diseases, require global collaboration to tackle their specific local impacts.
TEIN fully integrates Asian-Pacific researchers into the global Information Society to help identify and deliver local solutions.

Who are the project partners?

The current TEIN partners are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos,
Myanmar, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Is TEIN interconnected with other world regions?

TEIN has fast, direct connections to Europe, meaning Asian researchers no longer have to go via the longer US route to reach Europe-which significantly improves
the performance of many network applications.

GEANT’s connections to other world regions include Latin America, the Mediterranean and the Middle East and create a global gateway for research collaboration.
In addition, connectivity to North America is provided via the TransPAC3 network, which is making bandwidth available to the TEIN partners.

How long will Asi@Connect run?

The Asi@Connect Project is a multi-year project that starts in September 2016 and runs for a period of 60 months.

What activities will use this network?

Any type of not-for-profit research and education activity can use the network. TEIN’s applications include supporting disaster-warning systems, tele-medicine,
e-learning, crop research, earth and ocean observation, e-science, and e-culture, to name but a few. Many of the applications supported by TEIN are of high
societal impact, bringing direct benefit to the general population. It is especially suited to data-intensive, bandwidth-hungry projects requiring reliable high-speed
connectivity, but can equally be used to provide fast access to conventional web-based resources from all over the Asian-Pacific and other parts of the world.
With over 15,000 universities and research centres, the applications of the network are almost limitless.

What activities have benefitted from using the TEIN network?

The network is fundamental to data-intensive research that addresses problems to which Asian-Pacific is particularly vulnerable, such as desertification and water
shortage; it helps promote sustainable farming and supports innovative ways of providing broader access to healthcare and education.

Bandwidth-hungry applications include climate change research and impact studies, telemedicine, e-learning and e-culture. Many of these applications require
dedicated high capacity network connection, which is enabled by the underlying network infrastructure.

Many of the applications supported by TEIN are of high societal impact, bringing direct benefit to the general population.

How successful the TEIN network will be?

The current phase of the project, Asi@Connect, builds on the proven success of its predecessor networks. It maintains the high-bandwidth connectivity in a more
cost-effective way, offering an improved and expanded service to a growing number of projects.

Since its launch in 2000, TEIN has been used by a steadily increasing number of activities with many research disciplines coming to rely on the connectivity.
The TEIN project phases have migrated users onto the network, ensuring uninterrupted service for projects for which the network has become an essential
infrastructure. A further increase in the number of collaborative programmes making use of the network is expected. Creating closer working relationships with
Europe will build international research communities to tackle issues of global importance and enable researchers in Asia-Pacific to contribute to ground-breaking
world-class projects.

Why should research and education communities use TEIN?

TEIN is dedicated solely to the purpose of supporting research and education. It delivers high-bandwidth connections that are free from the congestion and
expense of commercial internet traffic. Once their host institution is connected, researchers, academics and students can benefit from advanced connectivity at no
extra cost.

How do I connect to the TEIN network?

To benefit from the TEIN infrastructure, prospective users should contact their local NRENs, to establish whether their host institution is already connected. If it is,
they are ready to use TEIN! If it isn’t, the national network will advise them of the application procedure. Contact details for each NREN are supplied on the TEIN
website (click here to see the contact details).