NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 798
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 AUGUST 2009: INTERNAL
QUESTION PAPER NO. 9-2008
"798. Ms MR Shinn (DA) to ask the Minister of Science and Technology:
(1) Whether, in light of securing a position as a significant
stakeholder in the international astronomical research community,
any steps have been taken to determine the high-speed
communications bandwidth needed by South African researchers and
their offshore research partners to maximise the investment made
in the Southern African Large Telescope (Salt) at Sutherland; if
so, (a) what steps, (b) what is the bandwidth required, (c) who
determined it, (d) how will it be provided, (e) what will it cost,
(f) when will infrastructure development on this communication
link start, (g) who will be involved in working out the needs of
the research programmes, and (h) what is the deadline for putting
their requirements on the table; if not,
2) Whether there are plans in place to determine the bandwidth
required; if not, why not; if so, what plans;
3) (a) when is the telescope expected to operate, and (b) what impact
will it have on the research programmes of South African
astronomers and Salt's offshore investors if the required
communication infrastructure is not in place at the end of 2009;
4) Whether the communication bandwidth requirement for the (a) Karoo
Array Telescope (MeerKAT) and (b) Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
have been included in her department's budget for infrastructure
development; if not, what is the position in the regard; if so,
(a) what is the requirement in terms of (i) technology and (ii)
cost and (b) when will tenders be called for?"
NW936E
REPLY:
1. (a) The South African National Research Network (SANReN) has
commissioned Telkom SA Ltd to provide a 155 Mbps link from Cape
Town to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). The
connection to SALT is part of the current SANReN budget. The
connectivity between SALT and Cape Town terminates at the Centre
for High Performance Computing (CHPC). The link from CHPC to
the South African Astronomical Observatory will be completed as
part of the greater Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality
connectivity roll-out.
(b) The bandwidth requirement as determined by the SALT researchers
indicated that the 155 Mbps link will be sufficient for at least
five years.
(c) The bandwidth requirement was determined jointly by the
researchers and the SANReN design team.
(d) The connection will be provided by Telkom SA Ltd on a long-term
lease for five years, after which the requirements will be
reassessed. The link will be on existing Telkom optic fibre
infrastructure.
(e) The cost is within the budgeted amount of R10 million for the
SALT connection.
(f) Telkom's feasibility study was expected by the end of August
2009, after which construction will start. The requested
completion date is December 2009.
(g) Future bandwidth requirements will be determined jointly by the
researchers and the SANReN design team.
(h) 1 December 2009.
2. The bandwidth requirement determined by the SALT researchers
indicated that the 155 Mbps link will be sufficient for at least five
years. The SALT requirement will be reassessed after four years. The
connection will remain part of SANReN.
3. (a) SALT has undergone an extensive period of commissioning and
analysis which has revealed the need for corrective action with
its very advanced optics. This is currently under way using
technology not available when the project began, and should be
completed before the end of the year.
(b) The delivery of data to the SALT partnership will be
compromised if sufficient bandwidth is not available by the end
of the year, and this would significantly impact the
participation in the final commissioning stages by our
international partners. This may also reflect negatively on
South Africa's ability to host international infrastructure.
4. (a) SANReN has budgeted for the termination unit capable of
satisfying the South African SKA science and technology
demonstrator, MeerKAT and the terminating unit located at the
SKA office in Cape Town. However the budget did not include the
optical fibre connectivity requirements between the MeerKAT site
near Carnarvon and the Cape Town Office, via the most suitable
SANReN node located in Cape Town.
SANReN has requested additional funding to connect the MeerKAT
site to the network.
b) No budget has been provided for the SKA bandwidth requirements.
(c)(i) MeerKAT and KAT conservatively need a 10 Gbps service.
The full SKA needs in excess of 100 Gbps.
(ii) Current estimates are that the costs will be in the region
of R80 million rand.
(d) There is currently no indication when tenders will be called
for.
(#162221)
17.4.3