NRP Portugal

operatingoneofaround60Tier2worldcentres(theLCGalsohas11Tiercentres1andtheTier0centreoperated directly by the CERN).In lessthan two years from launching INGRID, Portugal entered theEuropean Computation GRID map and established the conditions for participating in an influentialpositioninthedecisionsonthefutureoftheEuropeanGRIDInitiativeandtheenormouscomputationGRIDsystemthatisbeingbuiltinEurope.• Forecasting the components of strategic interest for new developments in the Information andKnowledge Society within the scope of international partnerships especially in Information Safety,CriticalInfrastructuresandSensorNetworksintheCMU–PortugalProgrammeinitiatedattheendofOctober2006,inAdvancedDigitalContentsandDistributedComputationintheUTAustin–PortugalprogrammeinitiatedinMarch2007,inIntelligentEnvironmentssupportingLifeQualityandInclusionand the development of the Internet of Things in the Fraunhofer– Portugal Programme launched inApril2007,inthedevelopmentofContentsinPortugueseonHealthcareandResearchmadepubliclyavailableintheHarvard–PortugalProgramme,preparationforwhichwaslaunchedinApril2007.•VirtualCampus–HigherEducationWirelessNetwork(e‐U):In2005,thenumberofhighereducationinstitutions with wireless networks went from 8 to 57, achieving coverage, in terms of studentsenrolled,ofover85%ofallhighereducation,asetofschoolswithover310thousandstudents.Sincethis network has inter‐institution roaming, the integration of all higher education institutions istherefore ensured in a single Virtual Campus, allowing a student of teacher who is temporarily atanother university or polytechnic to access the resources of his own establishment as if he wereactuallythere.In2006and2007theplannedextensionofservicesandcontentsforthecorrespondingprojects took place, increasing the number of users. Extending the roaming within the scope of theEuropean network Eduroam, and in 2008 the infrastructures and services installed were certified,includingaccessforcitizenswithspecialneeds.•HighGrowthinBroadbandPenetration:AccordingtoANACOMdata,broadbandpenetration(fixedormobile)inthepopulationwasthreetimesgreaterinthe2ndquarterof2008thanthe1stquarterof2005.Thefiguresforthesecondquarterof2008were33%,ofwhich15%werefixedconnectionsand18%mobileconnections.Therewasasteepgrowthinbroadbandpenetration,especiallywithregardtomobileconnections,which,inthesecondquarterof2008were11timesgreaterthantheyhadbeentwoyearspreviously,radicallyalteringthepanoramaofPortugalandmakingittheEUcountrywiththehighestmobilebroadbandpenetration.Broadbandpenetrationamongfamiliesgrew50%from2005to2007(1stquarters).•Registerof.ptdomains:Thenumberofinternetdomainswith.pt,coveredbytheFCCN–Foundationfor National Scientific Computation, grew by 36% in 2005, to around 80 thousand domains, At thebeginning of March 2006 new rules came into force that made it easier to register domains andallowed cost‐cutting by 40% through adopting a totally on‐line registration system. As a result, inAugust2006therewereover100thousanddomainsregistered.In2007domainnameregistrationwasmade more flexible and electronic receipts were adopted for the respective payments, which hasalreadyachieved40%useraccession.InSeptember2008thenumberofdomainsregisteredexceeded234thousand,correspondingto2.3timesthenumberfortheendof2004.• Approval, in April 2007, of 4 Community Network projects –http://www.umic.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=187 -tras Rede Comunitária do Distrito de Évora, Rede Comunitária do Vale do Minho, Valimar Net. TheCommunityNetworksarebroadbandpublicnetworksinless‐favouredregionsorwheretherearegapsin the telecommunications market, and they must be technologically neutral and provide identicalaccessforalloperatorsintendersfortheiroperation.Theseprojectsjointlyinvolvetheinstallationofover 1,000 Km of fibre optic connections. The projects are now in progress, with over 300 Km oftechnicalcablingalreadyinstalled.• Promotion of Digital Inclusion: Around 327 Internet Spaces are up and running at points spreadaround the country, with special social equipment in local authorities, and over 187 in municipallibraries, allowing free broadband internet access to anyone, with personal support. These are animportantpartofatotalofover1,170InternetSpacessetupinothersettings,namelyinDigitalCityand Region projects and social solidarity institutions. The Internet Spaces Network was set up inNovember2006toensurecoordinationofinitiativesandthesharingofgoodpracticeforthispowerfulinstrumentforsocialintegration.AnNGOnetworkforsocialsolidarityismaintained–RedeSolidária–with a specific presence on the Internet, 240 broadband Internet access points, 650 electronicmailboxes, 13 video‐conference connections between schools and hospitals. The 3rd GenerationSchoolsProgramme,whichfunctionsincollaborationwiththeHighCommissionforImmigrationand43