Get to know the voice of the coordinator of the Working Group of  Multiconference System for Web Interoperable Access and Mobile Devices – WG – MCONF. Read this and other interviews in the book “RedCLARA: Name, voice and instrument of collaboration in Latin America”.

What do you think has been your Work Group’s major contribution to the community of Latin American academic networks and to RedCLARA?
I think the main contribution of the WG-MCONF is the development of and implementation of an independent web conference system over free software, which is being used in RedCLARA under the name VC-Espresso. With an independent development, it is much easier to adapt the system to our needs.

The system was born of an initiative at the UFRGS (Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) to conduct tests on a very large scale, and a global network of MCONF web conferences is being created; it already includes several countries around the world and currently has 11 servers in Europe, North America, Central America and South America.

The MCONF system is receiving a lot of funding for its improvement and features Brazil’s RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) as the first contributor. It later received contributions from RedCLARA and the Brazilian government, through its funding agency and the Ministry of Education.

What do you think has been RedCLARA’s contribution to Latin America?
RedCLARA is more than a simple physical network interconnecting Latin American countries. RedCLARA enables a real inclusion between researchers from various parts of the world, focusing on Latin America. Through this network we can share experiences and focus on the common good, rather than implementing several individual initiatives, strengthening and optimising efforts to reach a common goal.

What is the key important aspect of CLARA-TEC for you and your network?
CLARA-TEC is a technical community which enables a real inclusion among those responsible for the network’s operation, with common definitions and services for everyone in Latin America. Furthermore, together with backbone managers, CLARA-TEC allows the people in the community and WG coordinators to meet, thus homogenising the services offered at a continental level and, eventually, at a world level through initiatives like Eduroam, Edugain and MCONF.

How important is for your Work Group the collaboration established within CLARA-TEC and through it with national and regional networks?
It is important to promote the service among member countries, and it is also important to see what they are doing and how they manage their networks. They all evolve in this regard.

If RedCLARA did not exist, what do you think the technical development scenario in the region would be like?
Without the existence of RedCLARA, communication between Latin American countries and between Latin America and the rest of the world would be impaired. Furthermore, there would be less homogeneity in the services offered by the different NRENs in America. In the particular case of the WG-MCONF, the tool would exist only in Brazil, and it would take a lot more to be expanded towards Latin America. The dissemination of results is faster through the network of RedCLARA meetings.

From your point of view, what should be the role of RedCLARA over the next five years?
To continue focusing on the incorporation of countries, the backbone’s expansion and the increase of links’ speed. On the other hand, it would be very important that RedCLARA continues to enable inclusion among WG coordinators and those responsible for high-speed networks, thus making it possible that the main network services are offered homogeneously throughout Latin America, thus bringing further growth for everyone.