From basin-wide water and energy modelling to large-scale climate simulations, a wealth of new possibilities opens to the African research and education community. The regional R&E networks of the continent have become directly connected.
Behind the historic improvement are mainly two events. WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network) has created a GXP (global exchange point) for internet traffic in Lagos, Nigeria. And the South African counterparts, SANReN and TENET, have established a GXP – ZAOXI – in Cape Town.
Until now, most African research and education traffic between the regions was routed through Europe, adding cost, latency, and dependence on international infrastructure. The new 10 Gbps high-capacity link between Lagos and Cape Town changes that reality.
“The connection through ZAOXI represents more than just infrastructure; it represents Africa claiming its rightful place in the global digital research fabric. By strengthening interconnections across the continent, we empower our universities, research centers, and innovators to drive solutions to Africa’s grand challenges in health, climate, agriculture, and education — with Africa’s data flowing through African pathways,” saysDr. Eyouleki T.G. Palanga, CEO of WACREN.
More resilient networks
For universities and research centers, the new interconnection means access to faster, more resilient networks for data-intensive science. Climate researchers can now integrate real-time weather, Internet of Things (IOT), and satellite data across borders. Universities can expand their e-learning platforms with reduced latency. Health researchers can exchange and analyze large datasets more efficiently. And African innovators can collaborate seamlessly with peers across the continent and globally.
The initiative builds on the AfricaConnect program, co-funded by the European Union and African partners, which has provided vital support for establishing and strengthening the continent’s research and education networks.
Via the two new GXPs in Lagos and Cape Town, the African research and education community connects to several regional and national networks in other continents: Internet2 (USA), CANARIE (Canada), RedCLARA (Latin America), CSTNET (China), ANSP (Brazil), and GÉANT (Europe).
The foundation for Africa-led science
The all-continent breakthrough comes as WACREN also extends its backbone to six new countries: The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, and Senegal.
Further, WACREN is preparing to build a federated high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure across several connected countries. Building on an upgrade completed in 2024, this initiative will interconnect national HPC systems to provide shared computational capacity for advanced research. The federated infrastructure will allow African researchers to collaborate across borders on data-intensive challenges that no single institution could tackle alone.
“South Africa’s national research and education infrastructure has long invested in advanced computing and connectivity to serve our research community. By linking SANReN’s high-speed backbone and HPC resources with WACREN through the ZAOXI exchange, we are helping to create an environment where African researchers can collaborate at scale — from climate modelling to early warning systems. This interconnection lays the foundation for African-led science that addresses our most urgent challenges,”says Sabelo Dhlamini, Director of SANReN.
Source: the article “Africa’s Research and Education Networks achieve historic Lagos-Cape Town Interconnection” at the WACREN website.
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