ASTI’s 3rd PREGINET National Partners’ Meeting

The Advanced Science and Technology Institute held the 3rd Philippine Research, Education and Government Information Network (PREGINET) National Partners’ Meeting last May 26 at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology auditorium along CP Garcia Ave., Diliman, Quezon City.

The meeting was attended by all ASTI-PREGINET partner institutions, DOST Agencies, Regional Offices, and Councils. The annual meeting brought together all stakeholders to discuss updates on the project and resolve issues and concerns on its implementation, and also demonstrate the products and applications developed ASTI-PREGINET’s research teams, which will be showcased in an exhibit.

This year’s NPM highlighted the PREGINET Sustainability Plan, which outlines a comprehensive assessment of the project and its accomplishment based on a number of critical factors and mechanisms to sustain its operations. This encompasses strategic partnership with various cooperating agencies and private industry, and formulating strategies and plans for network expansion.

Another critical agenda was the discussion on the proposed financial contribution of partners for the sustainable maintenance and operations of the network.

Ultimately, the goal of the NPM was to sustain PREGINET’s partnership with institutions that are part of the network. Over a hundred participants nationwide attended the even led by Sec. Estrella F. Alabastro and Commission on Information and Communication Technology Chairman Virgilio L. Peña.

There was an exhibit featuring PREGINET-developed or enhanced applications and services on networking technologies including the Digital Content System and Library Management System; Pawikan Network Management System; Virtual Classroom (VClass) System; Multimedia over IP applications such as Videoconferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Collaborative projects and activities with partners, particularly under the Philippine Government’s eGovernment initiative such as Philippine e-Library Project, Community e-Center Project, and Knowledge Networking Towards Enterprising Agricultural Communities Project.

ASTI undertakes R&D in ICT and microelectronics. PREGINET is one of the flagship projects funded by DOST and managed by ASTI that provides a nationwide broadband network linking academic, research, and government institutions in the Philippines.

It is considered as the Philippines’ Research and Education network. It also uses the facilities of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology- Telecommunications Office (CICT-TELOF) in the Visayas and Mindanao.

PREGINET interconnects institutions nationwide for research and education activities and spearheads the development of applications on areas such as distance education, tele-health, agriculture, bioinformatics, disaster mitigation, and networking technologies. It is connected to international R&E networks such as the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) and the Asian Internet Interconnection Initiatives (AI3).

The NPM was organized through the cooperation of DOST, ICT-TELOF, and Innove Communications, Inc.