Within the BELLA-T project, the different activities are organized in seven Work Packages (WP) numbered from zero (0) to six (6). All of them tackle the different angles of the initiative and are well structured between each other (see the diagram below to see the project's structure) in order to cover all the involved fronts and achieve the ambitioned goals. Each WP is in charge of carrying out different activities (A) which are stated below:

WP0. Management

Member institutions:

RedCLARA (leader)
GARR
GÉANT
RNP

Activities:

A0.1 Coordination activities.
A0.2 Financial and administrative management.
A0.3 Procurement
A0.4 Periodic Project Reports

WP1. South American Backbone

Member institutions:

RNP (leader)
REUNA
RENATA
CEDIA
GARR
RedCLARA

Access to WP1 private site at Colaboratorio

Activities:

A1.1 Design of the Network
A1.2 Technical Documentation for the Fibre Network
A1.3 Technical Documentation for Optical and Networking Equipment
A1.4 Evaluation and Technical Report for Tenders of the Fibre Network
A1.5 Evaluation and Technical Report for Tenders of Networking Equipment
A1.6 Network deployment

WP2. Optical NREN Deployment

Member institutions:

REUNA (leader)
RENATA
CEDIA
RNP
RedCLARA

Access to WP2 private site at Colaboratorio

Actions:

A2.1 Optical NREN Network Design
A2.2 NREN Deployment and Connectivity to RedCLARA Report

WP3. Capacity-building

Member institutions:

RedCLARA (leader)
REUNA
RNP
RENATER
GARR

Access to WP3 private site at Colaboratorio

Actions:

A3.1 Course Preparation
A3.2 Training for NREN technicians
A3.3 Training for End Institutions’ Technicians

WP4. Sustainability

Member institutions:

RedCLARA (leader)
RNP
REUNA
RENATA
CEDIA 

Access to WP4 private site at Colaboratorio

Actions:

A4.1 Funding Model Alternatives Study
A4.2 Funding Model development and proposal

WP5. End User Awareness

Member institutions

RENATA (leader)
RedCLARA
CEDIA
REUNA  

Access to WP5 private site at Colaboratorio

Actions:

A5.1 End User Application Workshops
A5.2 Best Practices and Use Cases

WP6. Dissemination and Visibility

Member institutions:

RedCLARA (leader)
RNP
REUNA
RENATA
CEDIA
GÉANT

Actions

A6.1 Website Preparation and Maintenance
A6.2 Regular Project Newsletters
A6.3 Dissemination at Meetings
A6.4 Launch of NREN Optical Networks
A6.5 Launch of the Regional Optical Network

PROJECT STRUCTURE

DFN (Germany), FCT (Portugal), GARR (Italy), RedIRIS (Spain), RENATER (France), GÉANT (Europe).

CEDIA (Ecuador), RENATA (Colombia), REUNA (Chile), RNP (Brazil), RedCLARA (Latin America - Coordinator).

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To achieve a long-term and significant improvement of the South American network, enabling RedCLARA to guarantee full and equal access by LA NRENs to the capacity to be procured on a direct Europe - Latin America submarine cable. This will be realised by upgrading RedCLARA's optical infrastructure in South America, which will allow the deployment of an optical network, generating synergies with the NRENs of the region, through increased capillarity and effectiveness.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

1. To create an optical backbone network in South America, connecting the cities of Fortaleza, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Santiago (Chile), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Bogotá (Colombia), Cucuta (Colombian border with Venezuela) and Cartagena (Colombia).

2.To exploit synergies between RedCLARA and the South American NRENs, taking advantage of the fact that the proposed terrestrial backbone will cross several cities in each of the countries involved, making it possible to share the very same optical infrastructure to improve national capillarity, and thus strengthen the national network.

3. To form the human capital required to deploy, maintain and operate optical networks, by sharing expertise, training new personnel and strengthening the cooperation networks between the NRENs, which is key to the successful operation and exploitation of the proposed optical network.

4. To ensure the sustainability of the optical infrastructure by creating a new financial model for RedCLARA that takes into consideration new regional possibilities and the lower costs offered by direct transatlantic access to research and education networks around the world, as well as to the commodity Internet.

5. To raise awareness among users of the possibilities opened by the deployment of this new facility, by exploiting synergies between key user groups, disseminating interesting use cases and favouring the exchange of information among users of the whole region and between them and their European and worldwide counterparts.