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The Alliance will procure the UbuntuNet Hub router, enter into the required hosting and remote

hands contracts and the general Internet transit service that are required to realize the envisaged

UbuntuNet Hub. It will configure and operate the Hub router and its family of GRE tunnels and

associated routing arrangements by which growing numbers of NRENs connect to it.

The Alliance anticipates that the UbuntuNet Hub in London, with its connection to Géant, will be

a key component of UbuntuNet's infrastructure for many years. As NRENs and UbuntuNet gain

access to more fiber in Africa and to cheaper long-haul bandwidth to Europe, the capacity

required at the Hub will increase, and the nature of the long-haul circuits by which NRENs

connect to the Hub will change.

Support for UbuntuNet Alliance:

The UbuntuNet Alliance enjoys support from the Southern African Regional Universities

Association and the Association of African Universities, from NEPAD's e-Africa Commission,

and from major donor foundations including the International Development Research Centre

(IDRC) of Canada, the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the federal Ministry

for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany, the Open Society Institute

(OSI) and OSISA, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.

UbuntuNet's business model:

The UbuntuNet Board intends to evolve a sustainable business model in which UbuntuNet's

infrastructure investments and associated operating costs are born as far as possible from

donations, but its overhead operating costs are recovered from participating NRENs through a

combination of membership fees and service-related fees.

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