APAN-BD – Asia Pacific Advanced Network

Member Name: APAN-BD
Organization: Bangladesh Research and Education Network
Acronym: BdREN
Category: Primary (Voting) Member
Address: UGC Bhaban, Plot: E-18/A Agargaon Administrative Area Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 Bangladesh
Mailing List: apan-bd AT bdren.net.bd
Website: http://www.bdren.net.bd/

University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, On behalf of the Ministry of Education (MoE), is currently implementing the Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) under HEQEP with assistance from World Bank. It will be a high performance data Communications network providing connectivity among education and research institutions in both public and private sectors.

BdREN with its multi-gigabit capability aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country and to support geographically dispersed academics, scientists and researchers with reliable access to high-end computing, simulation tools and datasets. With a view to implementing the BdREN backbone, recently UGC has made an IRU contract withPower Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) Ltd. for its country-wide OPGW network. Backbone network of BdREN will be designed based on this optical fiber.

BdREN will also be connected with other regional and trans-continental Research and Education Networks (RENs)(e.g., TEIN3). It will link the faculties and students of Bangladesh to the global academic community and learning resources.

It will also facilitate international collaborative research and will catalyze innovation in the country.

BdREN will eventually be operated by a Non-profit Trust organization with a board of trustees consisting of representatives from the universities/user communities, UGC, MoE and other members co-opted for their expertise and position in relevant organizations.

Contacts:

Administrative
Name: A.K.M. Habibur Rahman
Designation: Chief Executive Officer, BdREN
Address: Plot: E-18/A, UGC Bhaban, Agargaon, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
Email: ceo AT bdren.net.bd
Phone: +88 09612 110022

Secretariat
Name: Mohammad Tawrit
Designation: Chief Technical Officer, BdREN
Address: Plot: E-18/A, UGC Bhaban, Agargaon, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
Email: cto AT bdren.net.bd
Phone: +88 09612 110033

NOC
Name: Md. Ariful Islam
Designation: Manager, Communications, BdREN
Address: Plot: E-18/A, UGC Bhaban, Agargaon, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.
Email: arif AT bdren.net.bd
Phone: +88 09612 110040

NOC
Name: BdREN Helpdesk
Email: helpdesk AT bdren.net.bd
Phone: +88 09612 110099

Gerrit Willem Bahlman was the previous Chair of the Asia Pacific Advanced Network and currently advisor to APAN. He was the Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors of the Trans-Eurasia Information Network Cooperation Centre ( TEIN*CC) and a member of the Steering Committee.

Gerrit has served as a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Information Officer in several different organisations and countries. He was the interim CEO of REANNZ in 2018/19, and was the Director of Information Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong for 8 years and the Chief Information Officer at Massey University in New Zealand for 20 years.

He has been the Director and Board member of the Joint Universities Computer Centre ( JUCC ) in Hong Kong and a JUCC Steering Committee Member. He is the inaugural Director of the JUCC Leadership Institute which is residential event with faculty and members from Hong Kong, China, Australia, the United States and New Zealand.