Pioneering research at NMMU

NELSON Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) will conduct pioneering research around optical fibre data transport for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope.

This will be done through a partnership involving the Department of Science and Technology, Cisco, NMMU, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the SKA.

Multinational networking company Cisco has already donated R68-million worth of equipment to NMMU’s Broadband Communication Centre.

The partnership announcement, hosted at NMMU’s south campus yesterday, saw Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor in attendance.

The SKA, located in the Karoo and funded by the national Treasury to the tune of R2.1- billion, has been identified as one of the government’s strategic infrastructure projects.

The expertise of 11 students working in the centre is aimed at establishing a new generation of optical fibre communication as a faster, cheaper, more suitable alternative to ADSL broadband connectivity.

Cisco’s operations, processes and systems executive vicepresident Randy Pond said the north campus centre would serve as the processing hub for the SKA radio telescope. “This is the single largest donation made to a tertiary institute outside of the US. We believe that data is the new oil, and this SKA development allows for major breakthroughs.”

He said Cisco’s investment demonstrated its commitment to supporting a world-class research project in South Africa.

Pandor said through SKA the country aimed to become a catalyst in Africa’s IT industry.