The 62nd APAN conference (APAN62) takes place in Auckland, New Zealand, on 10-14 August 2026, bringing together the research and education networking community in the Asia-Pacific and their global partners to share, inspire and shape future collaboration. The APAN conferences are a key forum for dialogue across regions, and NORDUnet is pleased to join the meeting.
For NORDUnet, APAN meetings are a great opportunity to strengthen Nordic–Asia collaboration. We partner with APAN members on development and operations of the Asia-Europe Ring (AER) network infrastructure for resilient connectivity between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. During APAN62, the AER partners met to discuss current challenges and opportunities and plan for the evolution of the infrastructure.
Going forward, AER will be further backed by the Polar Connect Initiative which will also add to the resilience of global research and education network infrastructure. On Wednesday morning, NORDUnet’s Lars Fischer will participate in a panel on Building a resilient Global NREN Network. “Our partnership with Japan, Korea and other APAN members is critical for the success of Polar Connect”, says Lars Fischer, adding that “the contribution of AER to powerful and dependable Asia-Europe connectivity demonstrates the power of NREN collaboration in delivering on innovative, long-term visions”.
APAN62 sees further exploration opportunities for strengthening Nordic–Asia collaboration on education services, continuing discussions started during APAN60 and APAN61, drawing on succesful remote education services projects run jointly by NORDUnet and Asian partners under the Asi@Connect project.
“NORDUnet has recently joined the eduMEET federation”, says Lars Fischer. “A similar approach to exploiting the Open Source, European eduMEET software may have significant benefits for Asian NRENs in terms of sustainability”, he adds. The partners have recently started exploring this, building on the trust and experience from Asi@Connect.
NORDUnet joined the Asi@Connect Project Meeting during Monday 10 August for a team discussion and planning session for a sustainable eduMEET-based video conferencing service for NRENs in the region.
