Streamline Data Preparation with AWS Glue DataBrew

In today's data-driven world, extracting valuable insights from raw data is crucial for businesses to make informed decisions. However, the process of data preparation, including cleaning, transforming, and normalizing data, can be time-consuming and challenging. Enter AWS Glue DataBrew, a powerful visual data preparation tool offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this blog post, we will explore the features and benefits of AWS Glue DataBrew and how it simplifies the data preparation journey for organizations.

1. Simplifying Data Preparation: Traditionally, data preparation involved writing complex code and implementing intricate transformations. With AWS Glue DataBrew, this process becomes much simpler. Its intuitive visual interface allows users to explore, transform, and clean data without any coding expertise. Whether you're a data analyst, data scientist, or business user, DataBrew empowers you to efficiently prepare data for analysis.

2. Comprehensive Built-In Transformations: DataBrew comes equipped with an extensive set of built-in transformations, eliminating the need to build transformations from scratch. From basic data type conversions and filtering to more advanced tasks like aggregating and normalizing data, DataBrew has you covered. This comprehensive toolkit saves time and effort, enabling users to quickly transform and shape their data according to their needs.

3. Data Profiling for Insights: Understanding your data is essential for effective analysis. AWS Glue DataBrew incorporates data profiling capabilities that automatically analyze your data, revealing patterns, anomalies, missing values, and potential data quality issues. This insight empowers data professionals to make informed decisions about data preparation and quality improvement, ultimately enhancing the accuracy and reliability of subsequent analyses.

4. Collaborative Data Preparation: DataBrew promotes collaboration among team members by allowing them to work together on data preparation projects. With the ability to share data recipes and transformations, teams can ensure consistency and efficiency in their data preparation workflows. Collaborative features streamline teamwork, enabling different stakeholders to contribute their expertise and collectively deliver high-quality data for analysis.

5. Seamless Integration with AWS Services: As an AWS service, Glue DataBrew seamlessly integrates with other AWS resources. It works harmoniously with AWS Glue, Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Athena, and more. This integration enables seamless movement and transformation of data across various AWS services, simplifying the overall data pipeline. With DataBrew, you can leverage the power of AWS ecosystem to enhance your data preparation and analysis workflows.

6. Scalable and Serverless: AWS Glue DataBrew operates in a serverless environment, freeing you from infrastructure management and scalability concerns. As your data processing needs grow, DataBrew automatically scales to handle large datasets efficiently. The serverless nature of the service ensures optimal performance, allowing you to focus on data preparation without worrying about infrastructure management.

7. Data Visualization and Preview: DataBrew offers interactive data visualization capabilities, allowing you to preview your transformed data before proceeding with analysis. With intuitive visualizations, you can validate the results of your data preparation efforts, ensuring accuracy and consistency. This visual feedback loop enhances confidence in the data quality and facilitates better decision-making downstream.

8. Data Lineage and Auditing: Maintaining data lineage is crucial for tracking the origin and transformations applied to your data. AWS Glue DataBrew captures and maintains data lineage, providing a clear audit trail for compliance and governance purposes. This feature ensures transparency and accountability, supporting regulatory requirements and providing a reliable data governance framework.

Conclusion: AWS Glue DataBrew revolutionizes the data preparation landscape by offering a user-friendly, feature-rich solution that simplifies the entire process. With its visual interface, comprehensive transformations, data profiling capabilities, and collaborative features, DataBrew empowers

Cloud Security Best Practices

Are you moving to the cloud? You're not alone! More and more organizations are making the shift to cloud computing, taking advantage of the flexibility, scalability, and cost savings that the cloud offers. But with this move to the cloud comes an increased need for security, as organizations must protect their data and applications from cyber threats.

Here are some cloud security best practices to help you ensure the security of your cloud infrastructure:

1. Use strong authentication and access control: One of the most important things you can do to secure your cloud infrastructure is to use strong authentication and access control measures. This means using multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, and other measures to ensure that only authorized users have access to your cloud resources.

2. Encrypt your data: Encryption is a critical component of cloud security. By encrypting your data, you can ensure that even if your data is compromised, it cannot be read or accessed by unauthorized users. Make sure to use strong encryption algorithms and keys, and to manage your keys carefully.

3. Monitor your cloud infrastructure: It's important to monitor your cloud infrastructure for any signs of unauthorized access or suspicious activity. Use tools like intrusion detection and prevention systems, log management tools, and security information and event management (SIEM) systems to keep an eye on your cloud resources.

4. Regularly update and patch your software: Keeping your software up to date is an important part of cloud security. Make sure to regularly update and patch your operating systems, applications, and other software to address any security vulnerabilities that may be discovered.

5. Train your employees: Your employees play a critical role in cloud security. Make sure to provide regular training and education on cloud security best practices, and to enforce security policies and procedures to ensure that everyone is doing their part to keep your cloud infrastructure secure.

By following these cloud security best practices, you can help ensure the security of your cloud infrastructure and protect your data and applications from cyber threats.

And now, for a bit of humor:

Q: Why did the cloud go to therapy? A: It had a security breach and was feeling vulnerable!

Remember, keeping your cloud infrastructure secure doesn't have to be a daunting task. With the right security measures in place, you can rest easy knowing that your data and applications are safe and secure in the cloud.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) created the AWS Well-Architected Framework (WAF).

Cloud computing has seen immense growth in recent years, with many organizations embracing the technology to create scalable, reliable, and cost-effective systems that can adapt to changing needs. However, with this shift to the cloud comes new challenges such as security, cost management, and system reliability. To help organizations overcome these challenges, Amazon Web Services (AWS) created the AWS Well-Architected Framework (WAF), which is designed to assist organizations in designing and operating secure, efficient, and cost-effective systems in the cloud.

The AWS Well-Architected Framework comprises five pillars - Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, and Cost Optimization. These pillars provide a structured approach to evaluating an organization's cloud architecture and identifying areas for improvement. Recently, AWS updated the framework to include new and updated best practices, implementation steps, architectural patterns, and outcome-driven remediation plans that can help customers and partners identify and mitigate risk. AWS also added new questions to the Security and Cost Optimization pillars to help organizations address risk related to these critical areas.

A real-life use case of the AWS Well-Architected Framework would be a billable project involving a customer looking to migrate their existing infrastructure to the cloud. As part of the project, the AWS Well-Architected Framework would be used to evaluate the customer's current infrastructure and identify any areas that could be improved upon. The first step would be to evaluate the operational excellence pillar to ensure that the customer's infrastructure is designed to deliver business value efficiently. This pillar would help identify areas that could be optimized for greater efficiency.

Next, the security pillar would be evaluated to ensure that the customer's data, applications, and infrastructure are secure. By answering the new questions added to the Security pillar, the customer could identify and mitigate any potential security risks associated with their cloud infrastructure.

Finally, the cost optimization pillar would be evaluated to ensure that the customer is getting the most value for their investment. By answering the new questions added to the Cost Optimization pillar, the customer could identify areas where they could reduce costs and optimize resource usage.

By using the AWS Well-Architected Framework, the customer can ensure that their migration project is successful and that their cloud infrastructure is built to meet their specific needs. This will help ensure that their infrastructure is scalable, reliable, and cost-effective, thereby maximizing the return on investment.

In conclusion, the AWS Well-Architected Framework is an essential tool for organizations looking to design and operate secure, efficient, and cost-effective systems in the cloud. The updated framework provides enhanced guidance and new questions that help organizations address risk related to security and cost management. By adopting the AWS Well-Architected Framework, organizations can ensure that their cloud infrastructure is built to deliver business value effectively.

The Importance of a Good Manager in Cloud Engineering/Software Development

In any job, having a good manager can make a significant impact on your work life. But in the fast-paced world of cloud engineering and software development, a good manager is essential.

A good manager can provide clear expectations for your work, offer constructive feedback, and support you when needed. They can help you develop your skills and offer opportunities for growth within your role. With a good manager, you can feel more confident in your abilities and more motivated to do your best work.

But the benefits of a good manager extend beyond just your work life. Studies have shown that having a supportive boss can lead to lower levels of stress, greater job satisfaction, and better mental health.

In cloud engineering and software development, where deadlines can be tight and projects can be complex, a good manager can create a positive work environment that fosters creativity, collaboration, and mutual respect. They can be a valuable mentor and role model, offering guidance and advice based on their own experiences.

A good manager can also provide stability and direction, helping you navigate the ups and downs of your career. They can create a sense of community within the workplace, encouraging open communication and collaboration. This can lead to greater productivity and success for both the individual and the team as a whole.

In conclusion, a good manager is essential in cloud engineering and software development. They can make a significant impact on your work life, your overall well-being, and your career trajectory. If you are fortunate enough to have a good manager, take the time to appreciate and thank them for all that they do. And if you don't have a good manager, remember that there are always opportunities to find a better fit.

IAM Policies in AWS Cloud: Why They're Critical for Your Landing Zone

AWS Cloud is one of the most popular cloud computing platforms in the world, offering a vast array of services and tools to help organizations achieve their IT goals. One of the key features of AWS Cloud is the ability to manage and control access to resources using Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies. IAM policies are an essential component of any organization's landing zone in AWS Cloud, and in this blog post, we'll discuss why.

A landing zone is a well-architected and secure foundation for an organization's presence in the cloud. It includes a set of AWS accounts, networking configurations, and security controls that help ensure a consistent and secure environment. IAM policies play a critical role in this environment, as they provide a way to manage and control access to AWS resources.

One of the primary benefits of using IAM policies is that they allow organizations to define who has access to what resources in AWS, and what actions they can perform. For example, you can use IAM policies to restrict access to sensitive resources to only a select group of users or to ensure that users can only perform specific actions, such as reading from an S3 bucket, but not writing to it. By controlling access to resources in this way, you can ensure that sensitive data is protected and that users are only able to perform the actions that are necessary for their role.

Another important aspect of IAM policies is that they can be used to enforce least privilege principles. This means that users are only given the permissions that they need to perform their job, and nothing more. This helps reduce the risk of accidental or malicious actions that could harm your organization.

In addition to controlling access to resources and enforcing the least privilege, IAM policies also play an important role in ensuring compliance with security and regulatory requirements. For example, you can use IAM policies to meet data privacy requirements such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or to ensure that your organization complies with industry-specific regulations such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

In conclusion, IAM policies are a critical component of any organization's landing zone in AWS Cloud. They provide a way to control access to resources, enforce the least privilege, and ensure compliance with security and regulatory requirements. By utilizing IAM policies effectively, organizations can ensure that their presence in the cloud is secure, compliant, and efficient.

If you're looking to implement a landing zone in AWS Cloud or to improve your existing environment, be sure to consider the role that IAM policies can play in securing your resources and protecting your data.

AWS VMware Solutions

When it comes to migrating from an on-premise data center to the cloud, organizations have a variety of options to choose from. One of the most popular options is to use AWS VMware Solutions. This approach allows organizations to run their VMware workloads on the AWS infrastructure, while still being able to leverage the benefits of the cloud.
To set up AWS VMware Solutions for storage, we recommend the following steps:
Begin by creating an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance with the VMware Cloud on AWS. This will allow you to run your VMware workloads on the AWS infrastructure.
Next, establish a connection between your on-premise data center and the AWS infrastructure by creating an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) with a VPC peering connection.
To provide storage for your VMware workloads, create an Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume and attach it to your EC2 instance. EBS provides scalable, high-performance block storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances.
Additionally, you can create an Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) file system and mount it to your EC2 instance. EFS provides a shared, elastic file storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances.
Finally, configure your VMware environment to use the EBS and EFS storage, this will help you leverage the benefits of the AWS storage services for your VMware workloads.
It is important to note that migrating to the cloud, including setting up AWS VMware Solutions, can be a complex process, and working with an experienced AWS Partner like Altron Systems Integration can help ensure a smooth and successful migration.

Disaster recovery is a critical aspect of any business's operations

Disaster recovery is a critical aspect of any business's operations, and in today's fast-paced digital environment, it is more important than ever to have a robust strategy in place to protect your data and systems. One of the advantages of using cloud-based services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the ability to implement disaster recovery without the need for additional software or hardware.
AWS Backup is a great example of an agentless disaster recovery service that can be used to protect your data. With AWS Backup, businesses can centralize and automate the backup of their data across AWS services, including Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), and Amazon DynamoDB. This service allows businesses to schedule backups, set retention policies, and quickly restore their data in the event of a disaster.
Another agentless service that can be used for disaster recovery is Amazon S3. S3 is a highly durable and scalable storage service that can be used as a data lake to store and archive your data, including backups. This enables businesses to store and retrieve any amount of data at any time, from anywhere on the web and can be used to replicate data to different regions for disaster recovery purposes.
Amazon CloudWatch is another agentless service that can be used for monitoring your AWS resources and the applications you run on AWS. CloudWatch enables you to collect, analyze, and view metrics, collect and monitor log files, and set alarms. This service can be used to track the performance of your systems and services and proactively identify any potential issues that may impact your disaster recovery efforts.
AWS Storage Gateway is also an agentless service that enables you to store data in the cloud by connecting to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier. This service enables you to store backups and archive data in the cloud and can be used to replicate data to different regions for disaster recovery purposes.
In summary, AWS offers several agentless disaster recovery services that can be used to protect your data and systems. These services allow businesses to implement disaster recovery strategies without the need for additional software or hardware and can help ensure that their critical data and systems are always available and accessible, even in the event of a disaster.

Disaster recovery is an important aspect of any business's operations

Disaster recovery is an important aspect of any business's operations, as it ensures that critical data and systems can be restored in the event of an unexpected disruption. One of the most effective ways to implement disaster recovery in the cloud is by using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its various offerings.
One of the most popular disaster recovery options on AWS is using Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for data storage. EBS allows businesses to take snapshots of their data and store them in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) for safekeeping. This means that in the event of a disaster, businesses can quickly restore their data from these snapshots, minimizing downtime and ensuring the continuity of operations.
Another option for disaster recovery on AWS is the use of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances with the Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) for data storage. EFS provides automatic data replication across multiple availability zones, ensuring that data is always available and accessible, even in the event of a disruption. This can be especially useful for businesses that rely on high-availability systems, such as those in the healthcare or financial industries.
Another cost-effective solution is the use of Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) with Multi-AZ deployment. This service automatically failover to a standby instance in case of primary instance failure, ensuring that the database is always available and minimizing downtime.
AWS Backup service is another great option that enables businesses to centralize and automate the backup of their data across AWS services. This can help businesses ensure that their critical data is always protected, even in the event of a disaster.
Overall, AWS offers a range of options for disaster recovery that can help businesses ensure that their operations are always up and running, even in the face of unexpected disruptions. By carefully assessing their specific needs and selecting the appropriate services, businesses can implement a robust disaster recovery strategy that will help them minimize downtime and maintain the continuity of operations.

AWS Lambda and Serverless Architecture: A Key Component of Digital Transformation

In today's fast-paced business environment, digital transformation has become a key driver of success. Companies of all sizes and across all industries are looking for ways to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and improve customer experiences. One of the key technologies that have emerged as a key enabler of digital transformation is serverless architecture, and one of the leading providers of serverless services is Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. With Lambda, you can build applications and services that automatically scale to meet demand. This means that you only pay for the computing resources you use, and there is no need to worry about capacity planning or server maintenance.

One of the key benefits of using AWS Lambda and serverless architecture is that it enables organizations to focus on delivering value to their customers, rather than managing infrastructure. With serverless, you can build and deploy applications and services quickly and easily, without the need for complex and costly infrastructure. This means that you can iterate on your product or service faster, and get new features and functionality to market faster.

In addition, serverless architecture can also help organizations to reduce costs. Because you only pay for the computing resources you use, you can save money on infrastructure costs. Furthermore, with automatic scaling, you can ensure that you are only paying for the resources you need when you need them. This can help to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Another key benefit of AWS Lambda and serverless architecture is security. With serverless, you don't have to worry about patching, updating, or securing servers. AWS takes care of all of that for you, so you can focus on building and delivering value to your customers.

In conclusion, AWS Lambda and serverless architecture are key components of digital transformation. They enable organizations to focus on delivering value to their customers, reduce costs, and improve security. With serverless, you can build and deploy applications and services quickly and easily, without the need for complex and costly infrastructure. As more and more companies adopt serverless as a key part of their digital transformation strategy, the benefits will continue to multiply.

Students Learn Computational Science and Engineering through Android Smartphones

Prof. Godfrey E. Akpojotor (Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria) 

The general goal of computational science and engineering is to use computational approaches as a means of understanding the various disciplines in science as well as useful training for the future, while retaining the characteristics of these all disciplines in education, in-order to integrate understanding and adaptive learning. Computational approaches help students develop a more intuitive feel for their disciplines. They learn useful and transferable skills that will make them well-sought-after in industrial and commercial environments. These graduates will be better prepared to tackle both theoretical and experimental research problems at the post-graduate level. The learners are eased into programming and given the opportunity to develop a conceptual model of what a program is, and what it does. 

The best strategy to achieve this mission is to adopt an accessible and easy-to-learn programming language. This was the reason for our choice of Python, which is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented, free, open-source and extensible programming language. It combines clarity and readability, making it an extremely powerful and multipurpose language that can be used for various applications and resolving problems. 

There is, however, a major challenge: access to enough computing devices and computer time. A three-hour computational course requires three hours of lectures and another three hours of computer activities. Further, the computing devices should be connected to the internet to facilitate continuous assessments and examinations. My initial strategy to meet these targets was to get my university to seek partnership with a laptop provider, who could supply the students the laptops, with a payment plan included in their school fees or over the period of the years of study. After years of an unsuccessful effort to initiate this partnership, it was a great relief to adopt the QPython, which is the Python version on Android smartphone devices. It has been a boost to our Python African 

Computational Science and Engineering Tour (http://www.pacsetpro.com/) as it has made possible the teaching/learning of computational approaches to “science and engineering anywhere, anyhow, anytime.” Code-named QPython PACSETPro, its mission is similar in spirit to One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiated by Professor Nicholas Negroponte at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Android phones are acquired, maintained and repaired by the individuals. Interestingly, there is already an increasing penetration of smartphones including low-cost Android phones into all parts of Africa and many of the low-cost versions are even compatible with QPython! 

The strategy of QPython PACSETPro is to provide continually updates of the QPython and third party libraries important for scientific computing in Android phones - and hopefully in other smartphones in the future. Apart from the small keyboard and small screen, one major limitation of QPython is that only the built-in Math module is currently available for scientific computing. Therefore, many of the computing capabilities in third party libraries like NumPy and SciPy are not currently available in QPython. However, after about two years of adoption of the QPython in my undergraduate computational courses and in training workshops, we have been able to figure out a number of alternatives available in the math module. For example, we replaced the poly1d function in NumPy with the lambda expression in Math for creating arbitrary functions. Beyond these alternatives, the developers of QPython, hence our small but now rapidly growing community of QPythonists, are committed to future stable versions of the QPython compatible with the plotting capabilities of the Matplotlab module and the navigable 3D displays and animation capabilities of the VPython module. These accomplishments will add to the current very captivating capability of QPython: helping developers to develop Android applications. The presentation at the Education Summit of the Python 

Community Conference (PyCon 2019) held in Cleveland, Ohio, US in May 2019 (https://pyvideo.org/pycon-us-2019/adopting-qpython-insmartphones-for-teachinglearning-computational-science-and-engineering.html) was well received. The chairperson, who was a Google programmer, pointed out that this project needs to be extended to reach all underserved communities in other low-income countries in the world such as her own country of India. Finally, Guido van Rossum, who is the author of the Python programming the language was amazed at the already available capabilities of the Python in Android phones, and the possibility of now using the QPython for teaching/learning programming anywhere, anyhow, and anytime.

Faster Networks for Research and Education

Faster Networks for Research and Education

N. Chetty, Physics Department, University of Pretoria, South Africa

The African Research and Education Network (AFREN) met in Kampala, Uganda, 17-18 June 2019. The

meeting brought together National Research and Education Network (NREN) and regional REN technical

experts, managers and operators on the one hand and university and research leaders on the other

hand. Together they discussed the importance of RENs, to advocate for growing the national and

regional RENs in Africa, to outline services and potential new services provided by RENs, and to hear

directly from the research and education community about their REN needs. The AFREN conversation is

extremely important for growing the research linkages in Africa, and with physics being a lead discipline,

there is much hope and expectation that we are moving in the direction of increased intra-African

collaboration in physics for the future. The meeting was organized by the Association of African Universities. The context for the meeting was the African Union - Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25). 

Meeting discussion points 

NRENs are important for the academic enterprise in any country. The goal of NRENs is to provide-low cost, high-bandwidth connectivity for research and teaching. NRENs provide services to the academic and research community that go well beyond simply providing network connectivity. It is in this respect that NRENs are different from commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Major Objectives for RENs 

1. Provide scientific research and education institutions with reliable means of communication in order to facilitate ease of cooperation and coordination. 

2. Strengthen the notion of partnership and encourage joint scientific research among communities. 

3. Minimize the cost of research by using diversified academic and technical resources to be made available for use on the network with no need for duplicating investment. 

4. The fact that students, teaching staff, and researchers use such dedicated networks would eventually, uplift efficiency and productivity and would boost the concept of creativity and innovation. 

Major services provided by RENs 

1. Unified connectivity to all research and education institutions to provide country-wide standard communication facilities and capabilities to faculty, researchers, students, and staff, leading to better sharing of services, resources, information, data, knowledge and expertise. 

2. Consolidated Internet services, with the NREN acting as an ISP to universities and research institutions. Available statistics in some countries have shown that savings can go up to 40% on access costs while enabling common access policies and configurations at the national level. 

3. Connectivity to regional research networks, providing opportunities for joint research collaboration and online education initiatives. 

4. Access to content, common repositories, and library resources of all universities with a unified subscription to all journals and periodicals for all universities and research centres. 

5. Video conferencing services, media streaming, IP telephony, access federations, and wireless roaming for the purpose of facilitating communications, exchanges of lectures, and coordination of meetings, training and conferences between all users in universities and institutes. 

6. Consolidated agreements with software vendors on behalf of all universities for licensing, with savings reaching up to 50% in some cases. 

7. Common caching, filtering and anti-spam and anti-virus protection services provided by NRENs to all connected institutions. 

8. Furthermore, an NREN can be eligible to create and manage a national Internet Exchange depending on the regulations of the Country, and provide domain name registry services and networking consultancy. 

Implementing Research and Education Networks 

The REN model has been shown to work all around the globe. However, it is a challenge to convince governments in many African countries to provide funds for NRENs because they don’t always appear to appreciate the importance of NRENs. There is an urgent need to bring government officials, university and research leaders as well as academics together in many African countries to begin to develop and strengthen the NREN jointly, which should be seen to be much more than simply providing infrastructure. NRENs should be seen to be independent organizations funded largely by governments. The organizational structure of NRENs was repeatedly stressed by various speakers. NRENs need to be managed by the user community (the Higher Education sector and Research Institutions) so that the service provided can readily link with the needs of the community. There are best practices for governance for NRENs that are not always freely implementable because of political interference in some African countries. 

Why does Africa need NRENs? 

African scientists are not sufficiently connected with each other across national boundaries. It was repeatedly mentioned that African scientists are more inclined to cooperate with the global North than within Africa. NRENs are essential, but so too is connectivity within Africa. There are three regional RENs, with the names WACREN (West and Central African Research and Educational Network), ASREN (Arab States Research and Educational Network) and Ubuntunet, all of which aim to enhance connectivity on a regional basis in the continent. African Connect is a program funded by the European Union that has supported the regional development of RENs. In the era of the rapid increase in data sizes, for example in astronomy, high energy physics, genomics, medicine, etc., it is imperative that African academics have access to greater bandwidth for scientific research and collaborations. Accessing high-performance computing resources and large research data sets is critical for scientists working in less developed countries. Concerns were expressed about cybersecurity, and the need for the NREN community to learn from each other about ways to counter this growing international scourge. The idea of a virtual research and education college was discussed extensively and argued to be very realizable in the era of growing NRENs in Africa. Here, real-time communications were highlighted as important, for example in connecting with a collaborator in Africa or abroad, or a remote supervisor or thesis examiner, or presenting a seminar or an interactive lecture series to participants elsewhere in Africa. Sharing expert human resources over the network means that the quality of research and education can grow significantly, particularly in rural Africa where that capacity might not be strong.