Eight universities in São Paulo will be interconnected by a high-speed fiber optic network that, in addition to connecting them, will allow the exchange of information with foreign institutions. Called Backbone SP, the network is in the installation phase and is now available at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and the Federal University of ABC (UFABC). 
The initiative will provide an infovia with a speed of 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps). If compared to a 100 megabit internet used in homes, Backbone SP is a thousand times faster.
“The objective is to exchange information from teaching materials, exchange scientific data. More and more scientific data are occupying an increasingly voluminous space”, pointed out João Eduardo Ferreira, coordinator of the Research and Education Network at São Paulo (Rednesp), which will operate Backbone SP, which has been under development for two years with the support of of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (Fapesp). The system will also allow data processing and storage.
Ferreira points out that, until the beginning of January, the other universities will be interconnected. They are: University of São Paulo (USP), Mackenzie Presbyterian, the state São Paulo (Unesp) and Campinas (Unicamp), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA). “It’s a contract with a company that won the bid that is doing this installation of optical fibers”, he pointed out.
According to the coordinator, the network is the backbone for connecting São Paulo universities to international academic networks, made through submarine cables located in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“What Rednesp does is connect those who are here in São Paulo to the world’s academic networks. That is the goal. Each country, each continent has its academic networks and we connect. In the same way that we have access to Europe, they have access to Brazil via our network”, he indicates.
Redenesp is linked to international academic networks, such as Americas Africa Lightpaths (AmLight) and RedCLARA, from Latin America.
According to Fapesp, Backbone SP is also prepared to make connections possible for initiatives from São Paulo universities that demand greater bandwidth, such as private 5G networks. “In the next steps, Backbone will exchange data including new connectivity interfaces, for example, 5G, private networks. We have public networks, which operators are offering the plans, but there will also be what we call a 5G private network”, he explains.
