TERENA Networking Conference 2003 in Zagreb by Martin Bech

These pictures represent the personal view of this year's conference, as seen by an average participant from Denmark.

This year (18th to 23rd of May 2003), the conference takes place in Zagreb, which has a lovely atmosphere and a manegable size.

The trams and the characteristic blend of old and new only seem to enhance that impression.

On Sunday, we were not invited to any of the meetings, so a stroll in the town was on the agenda...

...together with my colleague Dan Moenster (known to some as the chairman of TF-NETCAST), who obviously wants the full picture of the cathedral.

This is not made any nicer - even in souvenir shops!

Yours truly. Enjoying Karlovac beer.

The Botanic Garden - nice, clean and well-kept - a place of relaxation and with a historic atmosphere...

The Cathedral at night is also a pretty sight.

The warm evenings enable street cafes of near-Parisian dimensions.

Before the conference really starts, there is a meeting in the TERENA Technical Advisory Council. It is extremely popular to have the notebooks open at the same time.

We discuss NRENs...

...and GRID.

Dan Moenster also speaks...

...about TF-NETCAST. It is always nice to see the name of your own organization on the screen...

The view from the top floor of the hotel is magnificent. Here, the new part of town...

...and the old.

The lunch buffet is in the Mimara museum, right next to...

...Hotel Opera where the whole thing takes place.

The conference is officially opened by His Excellency, the Minister of Science and Technology, Republic of Croatia.

The keynote speaker is Kim Veltman, who gives a dazzling speak about the relationship between networking and culture.

One of the many good and thought-provoking examples is a virtual museum of art (try it yourself). If you compare this to (real) art museums on the net, who can tell from what you see on the net, which one is fake and which is real. And at the end of the day, it may not even be very important which is real. This and a lot of other views really put our ideas of the world in perspective.

The break is hectic.

Later in the day, several parallel sessions followed. I was on the NREN track with Mr. Yuri Izhvanov of St. Petersburg, who drew...

...a picture of the NREN situation in Russia. They have a very complex network, where a lot of people and organizations strive to make the whole thing work as well as possible with the limited resources they have. And with the current pace, they are there in a few years. They already get international connection via Nordunet and a connection from GEANT is on it's way.

The evening event took place in the National Theatre - that is not unlike our own in Copenhagen.

And to my surprise we were not there just for the drinks and hors d'oeuvres, but to see a real ballet.

Before that could start, a few words from our hosts

...and more than a few words from the evening's sponsor, CIENA.

The show was a ballet with a lot of folklore where the daughter refuses to marry the clown that her parents come dragging along with...

She will obviously rather have the man she loves - the only problem being that he is posessed by the devil. However, this slight difficulty can be overcome here in Croatia, and she ends up marrying the one she loves. Neat.

Then it's time for snacks, cakes and drinks on the balcony of the theatre, where you can meet a lof on interesting people...

From the left you see the secretary-general of TERENA, Karel Vietsch (should be known to everybody), followed by two people, known at least by everyone from Denmark: Steen Pedersen who is head of the administration of the Danish Research Network (Forskningsnettet), and Dorte Olesen who is managing director of UNI-C (operating the Danish NREN) - and who knows, maybe a coming chairman of TERENA?

Zagreb by night. Old and new.

A warm thanks to the people behind the organization of the conference.

Martin Bech, UNI-C
Email: martin.bech@uni-c.dk