Welcome note

It is our great pleasure and an honor for us to welcome you all on behalf of the HONET 2009 organizers, and especially to welcome the International delegates from USA, Europe, Australia and SAMENA region (South Asia, Middle East, & North Africa) as well as from world´s ancient civilization; the host country Arab Republic of Egypt. The beautiful Alexandria is a welcoming place for East, West, North and South and serves as a major junction and convergence point for ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded “Taj Network” has expanded to the Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD), wrapping another ring of light around the northern hemisphere for science and education. Taj now connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the GLORIAD global infrastructure and dramatically improves existing US network links. Taj will soon land a 1Gbps connection in Alexandria and GLORIAD-II is next. HONET tries to play an educational role among NRENs through collaborations with leading teams and researchers.