How it all Started!

The story of RENU is a story of faith and perseverance to actualize the ending of extreme isolation of Uganda’s researchers and higher education practitioners from their national, regional and global peers, through the “Ubuntu” philosophy (the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity).

12^th – 13^th January

Meeting of VCs of leading universities and CEOs of research institutions, held at Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, resolves to establish a national research and education network.

14^th January

RENU incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation limited by guarantee.

18^th April

RENU becomes a member of the UbuntuNet Alliance.

12^th – 13^th November

RENU hosts 2^nd edition of the International UbuntuNet Connect Conference at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

30^th November

Ministry of Education and Sports recognizes RENU as the National Research and Education Network (NREN) for Uganda.

5^th July

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) grants RENU a license to establish and operate a national private network to serve the connectivity needs of all eligible R&E institutions.

November

Advent of the AfricaConnect Project through the UbuntuNet Alliance.

September

RENU becomes eligible to participate in the AfricaConnect Project.

January

UbuntuNet Alliance PoP (Point of Presence) commissioned in Kampala.

February

First RENU PoP commissioned in Kampala marks the beginning of a private RENU network.

25^th February

First member institution (Uganda Christian University) gets connected to the new private RENU network.

14^th April

RENU signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) for backbone network use.

28^th April

Beginning of the RENU Capacity Building Program, in collaboration with NSRC and INASP.

September

First upcountry RENU PoP commissioned in Mbarara.
RENU network reaches Kabale in South Western Uganda.

November

Third RENU PoP commissioned in Mulago, Kampala.
RENU NOC established.

December

Number of connected member institutions hits 15.

February

RENU sets up a PoP in Entebbe resulting in five research institutions (NIH, UVRI, MRC, JCRC, and IAVI) and two campuses (Nkumba University and University of Kisubi) joining its network.

March

First RENU data center is commissioned.

17^th May

RENU connects to the UIXP [Uganda Internet eXchange Point] at Communications House – Kampala.

21^st July

RENU sets up a PoP in Mbale resulting in two campuses (Busitema University and UCU Mbale) getting connected to its network.

13^th August

RENU sets up a new PoP in the northern part of Uganda (Gulu District) resulting in Gulu University joining its network.

1^st September

RENU Secretariat gets a new home – House No. 31, The Edge, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

7^th January

RENU officially recognized as the 75^th National Roaming Operator (NRO) for eduroam in the world.

15^th January

Annual newsletter launched to mark 10 years since the resolution to establish RENU as the National Research and Education Network (NREN) in Uganda.

April

Number of connected member institutions hits 50, with 6 countrywide RENU PoPs.
Video conferencing launched as a service by RENU.

18^th July

RENU initiates the Researchers & Academics Forum (RAF).

1^st August

RENU Identity Federation (RIF) established.

5^st August

RENU CERT established.

8^th August

RENU signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

19^th August

RENU joins the worldwide perfSONAR network.

1^st September

RENU commissions a direct link from Kampala to UbuntuNet Alliance PoP in London, achieving full international redundancy.

3^rd – 4^th November

RENU hosts the 9^th edition of the international UbuntuNet Connect Conference at Imperial Golf View Hotel in Entebbe, becoming the first NREN to host the event twice!

7^th February

RENU network reaches Fort Portal and Mountains of the Moon University becomes the 64^th campus to get connected to the RENU network.

22^nd April

RENU commissions aggregation PoP in Arua and gets its network to reach West Nile, resulting into Muni University getting connected.

5^th May

Nabisunsa Girls’ School, through their collaboration with Kyambogo University, becomes the first secondary school to get connected to the RENU network.

1^st June

First edition of the RENU industrial training program is launched.

1^st August

RENU Cloud launched as a service for RENU member institutions.

8^th August

RENU Open Source Mirror launched as a service for RENU member institutions.

August

RENU backbone links upgraded to 10 Gbps.

11^th October

RENU network reaches Ishaka and Kampala International University – Ishaka campus becomes the 80^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

10^th January

RENU network reaches Jinja and Kampala University – Jinja campus becomes the 85^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

12^th January

RENU network reaches Lira and Lira University becomes the 86^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

30^th January

The RENU Identity Federation (RIF) becomes the 55^th federation in the world to join eduGAIN, and the 1^st in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.

27^th April

eduVPN is launched as a service in RENU.

31^st July

Refugee Law Project becomes the 100^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

22^nd September

The RENU link to the UbuntuNet Alliance PoP in Kampala is upgraded to 10 GE.

9^th November

eduroam is deployed at UCU Arua campus – 500 km from Kampala – arguably the remotest deployment.

16^th January

RENU network reaches Kasese and Baylor Uganda – Kasese campus is connected to the RENU network.

22^nd February

The Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) gets connected to the RENU network.

15^th March

RENU network finally reaches Kagadi and African Rural University (ARU), an all-women university, gets connected to the RENU network.

12^th April

RENU network finally reaches Soroti and Mbale Clinical Research Institute (MCRI) Soroti gets connected to the RENU network.

24^th April

RENU signs an MoU with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to connect over 50 schools to the RENU network.

20^th August

RENU introduces the Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Software as a service to its members.

13^th December

Acacia International School – Junior Campus becomes the 150^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

27^th March

RENU removes caps on international traffic to enable unrestricted data communication to support the country’s efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

23^rd May

Infectious Disease Institute (IDI) – Masindi becomes the 200^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

10^th July

RENU launches a free open source cloud-based e-learning environment, with Moodle as the Learning Management System (LMS).

14^th August

RENU launches Shared Bandwidth Capacity for small institutions and research offices that would otherwise find a dedicated link unaffordable.

1^st September

RENU launches metro-eduroam to enable off-campus connectivity to support its members work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

12^th October

RENU launches Zero-rated Mobile Access for students and staff of RENU member institutions to access their institutions’ websites and e-learning portals without loading a data bundle on MTN and Airtel.

13^th October

RENU joins the global initiative Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS).

18^th November

Busega Community School for the Deaf and Blind becomes the first education institution for children with special needs to get connected to the RENU network.

13^th January

RENU marks 15 years of existence.

26^th February

RENU deploys first LoRaWAN gateway.

5^th March

RENU integrates one of the Google Global Caches (GGC) in its data center to improve user experience with many of the web-based applications.

4^th May

RENU launches the Celestini: Uganda Program (in partnership with the Marconi Society, NSRC and RANLab) to train undergraduate students of members Institutions in eduroam and support Masters and PhD Students taking on LoRaWAN IoT-based research projects.

23^rd September

RENU launches the Free Wireless Access Points Project for schools with Entebbe S.S being the first beneficiary.

15^th October

Heritage International School becomes the the 1^st school in Uganda to join eduroam, bringing the number of institutions on eduroam to 25.

16^th December

Lyantonde-DHO infectious diseases research facility, under the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Project, becomes the 250^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

18^th December

RENU network reaches Kalangala and the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) – Kalangala District Health Office campus becomes the 256^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

23^rd December

RENU secures a USD 200,000 grant through the Building Opportunities/Leveraging Technologies (BOLT) Grant Program of the Internet Society Foundation to extend the reach of FREE connectivity across Uganda.

17^th January

The HIV/AIDS research facility in Soroti, under The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) Uganda becomes the 300^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

3^rd May

RENU launches Metro eduroam service upcountry; extends Metro eduroam to 15 upcountry towns/cities across Uganda.

8^th June

RENU network finally reaches Kisoro and Metropolitan International University (MIU) – Kisoro gets connected to the RENU network.

22^nd June

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) renews RENU’s licence to extend connectivity and other telecommunications services to research & education institutions countrywide.

27^th June

RENU signs a Memorandum of Understanding with National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to collaborate as partners in the enhancement of the quality and equity of access to higher education through optimal utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

1^st July

RENU signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) to enhance collaboration in the development of research management systems for Data Capture, Storage, Discovery, Sharing, Dissemination and Innovation.

2^nd July

The World University Service of Canada becomes the 400^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

15^th August

UCC partners with RENU to connect 90 secondary schools to the RENU network.

8^th September

RENU launches eduroam on the Go, a solution to keep researchers and university staff connected to the Internet Anytime, Anywhere.

8^th December

The Makerere Joint Aids Program (MJAP) in Kamuli, becomes the 450^th site to get connected to the RENU network.

1^st February

RENU opens up a new office branch at Plot 6B, Mabua Rd, Kololo.

1^st April

Kiira Motors Corporation becomes the 500^th site to get connected to the RENU network through the MoU between RENU and UNCST, which was signed in 2022.

9^th May

RENU launches eduroam SpoT, an App that notifies users about the presence of an eduroam hotspot in the vicinity, and helps the users locate the hotspot.

29^th May

RENU launches a landmark partnership to avail data centre facilities, to RENU member institutions, in Uganda’s first enterprise-grade, Tier III certified carrier-neutral data centre.

31^st July

RENU establishes a joint venture with Mesh ++ to manufacture solar-powered routers in Uganda, the first routers to be made in Uganda.

23^rd October

RENU enters into a twinning partnership with Sikt, the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research, which is sponsored by GEANT, to enable RENU to roll out the Campus Network as a Service (CNaaS) solution in Uganda.

9^th January

RENU launches KobWeb, our community magazine.

18^th March

Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) joined eduroam, the Free, Secure and Trusted Wi-Fi.

9^th April

RENU signs Memorandum of Understanding with Uganda Vice Chancellors` Forum.