Inclusion and Accessibility Projects Solidarity Network Solidarity Network
The Solidarity Network comprises more than 248 Non-Governmental Organisations for and of Disabled People, the elderly or those at risk of exclusion. Its roots can be traced back to when social solidarity institutions joined the RCTS - Technology and Society Network.
The RCTS was set up in 1997 to replace the National Scientific Computation Network, extending this network of scientific and higher education institutions to primary and secondary schools, public libraries, solidarity institutions and other scientific and cultural institutions.
The Solidarity Network has been in operation since August 2001. Over the years, the Solidarity Network has expanded its access points and introduced new functions under initiatives by and with the funding of The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC). The Solidarity Network had 280 access points by the end of 2008 (see this growth in the graph and table under this paragraph). Speed increased from 64 Kbps on the RDIS line in 2001 to 8 MB by ADSL in 2008 – roughly 100 times faster. Plone content management was introduced for hosting in 2005 and in 2008 Joomla 1.5 began operating. At this point, content management reverted to the FCCN – Foundation for National Scientific Computation, reintegrating with the RCTS. In terms of the space for hosting, the 40 MB from the RCTS in 2001 have made way to 500 MB in 2008. Email management has grown from 7 mailboxes in 2001 to an unlimited number that can be set up in 2008. Each mailbox now (2009) has more reserved space than the institutional Web hosting in 2001.
Graph showing the growth in the No. of Access Points for the Solidarity Network (2002-2008)
The following table contains the data shown on the previous graph
Access Points for the Solidarity Network (2002-2008)
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | 127 | 230 | 240 | 280 |
The current Solidarity Network infrastructure provided by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) consists of the following functions in the 1st quarter of 2009:
- Internet access:
- free access, 24/7 via ADSL (8MB) with unlimited national and international traffic.
- free access, 24/7 via ADSL (8MB) with unlimited national and international traffic.
- email:
- creation of an unlimited number of email boxes, each with 50MB capacity
- access to the mailboxes via POP3, IMAP (configuration in email programmes like Outlook) and via webmail.
- web hosting:
- 500MB to set up an institutional website;
- Joomla 1.5 content management;
- Server with PHP5 and MySQL5 support. Any management system using these technologies may be installed at the space reserved for each institution.
- eLearning Moodle may be installed;
- 5 MySQL Databases.
- personalised web domain of the [institution].org.pt. type.
In this way, 2008-2009 saw an enormous leap forward in the technological conditions the Solidarity Network was provided with by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) has sponsored this development and has made the Solidarity Network Portal and a content manager for each of the network’s institutions available since June 2005. In addition, it supplies broadband Internet connections for Solidarity Network institutions and provides roughly 650 email inboxes for these institutions and monitors their activities.