Examining Technologies to Reduce Response Time in Hands-on Exercise Environment over Widely Distributed Computer Network Utilizing RENs

As the number of Internet users continues to increase, there is an urgent need to train Internet engineers to support this infrastructure. Our research team is designing and managing an educational program to foster Internet engineers for undergraduate students in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. As part of the program, we are conducting on-site hands-on exercises to create a computer network with remote locations using Research and Education Networks (RENs). Since these onsite hands-on exercises will be conducted in various places in the APAC region, delays caused by physical distance are unavoidable. Therefore, our team has designed a low response time hands-on exercise environment to ensure comfortable student activities. Furthermore, to verify the effectiveness of this design, we conducted a simulation verification using a virtual environment. We confirmed that the design provides a low response time, even considering the unavoidable latency over distances in the APAC region.