Lead sector	Other sectors	Start	Project Duration in Months
RESEARCH		1 January 1996	27

Project Objectives, Summary description and anticipated results:

In the context of a European information network based on the World Wide Web (WWW), DESIRE aims to comprehensively address the areas in which existing services fail to adequately meet the needs of research users. In particular, DESIRE aims to provide:

Asustainable approach to making searching, finding, browsing, accessing and retrieving multimedia resources as easy as possible

Tools for the creation, maintenance, quality, cost-recovery and description of information resources

Security mechanisms to control access to information resources for reasons of confidentiality or charging

Quality mechanisms to permit the quality of information and information services to be monitored and reported

Performance features to reduce the international bandwidth requirements of access to multimedia information across Europe

Component technologies (caching, indexing methods) have clear possibilities for exploitation by providers of information services and by network operators, although the legal problems of providing secure information services, particularly across national boundaries, will remain. The participating service providers will exploit the technical infrastructure to deliver an information service infrastructure to their customers.

Major Validation sites:

Institution/ Organisations	City/Town + Postal Code	Region	Country
Stichting Academisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam (SARA)	Amsterdam 1090 GP	NL32	NL
University of Utrecht Faculty of Pharmacy	Utrecht 3584 CA	NL31	NL
UNINETT	Trondheim 7002	-	NO
University of Bristol	Bristol BS8 1TH	UK61	GB
Koninklijke Bibliotheek	Den Haag 2595 BE	NL33	NL
British Orthopaedic Association	London WC2A 3PN	UK55	GB
University of Dundee	Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery	Dundee DD1 4HN	UKA1	GB

Other Characteristics of the Project:

Users Involved

End-users and intermediate-users of European networked information services within the research community.

Technologies and/or approach used

The Internet protocols and the World Wide Web model.

Expected benefits for the citizen

Increase the accessibility of information and contribute to the development of virtual libraries.

Expected benefits for the users of the application

Improved efficiency of access to networked information resources.

Expected benefits for the European Industries

Better tools will reduce the amount of time that needs to be invested in providing online information and will increase the viability of the information industry. Improved access to RTD results

Contribution to EU-policies

Better international collaboration through more efficient access to information and research results.

Coordinator:

Institution/ Organisations	City + Postal Code	Region	Country
SURFnet bv	Utrecht NL3501	DA NL31	NL
Parent company	Controlling Company (Country)
n/a	n/a

Contact person from the Coordinating Contractor:

Title, First Name, Name	Dr. Ton Verschuren	Address:	PO Box 19035 NL-3501 DA Utrecht
Tel:	+31 30 305 305	Fax:	+31 30 305 329
E-mail 1:	verschuren@surfnet.nl	E-mail 2:	nederkoorn@surfnet.nl

Other Contractors:

Participants Code	Name of Institution/Organisation	City + Postal Code	Region	Country
C2	University of Bristol - Social Sciences Information Gateway	Bristol BS8 1TH	UK61	GB
C3	Lund University Library, Netlab	Lund 22100	SE04	SE
C4	UNINETT A/S	Trondheim 7002	-	NO
C5	Philips Communications and Processing Services bv	Eindhoven 5600 MD	NL41	NL
C6	University of Newcastle upon Tyne	Newcastle	NE1 7RU	UK13	GB
C7	The Queen's University of Belfast	Belfast BT7 1NN	UKB	GB
C 8	Joint Research Centre of the EU	Ispra 21020	-	IT

Last Updated: 18 December 1996 - telematics@terena.nl (hosted by the SCIMITAR project)