Charles Darwin Research Station

The Network Startup Resource Center and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) jointly offered technical assistance to the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) located on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Archipelago. The combined group from CDRS, NSRC and ICTP spent four days updating infrastructure equipment throughout the station including the residences. Technologies including point-to-point wireless, a local Domain Name Server, Active Directory, Power-Over-Ethernet switches and wi-fi access were implemented to increase network performance. Served entirely by satellite links the next phase of work for the station includes augmenting external connectivity, possibly through the use of under-sea fiber cables or high speed satellite spot beams.

Registered in 1978 as the first site to the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Galápagos are a ‘melting pot’ of marine species, ongoing seismic and volcanic activity, and unusual animal life that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection following his visit in 1835. The Charles Darwin Research Station provides a living laboratory for the hundred or so researchers and staffers that work on the islands perched upon the equator. The Charles Darwin Foundation operates CDRS under an agreement with the government of Ecuador. For more information on this activity please read the Foundation's announcement found here in English and found here in Spanish.