DANTE investment to provide even better networking support to customers

Cambridge, UK | 10 January 2013

DANTE awards contract to OPNET
DANTE has signed an agreement with OPNET Technologies, Inc. a leading provider of solutions for application and network performance management, to boost IP network planning capacity for its projects, including GÉANT, the pan-European network serving Europe’s research and education community.


Future proofing
OPNET software will assist DANTE in network modelling, by simulating growth and fault scenarios, helping to maximise return on investment and minimise disruption to network users.  It will also provide a centralised documentation repository and network configuration auditing function that will increase efficiencies of the network operations teams leading to better support for its National Research and Education Network (NREN) community. 

A convergence of GÉANT’s IP network services and the recent increase in the number of Points of Presence (PoPs) has driven the requirement to invest in OPNET’s software that will keep up with the rapid growth in size and reach of GÉANT and the other networks that DANTE operates.  OPNET software will also help maximise cost efficiencies by ensuring the network capacity is being fully utilised. 
Enhanced service for users

Senior Engineer Tony Barber says, “This is a significant investment but we strongly believe that implementing OPNET’s software technology will provide far reaching savings as we adopt a more systematic approach to network planning and growth.  It will also assist our drive towards better documentation and consistent configurations which can only be good news for network stability and support and thus ultimately for the GEANT service offerings“.

The agreement with OPNET is the result of the in-depth procurement process with proof of concept workshops being conducted with four of the industry’s leading suppliers of these systems.  It was felt OPNET’s modular product offering and comprehensive UK-based support team was the best solution to support DANTE’s worldwide research and education networks. 

About DANTE
DANTE is a non-profit organisation, coordinator of large-scale projects co-funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in the other regions to one another and to GÉANT. DANTE currently manages projects focused on the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific, sub Saharan Africa and central Asia regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, TEIN, AfricaConnect and CAREN projects respectively.

About OPNET Technologies, Inc.
OPNET Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of solutions for application and network performance management. OPNET's best-in-class solutions address: application performance management, network performance management, and network R&D.  See www.opnet.com 

For more information, contact:
Tamsin Henderson, DANTE:
+44 (0)1223 371391
tamsin.henderson@dante.net