GÉANT works towards improved connectivity to Moscow
27 April 2010 | Cambridge, UKGreater bandwidth and new Point-of-Presence will enable Russian collaboration on large European research projects
DANTE, operator of the pan-European GÉANT network, and JSCC, Joint SuperComputer Centre in Russia are working closely to establish a new GÉANT Point-of-Presence (PoP), to be located at the Russian Academy of Science in Moscow. Offering greatly enhanced capability for JSCC, this will enable improved collaboration with large scale European research projects in areas including particle physics and astronomy.
Whilst Russia is already connected to GÉANT the new PoP provides Russia’s national network with access to GÉANT Plus, a service that enables the creation of point-to-point circuits across the existing pre-provisioned network.
Capable of creating ‘virtual private networks’ for its users, GÉANT Plus is ideal for projects with participants in multiple locations, combining the privacy and availability advantages of a private circuit with the cost efficiency of a shared network.
This improved level of service will in turn open the door to closer collaboration with projects such as the Large Hadron Collider and will allow INASAN, the Russian Institute of Astronomy, to more closely collaborate on a global scale with similar institutions.
Russia’s existing connections to the GÉANT network – consisting of a 10G link between Moscow and Frankfurt, and a 2.5G link between Moscow and Copenhagen – are also set to be improved. The Frankfurt connection will benefit from GÉANT Plus and the ability to apportion bandwidth between normal IP traffic and point-to-point connections, whilst work is due to start on upgrading the Copenhagen link from 2.5G to 10G capacity.
“We’re delighted with the progress from all sides that looks set to culminate so successfully with the establishment of this new PoP,” said Dai Davies, General Manager DANTE, operator of the GÉANT network. “Russia is a vital part of the research community, and this latest development will I’m sure bring significant benefits for all parties.”
About GÉANT:
GÉANT is the high speed European communication network dedicated to research and education. In combination with its NREN partners, GÉANT creates a secure, high speed research infrastructure that serves 40 million researchers in over 8,000 institutions across 40 European countries. Operating at speeds of up to 10 Gbps, GÉANT is the world’s largest and most advanced multi-gigabit network dedicated to research and education. Building on the success of its predecessors, GÉANT has been created around the needs of users, providing flexible, network services that transform the way that researchers collaborate. GÉANT is at the heart of global research networking through wide ranging connections with other world regions, underpinning vital projects that bridge the digital divide and benefit society as a whole.
Co-funded by the European Commission under the EU’s 7th Research and Development Framework Programme, GÉANT is the e-Infrastructure at the heart of the EU’s European Research Area and contributes to the development of emerging internet technologies. The project partners are 32 European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs. For more information, visit www.geant.net
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 focussed on the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific and central Asia regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, TEIN and CAREN projects respectively. For more information, visit www.dante.net.
