[AfrICANN-discuss] Third generation of GÉANT to pioneer the Future Internet

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/redirection.cfm?item_id=5446&utm_campaign=isp&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsroom&utm_content=daily

News<http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/newsbytheme.cfm?displayType=news>::
GEANT 3 launch
Third generation of GÉANT to pioneer the Future Internet

(01/12/2009) The new generation of GÉANT, the super fast pan-European
research internet, has been officially unveiled today. 40 million
researchers and students across Europe, who use GÉANT today, will be able to
better tackle the new science challenges thanks to networking innovation and
advanced user services. From 2012 researchers from all over the world will
enjoy connection speeds of up to 100 Gigabits per second, ten times higher
than today. Faster speeds will, for example help scientists to work better
together and also enable them to process massive amounts of data that come
from projects like CERN's Large Hadron Collider or giant telescopes scanning
the skies for information about our galaxies. GEANT 3 is receiving € 93
million in funding from the EU’s 7th Framework Programme and a similar
amount from Europe’s National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), and
will run until 2012.

GÉANT is a “network of networks” which offers reliable, seamless and
transparent connectivity and supports services for users to create the most
advanced international research network in the world. The GÉANT 3 project is
developing a portfolio of advanced services like bandwidth on-demand for
specific project requirements. This means that, for example, astronomers
exploring the universe can combine data gathered from radio telescopes over
GÉANT with a special "on demand" connection rather than needing a specific,
"always on" data transmission line allowing an optimized usage of the
resource.

By investing in advanced technologies, the new generation of the GÉANT
project aims at keeping Europe at the forefront of research networking and
e-Science that rely on advanced use of ICT tools, as well as in the lead of
shaping the internet of the future.

GÉANT 3 could contribute to developing new medical practices and techniques.
For example, the T at lemed
<http://www.igd.fhg.de/igd-a7/projects/telemed/>project worked to
bring essential healthcare services to hospitals in
outlying districts of Colombia and Brazil. By using special equipment and
software, doctors could remotely diagnose conditions and prescribe
treatments to patients, despite being thousands of miles away. High-quality
video links were established using the GÉANT and
ALICE<http://alice.dante.net/>networks.

Thanks to the GÉANT's network, the EXPReS
astronomy<http://www.expres-eu.org/>has been able to process data to
create real-time distributed pictures of
specific areas of the universe and detailed images of some of the most
distant objects in space. Remote radio telescopes are connected to a central
data processor to transmit enormous volumes of data. Doing this via the
super-fast GÉANT network has reduced data transfer times from 82 days to 82
seconds and promises to be even faster with GÉANT 3.

GÉANT 3, which builds on the successes of its predecessors, will also seek
to address the digital divide faced by the research and education community,
by working towards equalizing the cost of connectivity and improving network
links across Europe.

In its Communication of March 2009 on 'ICT infrastructures for
eScience'<http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0108:FIN:EN:PDF>,
the Commission called for a consolidation of GÉANT's world leadership. This
message was reinforced by the Competitiveness Council of May
2009<http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/108158.pdf>who
encouraged the Commission to pursue the sustainability, global
connectivity, interoperability and use of pan-European e-Infrastructures.

GEANT 3 is officially launched today in
Stockholm<http://www.geant.net/Events/LaunchEvent/pages/home.aspx>.


*Background*

GÉANT <http://www.geant.net/pages/home.aspx> is the dedicated high-bandwidth
pan-European network that provides advanced interconnectivity between
Europe’s NRENs through 50.000 kilometres of mostly optical fibre. As a
result, nearly 40 million research and education users in over 8,000
institutions can share vast quantities of data, and collaborate across
multiple disciplines throughout Europe and beyond. The first two phases of
the GÉANT project have been developing a high speed network and a wide range
of services for scientists across Europe since 2000.

GÉANT is managed and operated by DANTE and supported by the Trans-European
Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA) on behalf of Europe's
national research and education networks. The project comprises 32 National
Research and Education Networks (NRENs) partners serving 36 countries,
across Europe, as well as 4 associated NRENs.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/africann/attachments/20091201/0eb78d26/attachment.htm