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<br><p class="pretitle"><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/newsbytheme.cfm?displayType=news">News</a> :: GEANT 3 launch</p>
<h1>Third generation of GÉANT to pioneer the Future Internet</h1>
<p class="intropara">(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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>GÉANT 3 could contribute to developing new medical practices and techniques. For example, the <a href="http://www.igd.fhg.de/igd-a7/projects/telemed/">T@lemed</a>
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 <a href="http://alice.dante.net/">ALICE</a> networks.</p>
<p>Thanks to the GÉANT's network, the <a href="http://www.expres-eu.org/">EXPReS astronomy</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>In its Communication of March 2009 on <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0108:FIN:EN:PDF">'ICT infrastructures for eScience'</a>, the Commission called for a consolidation of GÉANT's world leadership. This message was reinforced by the <a href="http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/108158.pdf">Competitiveness Council of May 2009</a>
who encouraged the Commission to pursue the sustainability, global
connectivity, interoperability and use of pan-European
e-Infrastructures. </p>
<p>GEANT 3 is <a href="http://www.geant.net/Events/LaunchEvent/pages/home.aspx">officially launched today in Stockholm</a>.
</p>
<p><b>Background</b></p>
<p><a href="http://www.geant.net/pages/home.aspx">GÉANT</a> 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. </p>
<p>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.</p><br>