The pan-European networkwith global capabilities

Transforming the wayresearchers collaborate

connect • communicate • collaborate

www.geant.net

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union.The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of DANTE and can under nocircumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. BR/NWK/0312

Further Information

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What is GÉANT?GÉANT is the pan-European research and education network thatinterconnects Europe’s National Research and Education Networks(NRENs). Together we connect over 40 million researchers and studentsacross Europe, facilitating collaborative research in a diverse range ofdisciplines, including high-energy physics, radio astronomy, bio-medicine,climate change, earth observation and arts & culture.

GÉANT is part-funded by, and works in close cooperation with theEuropean Commission (EC). GÉANT is fundamental to realising theEU’s 2020 vision for the European Research Area (ERA), and is akey part of the Digital Agenda for Europe, a flagship initiativedriving Europe 2020.

What sets GÉANT apart from other networks?• The robustness that large research projects rely on – outstanding service availability and service

quality. Over 1,000 Terabytes of data are transferred every day via the GÉANT IP backbone.• The flexibility that means services and infrastructure can be tailored to individual user

requirements.• The capacity, combined with extreme robustness and high availability, which sets GÉANT apart.

Key routes on GÉANT already run at 40 Gbps, with planned upgrades to 100 Gbps scheduledfor 2012 to ensure the network remains ahead of user demand for bandwidth.

• The effective and efficient operations users come to expect, as delivered by a dedicatedNetwork Operations Centre. 99% of cases are reported within 15 minutes of the outagebeing detected.

• All the services needed for seamless networking experience: IP and dedicated circuits,test-beds and virtualised resources, authentication and roaming, monitoring andtroubleshooting, advisory and support services.

By excelling in the key areas of robustness,flexibility, capacity and operations, GÉANTis enabling the research and educationcommunities to focus on what they do best– collaborating on vital projects that pushback the boundaries of knowledge.

GÉANT is managed and operatedon behalf of Europe’s NRENs,offering outstanding serviceavailability and service quality.

The GÉANT network delivers real value and benefit to society byenabling research communities across Europe, and the rest of the world,to transform the way they collaborate on ground-breaking research.

BioinformaticsThe European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI),part of the European Molecular BiologyLaboratory (EMBL) collaborates with hundredsof partners around the world to manageterabytes of information from thousands oflife sciences projects and make this rapidlyincreasing data available to all.

To share information EMBL-EBI works closelywith UK NREN JANET and GÉANT who providea robust and high-speed network architecturethat currently transmits over 80 terabytes ofdata per month to users around the world.

NeuroscienceThe DECIDE project enables the fasterdiagnosis of diseases such as Alzheimer’sthrough a simple to use, grid-based systemthat provides the processing power to analyseincreasing volumes of patient data.

DECIDE’s unique infrastructure relies on theGÉANT network to connect powerful computingresources and international databases toenable clinicians to quickly upload, analyseand compare medical imaging data, enablingfaster, more informed diagnoses.

Green ICTThe GreenStar Network project was createdto prove the viability of using green energysources, initially in research networking,that can reduce ICT’s carbon footprint.

GSN uses GÉANT’s high-speed Bandwidth onDemand links to create an interactive greennetwork, which includes advanced middlewareto maximise how renewable-poweredresources are used.

BY MDBelarus Moldova

Austria

UA Ukraine

Backbone topology as at March 2012. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.

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Backbone topology as at March 2012. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’ogy as at March 20 ANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.on behalf of Europe’ Ns.

Austria

Backbone topology as at March 2012. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’ogy as at March 20 ANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.on behalf of Europe’ Ns.

BY UAMD UkraineMoldova raine

The Pan-European Research and Education NetworkNetwork Topology Map, March 2012

None of this would bepossible without flexible,high performanceinternational researchnetworks such as GÉANTthat provide real timemonitoring and control to delivera virtualised green architecture.Mohamed Cheriet, Project Instigator,GreenStar Network

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Data sharing andprocessing on the scaleneeded by the DECIDEproject would beimpossible without thehigh-speed, seamless and reliable GÉANTnetwork operating across Europe.

Laura Leone, DECIDE Project Coordinator

“The EBI would not existwithout GÉANT, becauseour primary goal is tocollect and distributebiological data…Without GÉANT wecould not do that.

Professor Janet Thornton, Director ofEMBL-EBI and Coordinator of ELIXIR

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At the Heart of Global Research NetworkingGlobal Connectivity Map, March 2012

Global connectivityIn addition to its pan-European reach, GÉANThas extensive links to networks in other worldregions including North America (via Internet2,ESnet, NLR, NISN and CANARIE), Latin America,North Africa and the Middle East, South Africaand Kenya, the South Caucasus, Central Asiaand the Asia-Pacific Region – reaching over50 NRENs and a further 45 million usersoutside of Europe, putting GÉANT at the heartof global research networking. Work is alsoon-going to connect to the Caribbean and toimprove links to and within Southern andEastern Africa, providing researchers worldwidewith a gateway to European counterparts.

Innovative topology foradvanced servicesGÉANT was the first production ‘hybrid’network deployed on an international scale,using an innovative combination of routed IPand switched infrastructure to open up newservice possibilities. GÉANT offers IP andPoint-to-Point connectivity services, as wellas dedicated Wavelengths and Bandwidthon Demand – the world’s first and onlymulti-domain service for automaticbandwidth provisioning.