DANTE

Last updated
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe
AbbreviationDANTE
Formation6 July 1993
Legal statusCompany limited by shares
PurposeResearch networking
Headquarters Cambridge,
United Kingdom
Region served
Europe
President
Bob Day
Main organ
Board of directors
Website www.dante.net

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe (DANTE) is a not-for-profit company that plans, builds and operates the consecutive generations of the backbone network that interconnects the national research and education networks (NRENs) in Europe. The organisation is based in Cambridge, United Kingdom and was formed in 1993 as a limited liability company owned by Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne (RARE). Ownership was transferred to a number of NRENs and government agencies in 1994.

Contents

DANTE Ltd. currently operates the third generation of the GÉANT pan-European backbone network, and previously operated the earlier-generation EuropaNET, TEN-34, TEN-155, GÉANT and GÉANT2 networks.

History

At a first European research networking workshop, held in Luxembourg in May 1985, the NRENs decided to create the RARE association as their joint European organisation. [1] The first few years were dominated by the Co-operation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe (COSINE) project (1985-1993). [2] RARE was tasked with he execution of the project and created a COSINE Project Management Unit (CPMU) within its secretariat to manage the various sub-projects. One of the sub-projects of COSINE aimed to create a backbone network interconnecting the national research networks of the participating countries. The first two generations of the European backbone were developed as part of COSINE: IXI (International X.25 Infrastructure Backbone Service) and EMPB (European Multi-Protocol Backbone).

By 1991, consensus was growing that it would make sense to split off RARE's Operational Unit from the association. [3] In May 1991 RARE created a task force to examine the possibility of creating a new entity to take responsibility for the provision of pan-European backbone services; the task force's proposals were accepted by the RARE membership in December 1991. [4] After a comparison of alternatives it was decided to found the Operational Unit as a company limited by shares under English law with its headquarters in Cambridge. [5] The company was incorporated on 30 March 1993 as Operational Unit Ltd. and changed its name to DANTE Ltd. on 2 July 1993. [6] The organisation was launched at an event at St John's College, Cambridge on 6 July 1993. [7] Initially all shares were owned by RARE, but on 25 March 1994 RARE transferred its shares to eleven NRENs and government agencies. [8] [9] On 20 October 1994 RARE changed its name to TERENA. [10] [11]

The original eleven shareholders were Ariadnet (Greece), ARNES (Slovenia), INFN (Italy), DFN (Germany), FCCN (Portugal), HEFCE (United Kingdom), HUNGARNET (Hungary), NORDUnet (Nordic countries), RedIRIS (Spain), SURFnet (Netherlands) and SWITCH (Switzerland). Later INFN and RedIRIS transferred their shares to GARR and CSIC, respectively. Other NRENs were given the opportunity to buy shares later; this offer was taken up by RENATER (France) and CESNET (Czech Republic) in 1999, by HEAnet (Ireland) in 2000 and by RESTENA (Luxembourg) in 2002, bringing the total number of shareholders to fifteen. [9]

Generations of the European backbone

IXI and EMPB were the first two generations of the backbone network interconnecting the national research networks in Europe, known today as GÉANT. [12] The consecutive generations can be characterised as follows. [13]

Current GÉANT network

DANTE Ltd. currently operates the third generation of the GÉANT backbone network that interconnects Europe's National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). Together GÉANT and the NRENs connect 40 million researchers and students across Europe, facilitating collaborative research in a diverse range of disciplines, including high-energy physics, radio astronomy, bio-medicine, climate change, earth observation, and arts and culture.

GÉANT offers the robustness that large research projects rely on; they require outstanding service availability and service quality. Over 10,000 terabytes of data are transferred every day via the GÉANT IP backbone. GÉANT's flexibility means that services and infrastructure can be tailored to individual user requirements. GÉANT offers very large network capacities: key routes on the GÉANT network run at 40 Gbit/s and upgrades to 100 Gbit/s are in progress. The GÉANT Network Operations Centre run by DANTE provides effective and efficient operations. GÉANT offers the services needed for a seamless networking experience: IP and dedicated circuits, testbeds and virtualised resources, monitoring and troubleshooting, and advisory and support services.

Access to the GÉANT network provides the standard, high-bandwidth IP connectivity (GÉANT IP). In addition, GÉANT offers virtual private networks created by reserving capacity on the network backbone (GÉANT Plus and GÉANT Lambda). These specialised point-to-point connections provide dedicated bandwidth. The connectivity services are supported by a range of network monitoring, security and support services aimed at optimising the network performance, These services work to provide seamless access to the infrastructure and enhanced monitoring to identify and remedy any incidents that disrupt the data flow and by eliminating attempts to disrupt service by maintaining high levels of network security.

Global connectivity

Connectivity between GÉANT and research networks in North America is part of the EU-funded projects mentioned above. In addition, DANTE is involved in a number of EU-funded projects to provide connectivity between GÉANT and research networks in other world regions. These include ORIENTPLUS [21] for connectivity to China, TEIN3 for connectivity to the Asia-Pacific region, EUMEDCONNECT3 for the southern and eastern Mediterranean, CAREN for Central Asia, and AfricaConnect for sub-Saharan Africa.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GÉANT</span> European computer network for research and education

GÉANT is the pan-European data network for the research and education community. It interconnects national research and education networks (NRENs) across Europe, enabling collaboration on projects ranging from biological science, to earth observation, to arts and culture. The GÉANT project combines a high-bandwidth, high-capacity 50,000 km network with a growing range of services. These allow researchers to collaborate, working together wherever they are located. Services include identity and trust, multi-domain monitoring perfSONAR MDM, dynamic circuits and roaming via the eduroam service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JANET</span> Academic computer network in the United Kingdom

Janet is a high-speed network for the UK research and education community provided by Jisc, a not-for-profit company set up to provide computing support for education. It serves 18 million users and is the busiest National Research and Education Network in Europe by volume of data carried. Previously, Janet was a private, UK-government funded organisation, which provided the JANET computer network and related collaborative services to UK research and education.

CARNET is the national research and education network of Croatia. It is funded from the government budget and it operates from offices in Zagreb and five other cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abilene Network</span>

Abilene Network was a high-performance backbone network created by the Internet2 community in the late 1990s. In 2007 the Abilene Network was retired and the upgraded network became known as the "Internet2 Network".

Estonian Education and Research Network (EENet) is a structural unit of the Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA) whose main goal is to ensure the development and stable functioning of the information technology infrastructure necessary for research, education and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AARNet</span> Research and education network in Australia

AARNet provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners.

NORDUnet is an international collaboration between the National research and education networks in the Nordic countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FUNET</span> Backbone network for Finnish universities

FUNET is the Finnish University and Research Network, a backbone network providing Internet connections for Finnish universities and polytechnics as well as other research facilities. It is governed by the state-owned CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd. The FUNET project started in December 1983 and soon gained international connectivity via EARN with DECnet as the dominant protocol. FUNET was connected to the greater Internet through NORDUnet in 1988. The FUNET FTP service went online in 1990, hosting the first versions of Linux in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TERENA</span> Association of European national research and education networks

The Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association was a not-for-profit association of European national research and education networks (NRENs) incorporated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The association was originally formed on 13 June 1986 as Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne (RARE) and changed its name to TERENA in October 1994. In October 2015, it again changed its name to GÉANT and at the same time acquired the shares of GEANT Limited.

RENATER is the national research and education network in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very high-speed Backbone Network Service</span>

The very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) came on line in April 1995 as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored project to provide high-speed interconnection between NSF-sponsored supercomputing centers and select access points in the United States. The network was engineered and operated by MCI Telecommunications under a cooperative agreement with the NSF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SURFnet</span>

SURF is an organization that develops, implements and maintains the national research and education network (NREN) of the Netherlands. It operates the national research network formally called SURFnet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CANARIE</span> Research and education network in Canada

CANARIE is the not-for-profit organisation which operates the national backbone network of Canada's national research and education network (NREN). The organisation receives the majority of its funding from the Government of Canada. It supports the development of research software tools; provides cloud resources for startups and small businesses; provides access and identity management services; and supports the development of policies, infrastructure and tools for research data management.

RedIRIS is the national research and education network (NREN) for Spain. It is part of Red.es, which also administers and oversees the .es national Top-level domain. Most Spanish universities and research centers are interconnected through RedIRIS, currently totalling about 260 institutions. RedIRIS also acts as an Internet Service Provider for affiliated institutions, through links with Cogent Communications and Level 3 Communications. As a national NREN, RedIRIS is connected to the high-speed European GÉANT backbone, similar to the US-based Abilene Network.

Ankabut is the United Arab Emirates’ Advanced National Research and Education Network (NREN) offering academic institutions connectivity to other education networks around the world. In addition to connecting universities, Ankabut can connect schools and public institutions together across the UAE with an effective cost model. Ankabut will also co-operate on a national, GCC, regional and international arena representing the UAE in conferences, exhibitions, and fora. Ankabut aims to offer QoS based networks with IPv4/IPv6, multicast and to introduce advanced services on a “Closed Group Network” for “Public Interest Purposes”. Ankabut is currently owned by KUSTAR and operates with a Chief Executive Officer and a professional staff.

The Academic Scientific Research Computer Network of Armenia (ASNET-AM) is the national research and education network (NREN) of Armenia. ASNET-AM was created in 1994. The structure and policy of ASNET-AM operation was developed and realized by the Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.

GARR is the Italian national computer network for universities and research. The main objective of GARR is to design and manage a very high-performance network infrastructure that delivers advanced services to the Italian academic and scientific community. The GARR network is connected to other national research and education networks in Europe and the world, is an integral part of the global Internet, and thereby promotes the exchange and collaboration between researchers, teachers, and students worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACOnet</span>

ACOnet is the name of the national research and education network in Austria. The ACONET association promotes the development and use of that network. ACOnet is not managed and operated by ACONET, but by a unit in the Computing Centre of the University of Vienna that also operates the Vienna Internet Exchange. The University of Vienna represents ACOnet internationally, for example as a member of TERENA and as a participant in the project that funds the European backbone network GÉANT.

The National Research and Academic Network (NREN) of Greece the period 1984 -1995, also known as Ariadne, Ariadne network, Ariadne-t, initiated in 1984 as Programme Ariadne by Nicolas Malagardis under the Ministry of Research and Technology, in line with R&D policy of the EU Commission (DGXIII) and became founding member of COSINE and RARE, with contributions to its technical reports.

RUNNet was established in 1994 on the initiative of the State University of Fine Mechanics and Optics by the State Committee of Higher Education as a key branch of the Russian Universities program. In the same year, an Agreement on Cooperation between RUNNet and NORDUnet was signed.

References

  1. Christopher S. Cooper (2010). JANET: The First 25 Years. The JNT Association. pp. 127–128. ISBN   978-0-9549207-2-2.
  2. Carpenter, Brian E. (16 May 1988). COSINE implementation phase: the view from a major site (PDF). 4th European RARE workshop: Computer Networks and ISDN Systems. Vol. 16. Les Diablerets, Switzerland. doi:10.1016/0169-7552(88)90033-5 . Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  3. Howard Davies & Beatrice Bressan (2010). A History of International Research Networking: The People who made it happen. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 41. ISBN   978-3-527-32710-2.
  4. Tomaz Kalin (1992). Europe: Organizational Overview (PDF). INET conference. Internet Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  5. Howard Davies & Beatrice Bressan (2010). A History of International Research Networking: The People who made it happen. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 41–47. ISBN   978-3-527-32710-2.
  6. DANTE Annual Report 1993-1994. DANTE. 1994. p. 17.
  7. DANTE Annual Report 1993-1994. DANTE. 1994. p. 6.
  8. Jean-Paul Nadreau & Oliver B. Popov (2001). Networking developments in the Caucasus region. IOS Press. p. 46. ISBN   978-1-58603-179-4.
  9. 1 2 Howard Davies & Beatrice Bressan (2010). A History of International Research Networking: The People who made it happen. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 48. ISBN   978-3-527-32710-2.
  10. Frode Greisen (1995). RARE/TERENA Annual Report 1994. TERENA. p. 7.
  11. Jeroen Verhoog (2008). SURFnet 1988-2008. SURFnet. p. 70.
  12. Kaarina Lehtisalo (2005). The History of NORDUnet (PDF). NORDUnet A/S. pp. 81–85. ISBN   978-87-990712-0-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  13. Howard Davies & Beatrice Bressan (2010). A History of International Research Networking: The People who made it happen. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 93–110, 135–149, 235–250. ISBN   978-3-527-32710-2.
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  16. Roberto Sabatino & Jose Manuel de Arce (1999). "Implementation of the pan-European academic research network: TEN-155". Computer Networks and ISDN Systems. 31 (21): 2253–2261. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.39.2007 . doi:10.1016/s1389-1286(99)00101-2.
  17. "Geant Network (GN1)". 1 November 2001. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  18. "Multi-gigabit European academic network (GN2)". 1 September 2004. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  19. "Multi-gigabit european research and education network and associated services (GN3)". 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  20. "Multi-Gigabit European Research and Education Network and Associated Services (GN3PLUS)". 1 April 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  21. "Linking European and Chinese Research Infrastructures and Communities". 1 July 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2013.

Further reading