Interconnecting research and education communities across the world
GÉANT collaborates with global research and education network partners to ensure high performance connectivity is in place, and also to make a range of services available to user groups across the world, enhancing their ability to work together.
GÉANT manages research and education networking projects serving Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and transatlantic connectivity to Latin America. In addition, it supports research and education networking organisations in Asia-Pacific, coordinates Europe-China collaboration and nurtures relationships with counterparts in North America.
Service collaborations cover areas such as network performance monitoring, connectivity roaming (eduroam) and federated access (eduGAIN), and real-time communications.
The Americas
There is a long–standing relationship between pan-European research and education networking and R&E networks in Canada and the USA, which has led to diverse transatlantic links being established in reciprocal arrangements between the two continents. In this collaborative environment, GÉANT provides a 100Gbps link to New York, along with other links provided by Internet2 and CANARIE, ESnet, Indiana University, SURF and NORDUnet, and NII/SINET (Japanese NREN) on the Advanced North Atlantic (ANA) collaboration. ANA ensures that there is abundant capacity and no single points of failure, enabling research and education traffic between the two regions to flow seamlessly. GÉANT's North American partners
In Canada the research and education networking environment is provided for by CANARIE. In the USA the key national organisations are ESnet, Internet2, Indiana University and the NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN), each of which caters for a subset of the US research and education community.
RedCLARA - the Latin American research and education network
The RedCLARA non-profit organisation manages the pan-Latin American RedCLARA research and education network. Thanks to the BELLA Programme, GÉANT and RedCLARA are interconnected on the new EllaLink submarine cable system that connects Europe directly to South America via Sines in Portugal and Fortaleza in Brazil. Two links are currently established, both at 100Gbps. One supports general purpose R&E traffic, and one is dedicated to Copernicus data transfers via the two regions. However, with the spectrum acquired by the BELLA Programme, the capacity between the two regions can be in line with user demands. BELLA is also finalising the deployment of a 100Gbps network throughout South America that will ensure 100Gbps capacities between NRENs in the two regions. BELLA is co-funded by the European Union through DG CNECT, DG DEFIS, and DG INTPA. For more information about RedCLARA, visit www.redclara.net For more information about BELLA, visit bella-programme.redclara.net
Africa and Western Asia
ASREN (Arab States Research and Education Network) is the Regional Research and Education Network for North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. GÉANT and ASREN are interconnected in London. Connectivity from North Africa and Western Asia is provided by ASREN via the AfricaConnect3 and EUMEDCONNECT3 projects, as well as individual links provided by Middle East NRENs. For more information about ASREN, visit: asrenorg.net UbuntuNet Alliance
The UbuntuNet Alliance is the Regional Research and Education Network that serves Eastern and Southern Africa. GÉANT is connected to the UbuntuNet Alliance in London and Amsterdam. Connectivity between Eastern and Southern Africa and Europe is provided by UbuntuNet Alliance via the AfricaConnect3 project and also by individual NRENs in the region. For more information about the UbuntuNet Alliance, visit: ubuntunet.net WACREN
WACREN is the regional networking organisation for West and Central Africa. GÉANT is connected to WACREN in London. Connectivity between West and Central Africa and Europe is provided by WACREN via the AfricaConnect3 project. For more information about WACREN, visit: www.wacren.net
AfricaConnect3 is the third phase of the AfricaConnect project, building on the success of predecessor projects in supporting the creation, development and use of advanced, reliable internet connectivity for the teaching, learning and research communities of Africa. AfricaConnect3 is co-funded by the European Union and delivered locally by regional organisations - UbuntuNet Alliance, WACREN and ASREN, together with GÉANT. EUMEDCONNECT3
Providing a dedicated internet network for research and education for the Mediterranean since 2004, the EUMEDCONNECT programme, coordinated by GÉANT with the participation of ASREN, and now in its 3rd phase connects NRENs in the eastern Mediterranean.
Asia and Pacific
With more than 55 million users and representing over 60% of the world's population, the TEIN network currently interconnects universities and research centres in 23 countries and economies across Asia-Pacific. Between 2006 and 2012 the TEIN regional network was established and managed by DANTE (now GÉANT). In September 2012, responsibility for the successor phase, TEIN4, was transferred to the TEIN* Cooperation Center (TEIN*CC) with the backing of the Korean government. The current project phase Asia@Connect (2016-2021) receives €20m funding support from the European Union. For more information visit the Asi@Connect website. GÉANT is a member of the CAE-1 collaboration, that consists of six parties (GÉANT, TEIN*CC, AARNet (Australia), SingAREN (Singapore), NORDUnet and SURFnet). Together, the CAE-1 partners have procured and deployed a long-term 100Gbps link between Singapore and London, whereby each has a share of the capacity available. Furthermore, the CAE-1 link contributes to the Asia-Europe Ring collaboration together with the NII-SINET link from Europe to Japan, as well as intra-regional links provided by NII/SINET, NICT and SingAREN in Asia-Pacific and by NORDUnet and SURF in Europe. Together, this collaboration ensures a back-up ring that enhances the reliability of connectivity between the two regions. GÉANT also collaborates with strategically important NRENS in the region:
- Two 10Gbps links to China, procured by GÉANT in collaboration with the two R&E Chinese networks, CERNET and CSTNET who, respectively, support Europe-Chinese research, providing mutual back-up for each other, and for the CAE-1 100Gbps link between European and the Asia-Pacific region.
- A direct 100Gbps provided by the Japanese network NII/SINET supports Europe-Japan collaborations.
- The Academia Sinica Grid Computing (ASGC) network of Taiwan also peers with GÉANT via a 10Gbps link to the GÉANT point-of-presence in Amsterdam. In addition, TWAREN (Taiwan) peers with GÉANT in New York.
The CAREN Co-operation Centre (CAREN CC) provides for regional R&E networking in Central Asia. CAREN CC was established under the EU co-funded CAREN project, which was launched in 2010. Following the end of EU funding for the region in December 2019, CAREN CC and the region’s NRENs have started a new phase of regional collaboration and continue their engagement with GÉANT. Find out more at icaren.org.