GÉANT: DANTE Pushing towards World's First 100G Transatlantic Network for Research and Education

WASHINGTON & CAMBRIDGE, England --(Business Wire)--

DANTE, representing the pan-European GÉANT network, and the America Connects to Europe project (ACE), managed by Indiana University (News - Alert), have launched a Prior Information Notice (PIN) to progress the implementation of the first ever 100G (gigabits per second) transatlantic links for the research and education community.

Whereas big research projects are already benefiting from the superfast 100G speeds presently being rolled out across the GÉANT network, it is DANTE's view that data flows may suffer in the near future once they reach the Atlantic. Between them GÉANT and ACE already offer over 80Gbps of transatlantic connectivity, however this is comprised of multiple 10G links and will lead to bottlenecks in the future for those 100G users. For that reason, DANTE aims to replace these over time with multiple 100G links, ensuring that partners in large research projects in areas such as radio astronomy, global earth observation, medical research and particle physics continue to benefit from the best available connectivity.

Cathrin Stöver, Chief International Relations and Communications Officer, DANTE commented:

"GÉANT will very soon offer 100Gbps capacity across the pan-European network, and similar capacity is available in North America. We are determined to extend that capacity across the Atlantic in order to stay ahead of the 'data deluge' generated by the research community and avoid bottlenecks in the future. Therefore, it is imperative that research and education (R&E) networks such as GÉANT work together to push the envelope of networking technology and deliver economies of scale. By launching this initiative, DANTE is taking the lead in further strengthening links with North America, and ensuring GÉANT remains at the heart of the global research village."

The ideal outcome of this PIN is to run exploratory trials as part of a larger collaborative effort with other R&E networks on either side of the Atlantic, which may lead to subsequent production offerings following full procurement later in 2013.

Potential suppliers can view the full PIN here or by copying and pasting this link in to your browser: http://ted.europa.eu/udl uri=TED:NOTICE:67221-2013:TEXT:EN:HTML

About GÉANT

GÉANT is the high speed European communication network dedicated to research and education. In combination with its NREN partners, GÉANT creates a secure, high-speed research infrastructure that serves 40 million users in over 8,000 institutions across 40 European countries. Building on the success of its predecessors, GÉANT has been created around the needs of users, providing flexible, end-to-end services that transform the way that researchers collaborate. GÉANT is at the heart of global research networking through wide ranging connections with other world regions, underpinning vital projects that bridge the digital divide and benefit society as a whole.

Co-funded by the European Commission under the EU's 7th Research and Development Framework Programme, GÉANT is the e-Infrastructure at the heart of the EU's European Research Area and contributes to the development of emerging Internet technologies. The project partners are 32 European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe's NRENs. For more information, visit www.geant.net

About DANTE

DANTE is a non-profit organisation, coordinator of large-scale projects co-funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in the other regions to one another and to GÉANT. DANTE currently manages projects focussed on the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific, sub Saharan Africa and central Asia regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, TEIN, AfricaConnect and CAREN projects respectively. For more information, visit www.dante.net

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