Spreading the GÉANT2 Message from Athlone to Beijing

Recent weeks have seen several of the GÉANT2 partner NRENs and those further afield hosting national networking conferences. These prestigious and well-organised events attract experts and network users from a wide range of academic disciplines, and provide an excellent opportunity for the exchange of news and ideas. GÉANT2 has recently been represented at conferences in Belgium, China, Denmark, Ireland and Spain, all of which generated considerable interest in the project and the new network infrastructure.

Hans Doebbeling, presenting at the RedIRIS conference in Logroño (Spain), explained the technical improvements made in the transition from GÉANT to GÉANT2, and the significant changes required in moving from managing an IP network with 20 sites to an international hybrid network with around 200 sites, lighting 12 000km of dark fibre.

Dai Davies made a presentation at the BELNET User Day in Brussels, focusing on the international connectivity of GÉANT2. He highlighted the global reach of GÉANT2 circuits, and the complementary nature of sister networks such as ALICE, EUMEDCONNECT and TEIN2. At the CERNET conference in Dalian (China), Dai discussed the recent history of European research networking and the principal drivers which have shaped GÉANT2, in terms of both user requirements and market forces.

Presenting at the HEAnet conference in Athlone Ireland, Roberto Sabatino looked to the future, and the technologies driving change in research and education networks. His presentation in particular highlighted the transition from Gigabit Ethernet to 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections, and discussed the challenges in the various GÉANT2 Joint Research Activities.

The Forskningsnettet conference, held in Middelfart (Denmark), was attended by John Chevers, who presented the GÉANT2 user support service and the mechanisms being developed to support the academic community using the network. He also revealed recent progress in the eVLBI project and the ideas behind the Logistical Session Layer technique, which, it is hoped, will allow for fast TCP transfers from European radio telescopes.

These opportunities are very gratefully received by the GÉANT2 presenters. Not only do they provide a forum to disseminate information to the end-user and network expert alike, but also often provide valuable feedback on the current requirements and future aspirations of the research and academic communities.