DANTE Announces the First Ever Research and Education Link to India
Press Release
INDIA MARKS LATEST POST ON GLOBAL GÉANT2 MAP
DANTE announces the first ever research and education link to India with the ERNET network
Cambridge, UK and New Delhi, India: 2nd October 2006 – Research networking organisation, DANTE, has announced that high-speed communication links for students and researchers between India and Europe are now live. Co-funded by the European Commission and Government of India, the new link delivers first time connectivity at speeds of 45 Mbps from Milan to Mumbai. Whilst welcoming India into the global research arena, the link also supports Indian academics in collaborative research with organisations including CERN, Geneva, in the field of high-energy physics
Co-ordinated by DANTE in Europe and India’s National Education and Research Network, ERNET, the link enables universities and academic and research institutes in India to collaborate on a global level via the world’s most advanced international research and education network, GÉANT2. The connection is facilitated by Telecom Italia from Europe in Milan and VSNL from India in Mumbai and augments the global GÉANT2 map, which now links all the major continents.
"We have excellent researchers in all parts of the world. That is why the GÉANT2 network, which started in Europe, is now expanding beyond it to bring together the world's best scientific minds, for their mutual benefit and the common good”, said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media.
“GÉANT2’s partnership with ERNET is an invaluable step towards the advancement of India’s information society“ commented Dr. Gulshan Rai, Executive Director, ERNET. “With India now able to communicate and share expertise with researchers in Europe and beyond at such high speed, it is a positive step for India’s integration with the wider research and education community. It will also help prevent the migration of scientists and students from India.”
ERNET’s partnership with GÉANT2 is supported by the EUIndiaGrid initiative, a project that aims to interconnect European Grid infrastructures with related projects in India. The link will also be utilised for collaborative research with CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) connecting European researchers to colleagues at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. These experiments will generate huge amounts of data which will be quickly transferred between the two continents.
Dai Davies, General Manager, DANTE, said: “This is a hugely important development for DANTE, GÉANT2 and for scientific research in general. India’s affiliation with GÉANT2 will integrate India into the Global Information Society, and complements existing GÉANT2 connectivity from Europe to North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, North Africa, South Africa and the Middle East.”
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About GÉANT2:
GÉANT2 delivers the next generation research and education network for Europe. With over 30 million research and education users in 34 countries across the continent, GÉANT2 offers unrivalled geographical coverage, high bandwidth, innovative hybrid networking technology and a range of user-focused services. Its network footprint maps more than 50,000 km and its extensive geographical reach interconnects with other world regions, enabling global research collaboration.GÉANT2’s comprehensive programme of research and service development keeps Europe at the forefront of global research.
GÉANT2 is co-funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Research and Development Framework Programme. The project partners are 30 European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. It is co-ordinated by DANTE, the research networking organisation that plans, manages and builds research networks all over the world. For more information visit www.geant2.net
About ERNET
ERNET is India’s largest nationwide research and education network. The focus of ERNET is not limited to just providing connectivity, but to meet the entire needs of the educational and research institutions by hosting and providing relevant information to their users. Research and development and training are the integral parts of ERNET activities. ERNET is funded by the Indian government and has IITs and IISc, Bangalore as participating academic institutions. More at www.ernet.in
About DANTE:
DANTE is a non-profit organisation whose primary mission is to plan, build and manage research and education networks. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT2, the most advanced research and education network in the world. GÉANT2 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 other regions to one another and to GÉANT2. DANTE currently manages initiatives focused on the Mediterranean, Latin American and Asia-Pacific regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, ALICE-RedCLARA and TEIN2 (Trans-Eurasia Information Network) projects respectively. For more information, please visit www.dante.net.
Editorial contacts:
Emma Ballard/Paul Allen
Rainier PR (on behalf of DANTE)
+44(0)20 7494 6581
eballard@rainierpr.co.uk
pallen@rainierpr.co.uk
