CESNET2: 2.5 Gbps to Pan-European GÉANT Network

On the 1st of this April, the CESNET association more than doubled the capacity of the connection of the national research and education network CESNET2 to the Pan-European gigabit network GÉANT - from the previous 1.2 Gbps to 2.5 Gbps.

The GÉANT network, operated by the DANTE association with significant support by the European Union, is one of the world's fastest academic backbone networks. It interconnects 28 national and regional research and education networks in 30 countries and serves more than 30,000 research institutions. CESNET cooperated in designing its topology. Thanks to its active involvement in the project, the Czech Republic has been able to connect right to the network core, whose lines have a transmission capacity of 10 Gbps. The GÉANT access point in Prague is located at CESNET premises and is connected to Germany with a 10 Gbps circuit and with two 2.5 Gbps circuits to Slovakia and Poland.

The CESNET2 network interconnects eleven cities with backbone gigabit data circuits; other cities are connected to the backbone network with capacities from 34 to 100 Mbps. It is interconnected with Czech networks within NIX.CZ. An 800 Mbps circuit is dedicated to access to the global Internet.

The CESNET association was established by universities and the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic in order to operate a national network for research and science. It is funded by the Government's Council for Research and Development and by its members. The association is the solution owner in the research project titled High-Speed Network for National Research and Its New Applications. At present it operates the CESNET2 gigabit network. Thanks to this position and its other research activities in telecommunication and Internet technologies, CESNET has represented the Czech Republic in and actively participated in implementing the GEANT project.