Customer Empowered Fibre Networks are Emerging

On the 25th and 26th of May, representatives of national research and education networks from 20 European countries, the United States and Canada met in Prague to exchange experience in the operation of Customer Empowered Fibre (CEF) Networks and to formulate major guidelines for their future development. The host of the meeting was the CESNET association, which operates the Czech national research and education network, CESNET2. The two-day workshop opened with a paper presented by the director of CESNET, Ing. Jan Gruntorád, CSc. Sixteen more papers were delivered during the workshop and each day concluded with a free discussion. (Papers are available at http://www.ces.net/doc/seminars/20040525/.)

The basic characteristic of CEF networks is the fact that the operators are the actual users, who just lease the fibre (or have it laid) and take care of the technology that transmits data over it on their own. Thus they have fibres at their disposal, or the right to use them, making their own decisions on the method of construction of the network (in particular, its optical transmission system) and on network control. As the users of customer empowered networks - often scientific and research facilities - have specific requirements for transfer parameters and prices, CEF networks are tailored to their actual needs.

The workshop participants concluded that CEF networks have been successfully implemented in several countries, including the Czech Republic, at the level of national research and education networks. They also issued a recommendation calling for continued international cooperation in the field of CEF networks that should focus in particular on the further exchange of the following information in the immediate future:

• experience with dark fibre procurement and deployment in NRENs
• connection of NREN PoPs Near over Border (NoB) by dark fibre
• design kit of transmission equipment and solution for CEF-design
• references to emerging transmission technologies, equipment for all-optical networks etc.
• advanced transmission systems for long-distance fibre lines
• feasibility of PC WAN CEF networks
• design of customer transmission equipment for CEF-networks with optical modules and/or programmable hardware
• possibilities to share very long dark fibres by some NRENs, DANTE, Internet2, Canarie, research institutions and other non-profit organisations (method of sharing is for example implementation of lambda services)
• the foreseeable future of CEF networks
• other topics important for CEF-networks design and deployment.

Workshop participants also recommended extension of the register of dark fibres and transmission equipment used in NRENs and make it publicly accessible (for support of CEF network designers).

The CESNET association was founded by Czech universities and the Academy of Sciences to operate a national scientific and research network. It is funded with resources from the Government Council for Science and Research and from its members. Today it operates the national CESNET2 gigabit network and cooperates with Canada, the Netherlands and the U.S. in building the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) network. With research activities in the field of telecommunications and Internet technologies, CESNET is the Czech Republic's representative in the European GÉANT project and participates actively in its implementation.