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July 16, 2007
European NRENs Establish 'Bandwidth-On-Demand'
CAMBRIDGE, England, July 11 -- A
major milestone has been accomplished by the European National Research
and Education Networks (NRENs), where for the first time a
user-requested high speed circuit has been set up dynamically between
Ireland and Greece. This concept, known as “Bandwidth-on-Demand” allows
users to request network capacity according to their needs.
The
recent demonstration involved the dynamic establishment of a dedicated
end-to-end 1 Gigabit Ethernet circuit between two end-user
workstations. The circuit was set up within minutes and spanned the
infrastructure of: GRNET, the Greek NREN; the pan-European network
GÉANT2; and the Irish NREN, HEAnet. In the trial, two workstations were
interconnected through the circuit, offering a data transmission speed
1,000 times faster than a commercial 1 Mbps ASDL line for the
transmission of high-resolution video. The circuit was also released in
a dynamic manner.
Afrodite Sevasti of GRNET, and leader of the
research activity, said, “We have demonstrated that it is possible for
a network user to request their own bandwidth. We’d now like to expand
our work within the research networking community to collect user
feedback and further our research. We are already working closely with
our U.S. counterparts at Internet2 and ESNet to extend the
possibilities beyond Europe.”
The recent demonstration is the
result of research into a novel communication networks’ service
architecture, tailored to the needs of the multi-domain,
multi-technology pan-European Research and Education community. Known
as the "AutoBAHN" (Automated Bandwidth Allocation across Heterogeneous
Networks) architecture, it allows authorized end-users to directly
access network resources from their workstation, wherever it is located
in Europe. This is achieved by setting up on-demand dedicated circuits
spanning multiple countries, and multiple networks, administered by
different entities and using different technologies.
In
contrast to general Internet principles, where the user is implicitly
connected through his workstation to any other far end point around the
world -- without any control of the capacity and quality of his
communication -- the AutoBAHN concept allows an authorized user to
explicitly define the destination of his data and the speed and quality
used for this transmission. The service can be offered upon demand,
subject to the availability of resources. Similar services have been
offered by the telecommunications industry for some time now, but
AutoBAHN focuses on end-user control and ease-of-use with simple
Web-based user interfaces.
To make the demonstration possible,
a group of GÉANT2 project participants worked intensively for two
months and in collaboration with the network administrators of GRNET,
GÉANT2 and HEAnet. Any network wishing to join the group of
AutoBAHN-enabled networks has to operate the AutoBAHN system and
declare through it its capabilities to support user requests for
originating, transiting or terminating dedicated capacity circuits.
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 unrivaled geographical coverage,
high bandwidth, innovative hybrid networking technology and a range of
user-focused services. Its network footprint maps more than 50,000
kilometers and its extensive geographical reach interconnects with
other world regions, enabling global research collaboration. 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. For
more information, visit www.geant2.net.
About GRNET
The
Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET) supports the research and
development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) within
Greece and internationally, through the provision of its high-capacity
networking and grid computing infrastructure, and the strengthening of
e-Learning and e-Business practices, as well as the participation in
international research and education efforts. The gigabit GRNET2
network, with its Virtual NOC supportive scheme, connects at a national
level 27 universities, 15 technical universities, 33 research
institutions and 12,673 schools to the GÉANT2 network. GRNET operates
under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and is supervised by
the General Secretariat for Research and Development. For more
information, visit www.grnet.gr/en.
About HEAnet
HEAnet
is Ireland's National Education and Research Network, providing
high-quality Internet services to students and staff in Irish
universities, institutes of technology, and other educational and
research organizations. It provides a high-speed national network with
direct connectivity for its community to other networks in Ireland,
Europe, the United States and the rest of the world. Established in
1984 by the seven major universities with the support of the Higher
Education Authority to promote the interchange of information
electronically within third level education, it plays a critical role
in establishing Ireland as a global center of excellence in Internet
activity. More at www.heanet.ie.
About AutoBAHN
Apart
from GRNET and HEAnet, the group developing AutoBAHN consists of
members from the NRENs CARnet (Croatia), CESNET (Czech Republic), DANTE
(Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Ltd, an
international data network operator also managing the GÉANT2 project),
FCCN (Portugal), GARR (Italy), HUNGARNET (Hungary), RedIRIS (Spain),
PSNC (Poland), RENATER (France) and SURFnet (The Netherlands).
For more information on Internet2, visit www.internet2.edu.
For more information on ESnet, visit www.es.net.
-----
Source: DANTE
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