News for and about the Internet2 community

[Todd Sedmak <>]

New Higher-Capacity Transatlantic Internet Links Between Europe and the USA
To Drive Scientific Research and Collaboration

ACE, GÉANT and national research & education networks join forces to deliver 
high speed infrastructure

Cambridge, UK, 29 September 2011 – Researchers and students across Europe and 
the US will soon be able to work in closer partnership following a major 
expansion in transatlantic research network capacity delivered by the 
pan-European GÉANT network and America Connects to Europe (ACE), a 
collaboration between Internet2, Indiana University GlobalNOC, DANTE and 
NYSERnet.

New network links will significantly enhance the ability of European 
researchers to collaborate and exchange large volumes of data with colleagues 
in the United States in vital projects in areas as diverse as particle 
physics, radio astronomy and medical research.

Overall, the new transatlantic network infrastructure comprises six 
connections that make up 60Gbps of capacity – with 4x10Gbps links for general 
IP traffic and 2x10Gbps available as dedicated point-to-point connectivity 
that can be reserved by large-scale projects, such as CERN’s Large Hadron 
Collider. The connections will be fully operational by January 2012, with 
some already deployed. The capability to expand capacity beyond 60Gbps is 
already in place to meet potential future needs. Connections will land in New 
York and Washington, with assistance from NYSERnet and Internet2.

“Pushing back the frontiers of knowledge relies on close collaboration by 
researchers across the world. High speed research networks, such as the 
European NRENs and GÉANT, provide the critical connectivity to exchange the 
huge amounts of data generated by these projects and consequently drive 
forward scientific progress,” said, Bob Day, Chairman of DANTE, the 
organisation which on behalf of Europe’s national research and education 
networks (NRENs) has built and operates the GÉANT network. “This major 
expansion in capacity across the Atlantic shows the rapid progress that the 
collaboration between Europe’s NRENs and the ACE Project has made in 
delivering tangible advantages to researchers and fostering a closer working 
relationship, not just between scientists but also the research networks that 
underpin them.”

“We are delighted about this transatlantic network infrastructure. Global 
collaboration among data-intensive researchers is simply the new standard in 
today’s world. One of Internet2’s foundational principles is supporting 
global research and enabling new dimensions of collaboration. Collectively, 
our members need greater network connectivity between our network in the US 
and in Europe to further their academic and research goals,” said Dave 
Lambert, Internet2 President and CEO.

The expansion also delivers significant benefits to researchers in Africa. 
Traffic from the UbuntuNet network in Eastern and Southern Africa currently 
connects to GÉANT through a European Commission-funded link to London and the 
new connectivity jointly provided by ACE and Internet2 will deliver this 
traffic from London to the USA. This widens the potential for seamless 
collaboration and helps bridge the digital divide.

“High speed networks are the lifeblood of 21st century research,” said James 
G. Williams, Director of International Networking at the Indiana University 
GlobalNOC and Principal Investigator for the ACE project. “These new 
connections will not just benefit researchers in the US and Europe engaged in 
current projects, but also enable researchers to collaborate on future large 
scale global projects such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental 
Reactor and the Australian Square Kilometre Array prototype Pathfinder 
international radio telescope.”

Both ACE and the GÉANT project will share operations, managing three 
connections each and working closely together to deliver a seamless 
experience to users. The project is built on the close collaboration on 
transatlantic research connectivity with the infrastructure based on a joint 
engineering plan developed between European and American engineers, leading 
to maximum resilience and redundancy for traffic. ACE is funded by the 
National Science Foundation (NSF) and co-ordinated by Indiana University 
GlobalNOC in the United States.

About GÉANT
GÉANT is the high speed European communication network dedicated to research 
and education. In combination with its NREN partners, GÉANT creates a secure, 
high-speed research infrastructure that serves 40 million researchers in over 
8,000 institutions across 40 European countries. Operating at speeds of up to 
40 Gbps, GÉANT is the world’s largest and most advanced multi-gigabit network 
dedicated to research and education. Building on the success of its 
predecessors, GÉANT has been created around the needs of users, providing 
flexible, end-to-end services that transform the way that researchers 
collaborate.  GÉANT is at the heart of global research networking through 
wide ranging connections with other world regions, underpinning vital 
projects that bridge the digital divide and benefit society as a whole.

Co-funded by the European Commission under the EU’s 7th Research and 
Development Framework Programme, GÉANT is the e-Infrastructure at the heart 
of the EU’s European Research Area and contributes to the development of 
emerging Internet technologies. The project partners are 32 European National 
Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. GÉANT is operated 
by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs. For more information, visit 
www.geant.net

About Internet2

Internet2 is the world’s most advanced networking consortium for global 
researchers and scientists who develop breakthrough Internet technologies and 
applications and spark tomorrow’s essential innovations. Internet2, led by 
the research and education community, consists of more than 450 U.S. 
universities; corporations; government agencies; laboratories; higher 
learning; and other major national, regional and state research and education 
networks; and organizations representing more than 50 countries. For more 
information, visit www.internet2.edu

About ACE
The America Connects to Europe Project (ACE) is a collaboration of Indiana 
University (IU) as the lead institution in cooperative partnership with 
DANTE, NYSERNet, and Internet2. The ACE Project implements a powerful, 
straightforward plan to provide multi-gigabit bandwidth and services 
connecting researchers in the US with their counterparts in Europe.

Bandwidth procurement alone is not the purpose of this collaboration. 
Supporting science and engineering research and education between the US and 
European communities is the overarching goal.  Attention will also be paid to 
areas of technical and operational collaboration and planning.   Through 
cooperative partnership with DANTE and the GÉANT community of more than 35 
national R&E networks that will be reachable through these connections.  For 
more information visit: http://internationalnetworking.iu.edu/ACE

About DANTE
DANTE is a non-profit organisation, coordinator of large-scale projects 
co-funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with 
European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build and 
operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, 
DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and 
education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT, which 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 the other regions to one another and to GÉANT. 
DANTE currently manages projects focussed on the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific 
and central Asia regions through the EUMEDCONNECT, TEIN and CAREN projects 
respectively. For more information, visit www.dante.net.

Contact:
Paul Maurice
DANTE
+44 (0)1223 371 300