Research & Education Networks
Belgium
BELNET is the Belgian national research network that provides high-bandwidth internet connection and services to Belgian universities, colleges, schools, research centers, and government departments. The network is mainly open to researchers, academics and students at nearly 200 Research & Education institutions, government/public services and research centres. All three user groups are entitled to network connectivity and research bandwidth at more than fair rates (subsidized). BELNET connectivity even includes access to the pan-European research network Géant and the American Internet2. For internet service and content providers and large private companies, BELNET also operates a central infrastructure for exchanging internet traffic, called the Belgian National Internet Exchange or BNIX.
Estonia
The Estonian Educational and Research Network EENet is a governmental non-profit organization that was established in August 1993 by the Ministry of Education with the task of managing, coordinating and developing the computer network of science, education and culture. Since 1997 EENet has been operating as a state agency administered by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. The mission of EENet is to provide a high-quality national network infrastructure for Estonia's research, educational and cultural communities. The current international connection of EENet is a 2.4 Gbps channel to the GÉANT network.
France
Today more than 1000 sites involved in research, technology and education are connected to RENATER the French NREN. This network is a national backbone and is connected to other networks through high speed links. It is also connecting French overseas territories. RENATER has a 10 Gbps connection to other research and education networks in the world (including Abilene/Internet2) via the paneuropean backbone GÉANT. Interconnection with the Internet is done through the Internet eXchange SFINX managed by RENATER where more then 80 ISPs exchange traffic. RENATER also has 10 Gbps connections to 2 transit providers, Cable&Wireless and Level3, to get access to the rest of the Internet.
Greece
In Greece two network infrastructures can be of use to digital cultural heritage organisations: GRNET and Syzefxis.
GRNET SA runs the Greek Research & Technology Network, according to the operating model of corresponding EU Research and Education Networks. It operates both at a national and international level and constitutes the setting for the development of innovative services for the members of the Greek research and education communities. GRNET SA connects more than 90 institutions, including all universities, technical and research institutes, as well as the public Greek School Network, supporting more than 500.000 users all over the country. Moreover, it provides local interconnection services to the main Greek Internet providers, through the Greek Internet Exchange/GR-ΙΧ www.gr-ix.gr/). GR-IX started operating in 2008 and provides interconnection at Nx10 Gbps, enhancing the quality of internet service and infrastructure nationwide.
The Greek National Public Administration Network ("SYZEFXIS") has developed a common technological ground for the Public Sector where participating agencies are able to interact with each other, communicate with Greek citizens and also cooperate with agencies of other EU member states. In other words it is the technological framework that glues together various distinctive actors and numerous e-government services in a versatile collaboration environment.
Hungary
The National Information Infrastructure Development (NIIF) Program serves as a framework for the development and operation of the research network in Hungary. The Program covers the entire Hungarian academic, research and public collection community by providing them with an integrated computer networking infrastructure and, on the basis of that, a wide range of communication, information, and co-operation services. The program is based on funding by the central state budget. The development and operation of the network and the services are executed by the NIIF Institute (NIIFI), under the supervision of the Program Committee , and by the contribution of the Technical Committee. The Program is closely co-operating with Hungarnet , the association of the user community. The network-based up to date communication and co-operation facilities, especially those for joint research and education activities with domestic and foreign partners, as well as for accessing the relevant information both in the areas of academic, scientific, and library activities, are available for about 500 institutions (some 700 access points) throughout the country. Next to the basic network infrastructure services the following additional services are offered: L2 and L3 VPN, IPv4/IPv6 unicast and multicast, CERT, DNS, domain names, videoconferencing, VoIP, AAI federation services, server hosting, webhosting and e-mail.
Italy
The main network e-Infrastructure in Italy is GARR. GARR (Gruppo per l'Armonizzazione delle Reti della Ricerca) is the Italian Research & Education Network (NREN). It plans and operates the national high-speed telecommunication network for University and Scientific Research. Its shareholders are four major Research and Academic organizations in Italy, CNR, ENEA, INFN and Fondazione CRUI, representing the Conference of Italian University Rectors. The widespread GARR network infrastructure covers the whole national territory and its backbone is based on leading-edge optical circuits and technologies. It is interconnected to GÉANT, the pan-European R&E backbone and trough it to all European and worldwide Research Networks. The GARR network and its services are dedicated to the Italian Academic, Research and Education community. Currently, about 450 user sites, are connected including Research Organizations, Universities, Observatories, Laboratories, Institutes for Research in Health Care (IRCCS), Music Conservatories and Academies of Art, Libraries, Schools, Museums and other Scientific and Educational Facilities of national and international relevance, representing more than 2 Millions end users. GARR is connected to GÉANT.
Slovenia
The Academic and Research Network of Slovenia ARNES is a public institute that provides network services to research, educational and cultural organizations, and enables them to establish connections and cooperation with each other and with related organizations abroad.
Arnes builds, maintains and manages infrastructure linking universities, institutes, research laboratories, museums, schools, databases and digital libraries. It offers users the same services as national academic networks in other countries; it cooperates with these networks in European Commission projects to test, develop and introduce new Internet protocols and services. It also provides services that are not offered by commercial organizations but which are essential to the operation of the Internet in Slovenia. The ARNES network links over 1000 Slovenian organizations and makes Arnes' services available to nearly 200,000 people.
International connections with educational and research networks in other countries are provided through the multi-gigabit GÉANT network. Next to the basic network services (monitoring, helpdesk) the following services are also provided: VPN, CERT, Intrusion Detection (to some extent), DNS, Domain names, IPv6, videoconferencing, e-collaboration, AAI federation services, virtual server hosting, email (anti-spam, anti/virus) and hosted personal space. The complete list of services can be found at http://www.arnes.si/en/services.html.
Sweden
SUNET (Swedish University Computer Network) is dedicated to support the needs of the research and education communities within Sweden. The Swedish Research Council is administratively responsible for SUNET. The Swedish Research Council is an authority under the Department of Education and Culture, and is the largest Swedish funding agency for basic research at Swedish universities, colleges and institutes. The services of SUNET are partially funded by the government, but connected organisations are also partially charged for services.
