HEAnet, an Irish research and education network that is used by more than 150,000 students, academics and researchers, has signed a deal with Global Crossing to purchase international capacity of up to nearly two Gbits/s.
Said to be the biggest Internet capacity deal in Ireland, the agreement will give HEAnet direct access to Internet via Global Crossing’s new Internet Protocol (IP) node, which is located at its second point of presence (PoP) in Dublin. It will allocate 622 Mbit/s of capacity to HEAnet, but allows for peak traffic loads of up to three times that amount.
The deal is likely to complement HEAnet’s strategic connections to other research and education networks in Europe, North America and the rest of the world, many of which are also served by Global Crossing. As well as providing ordinary Internet connectivity to its 150,000 users, HEAnet is part of a high-bandwidth research Internet that links 2,000 institutions in 37 countries in Europe.
These include the Brazilian National Research and Education Network (RNP) and DANTE, the organisation responsible for managing the world’s largest academic and research network, GƒANT.
In addition, Global Crossing has a three-year agreement with FAPESP (Fundacao de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo), the largest academic research institution in Brazil, to provide data transmission between universities and research centres in the U.S. and Brazil. It also has several contracts for national and international connectivity with SURFnet, which operates the Dutch national research network.
The service provided by Global Crossing will eliminate the need to backhaul traffic to PoPs in other locations, such as London, in order to access the Internet, thereby reducing costs.
John Boland, chief executive of HEAnet, said that a prerequisite to the deal was access to a tier one IP node. The recently amended government regulations that removed the requirement for purchasers of Global Crossing’s capacity to sign up for 25 years was also key to HEAnet’s decision to go with the firm. The bandwidth will be purchased on a year-to-year basis. There were 12 expressions of interest in HEAnet’s tender.
‘Agreeing to this contract with Global Crossing is an exciting outcome to the detailed tender process through which HEAnet sought a dramatic but cost-effective upgrade to its general Internet connectivity,’ said Boland. ‘Access to the Internet is an essential tool for education and research, and this new connection will give high performance to all our users.’
Cable & Wireless recently launched its tier one IP node in Ireland. The Cable & Wireless global.net service delivers worldwide connectivity to the Internet for carriers, Internet service providers, application service providers, content providers and multinational corporations seeking a fast, congestion-free and flexible IP backbone service.
01/08/2003
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers