JANET to be Europe’s first National Research and Education Network to deliver 40Gbit/s service with a non-aggregated client signal.
JANET(UK) to pilot 40Gbit/s bandwidth technology across JANET, the UK’s National Research and Education Network
Oxfordshire, 19th June 2007 - Network operator, JANET(UK), announces it has commenced its 40Gbit/s trial and plans to be the first National Research and Education network in Europe to support 40Gbit/s over a single channel operation at both the transmission and IP levels.
One of the characteristics of the JANET backbone is its ability to scale according to traffic growth demand. A key strategic consideration when building the latest ‘next generation’ backbone was the ability to use 40Gbit/s building blocks as traffic on individual links grow beyond 10Gbits.
The alternative to this would be to add additional parallel 10Gbit/s links, however this is not cost effective, and in network engineering terms introduces complexity. With a backbone that is easily scalable using 40Gbit/s channel building blocks, JANET is able to cost-effectively increase bandwidth, providing more capacity, whilst keeping complexity low by aggregating traffic over single large channels.
A pre-production trial of the 40Gbit/s technology has been agreed with Verizon Business and Ciena at the transmission level, and Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper Networks at the IP level. This will begin in June 2007 and will take place on one of the busiest parts of the network, connecting the Canary Wharf and Kings Cross points of presence (POP) in London. Subject to successful completion of the trial, the 40Gbit/s channel technology will be deployed to carry production traffic where required. Based on traffic growth predictions, widespread deployment of 40Gbit/s channels across the JANET backbone is expected during 2008.
The development is a truly joint technology project using the expertise of various commercial partners. Verizon Business, who already deploys Alcatel-Lucent 40Gbit/s transmission technology in the U.S., will deploy the new 40Gbit/s capabilities of Ciena’s Corestream® Agility Optical Transport System across the JANET transmission infrastructure. As Ciena’s platform enables in-service upgrades of granular 40Gbit/s wavelengths alongside 10Gbit/s wavelengths, JANET has the flexibility to upgrade and adapt the network for large bandwidth services as needed.
Under an existing agreement with JANET(UK) to deliver the JANET network, Alcatel-Lucent will be providing network implementation and support services for the IP infrastructure consisting of Juniper Networks T-series core routing. Through the trial, Juniper intends to demonstrate that the existing intelligent IP infrastructure is capable of delivering next generation services through high quality 40Gbit/s physical interface cards (PICs)
Commenting Jeremy Sharp, Head of Strategic Technologies at JANET(UK): “With the support of our technology partners, we are very confident that the trial will be successful. The increased capacity means that we are able to adapt to increased levels of traffic, whilst continuing to offer a high quality service to the education and research sectors.”
Notes for Editors
About JANET(UK) :
JANET(UK) manages the operation and development of JANET on behalf of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) for the UK Further and Higher Education Funding Councils. JISC also works in partnership with the Research Councils. JANET(UK) is government funded, with the primary aim of providing and developing a network infrastructure that meets the needs of the education and research communities.
About JANET
JANET is the network dedicated to the needs of education and research in the UK. It connects the UK's education and research organisations to each other, as well as to the rest of the world through links to the global Internet. In addition, JANET includes a separate network that is available to the community for experimental activities in network development.
Trademarks
JANET and JANET(UK) are registered trademarks of the Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales. The JNT Association is the registered user of these trademarks.
Juniper Networks and the Juniper Networks logo are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.
About JISC :
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) supports further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support teaching, learning, research and administration. JISC is funded by all the UK post-16 and higher education funding councils : JISC - www.jisc.ac.uk