GÉANT is proud to announce that GN4-3N, the EU-funded project that oversaw the most significant restructuring of the GÉANT backbone network in a decade, has been nominated for the prestigious European Digital Connectivity Awards 2025, in the category “Cross-border and international connectivity”.
GN4-3N, a European success story
Co-funded by the EU and by Europe’s NRENs with a total budget of €50.5M, the GÉANT GN4-3N project successfully delivered the most significant restructuring of the GÉANT backbone network in over a decade, designed to drive digital inclusion and support the needs of Europe’s research and education community for the next 15+ years.
In order to respond to a forecasted traffic increase in research and education network traffic 30% each year, GN4-3N significantly extended GÉANT’s pan-European backbone network, making it future-proof and Terabit-capable. Additionally, the project contributed to creating a more inclusive and resilient network infrastructure for the European research and education community. It played a key role in bridging the digital divide and in promoting equitable access across GÉANT member countries, tackled cross-border connectivity challenges, led to better integration both in Europe and globally, and revolutionised the GÉANT network’s procurement, technology, and operations. It delivered a fully sovereign European network infrastructure for research and education, built using European technologies and vendors, strengthening digital autonomy and providing Europe with strategic control, governance and ownership.
Over its course, the project deployed 69 new routes, lit over 26,000 km of dark fibre and spectrum, extended connectivity to 34 countries, deployed 405 new Infinera nodes, decommissioned 50 legacy links. After upgrading the physical backbone in the GN4-3N project, GÉANT is currently replacing and upgrading its IP/MPLS routing and switching infrastructure. The IP layer upgrade will enable the GÉANT network to handle ever greater volumes of data while reducing energy use.
GN4-3N at the European Digital Connectivity Awards
Managed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), the European Digital Connectivity Awards recognise successful infrastructures and outstanding projects deploying digital networks in Europe and ultimately contributing to the goals of Europe’s Digital Decade.
Following a thorough review process, the jury selected nine outstanding initiatives for the finals of the 2025 edition, including GÉANT’s GN4-3N project in the category “Cross-border and international connectivity”. The awarded initiatives for each of the three categories will be announced at an award ceremony on 7 October 2025 in Brussels and will be featured on the Shaping Europe’s digital future website.
The ceremony will also be live streamed on 7 October 2025, between 16:15 and 17:30 CEST, via the Streaming Service of the European Commission: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/cef-digital-community-conference-2025-10-07
For further information, read the official announcement and visit the European Digital Connectivity Awards page.
