A symbolic signing ceremony to mark the renewed peering between GÉANT and CERNET (China Education and Research Network) took place on 11 August during APAN62 in Auckland, New Zealand. The agreement was signed by Klaas Wierenga, Chief Services Officer, on behalf of GÉANT, and Zhonghui Li, Operations Manager, on behalf of CERNET, recognising the latest enhancement to connectivity between the two research and education (R&E) networks.
The new 100 Gbps peering at GÉANT’s Point of Presence (PoP) in Frankfurt, Germany, delivers a tenfold increase in capacity over the previous interconnection. As part of the upgrade, CERNET has deployed its own terrestrial connectivity from Beijing into Frankfurt, replacing the previous jointly provisioned arrangement.
This milestone comes ten years after the last upgrade, delivered under the ORIENTplus project, and twenty years after the interconnection was first established in 2005 through the TEIN2 project. The latest enhancement represents a more than 160-fold increase in capacity over the past two decades.
The upgrade responds to growing demand for high-performance connectivity supporting academic collaboration, including Transnational Educational (TNE) initiatives, between European and Chinese higher education and research institutions while reflecting both organisations’ commitment towards supporting global research and education.
About GÉANT
GÉANT is Europe’s leading collaboration on network and related infrastructure and services for the benefit of research and education, contributing to Europe’s economic growth and competitiveness. The organisation develops, delivers, and promotes advanced network and associated e-infrastructure services, and supports innovation and knowledge-sharing amongst its members, partners, and the wider research and education networking community.
About CERNET
China Education and Research Network (CERNET) is China’s national research and education network built in 1994. Operated by Tsinghua University, it connects nearly 3,000 universities, colleges and research institutions, supporting research, education and international collaboration through high-performance networking.
