UKERNA
Broadband is top of the class with UKERNA and SuperJANET4
The Client
UKERNA (The United Kingdom Education and Research Network Association) manages the operation and development of the JANET network. UKERNA is a leading player in the development of network technologies and related applications and works in collaboration with other major network operators and standards bodies across the world such as GEANT and Internet 2.
JANET, and SuperJANET and UKERNA are owned by the higher educational funding bodies for England, Scotland and Wales with JANET, the United Kingdom's education and research network, being funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).
The Challenge
The challenge UKERNA faced was to provide broadband access to 200 higher education and more than 600 further education institutions with access to one of the fastest academic networks in the world. SuperJANET 4 is the fourth evolution of the United Kingdom National Research Network. SuperJANET 4 had to provide a communications platform for all higher and further education institutions in the UK and particularly support the requirements of more regional access, more distance learning and a broader SuperJANET user base.
The Solution
SuperJANET4 uses a WorldCom SDH backbone and replaces SuperJANET III, with a new network that is 128 times faster. The WAN backbone is based upon a DWDM and SDH transmission infrastructure provided by WorldCom, and the Cisco GSR12000 Series Router.
Logicalis was responsible for the deployment of Cisco Systems GSR routers at each regional PoP on SuperJANET4, which went live in March 2001. The completed network represents one of the largest assemblies of Cisco WAN hardware outside Silicon Valley.
The Bottom Line
With Logicalis' help UKERNA were able to add 800 institutes to the network and at the same time improve the speed of the network by around 128 times. SuperJANET4 represents one of the largest assemblies of Cisco WAN hardware outside Silicon Valley, bringing broadband access to hundreds of thousands of users every day.