From IXI to TEN-34

• The launch of TEN- 34 in May 1997 marks the beginning as well as the end of an era. European researchers have known seven years of stable, high quality international connectivity through EuropaNET. EuropaNET will now make way for TEN-34, a network of much higher capacity.

• The first truly pan-European research network was IXI (International X.25 Interconnection), a 64 kbit/s X.25 network with points of presence in 18 European countries. It was established in the framework of the Eureka COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) programme which ran between 1987 and 1993. By the time IXI became an operational service, Europe was in the process of being 'incorporated' in the Internet. The TCP IP network protocol became the norm instead of X.25.

• The 2 Mbit/s EuropaNET network which was launched in 1992 became a multi-protocol network - supporting both X.25 and IP traffic-from the very start in 1990. This marked the end of the 'protocol war' in Europe and the start of a period of stability in European research networking.

• The first EuropaNET phase lasted until October 1995. As the contract for the provision of the network with PTT Telecom NL - later Unisource Business Networks - expired, a call for tender was launched for the continuation of EuropaNET in December 1994. BT won the tender and BT's version of EuropaNET was launched on 1 October 1995.

Coordination of European research networking

• In 1986 the coordination between the many organizations involved in the provision of network services for the European research community had been taken up by RARE (Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne, now TERENA). RARE acted as a forum for the national networking organizations to discuss matters of common interest and, in particular, to resolve the problems of interworking between national services that had been created independently. Shortly afterwards, the COSINE project was established and one of RARE's first major tasks was to coordinate the technical work necessary for the COSINE Specification Phase.

• A significant outcome of COSINE was the establishment of DANTE in 1993. During COSINE the CPMU (COSINE Project Management Unit) organised and managed the pan-European COSINE services on behalf of the National Research Networks, but when the project finished there was no organisational unit left to continue the management. This is why DANTE was set up by a number of NRNs, who also became the company's shareholders.

DANTE in action

• In 1995 DANTE delivered the EuroCAIRN (European Cooperation for Academic and Industrial Research Networking) report to the EuroCAIRN Committee. They had asked DANTE to report on the high speed networking requirements of the European research networks and to produce a plan for the setting up of a pan-European interconnect facility in support of those national high speed networks. In fact the EuroCAIRN report was the blueprint for activities in the years to come, for example, for the TEN-34 technical implementation plan.

• Shortly after the delivery of the EuroCAIRN report the TEN-34 Consortium was established, consisting of all the Western-European NRNs and Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. DANTE was appointed as Coordinating Partner in the consortium and its first assignment was the drafting of the technical specification for TEN-34. In May 1996 the TEN-34 Consortium was awarded the contract by the European Commission for the implementation of TEN-34 and DANTE took on the work of realising the technical plan, in close collaboration with the Consortium partners.

• In parallel with the organisation and management of network services for the Western European research networks DANTE was as project manager involved in the extension and upgrading of both national and international research network facilities for the countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as part of the Phare R&D Networking programmes. The first Phare programme covered a four year period (1991- 1994) and six countries, namely Bulgaria, Czech republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic; the second Phare programme covered a two year period (1994-1996) and five more countries, respectively Albania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia, eleven in total. During the last two years Phare was 'supported' by the INSIGHT project which focused on the technology of one particular Internet application: the World Wide Web. Both Phare 1994 R&D Networking and INSIGHT will conclude in 1997. Both programmes have contributed substantially to the introduction and rapid growth of Internet facilities in Central and Eastern Europe.

The role of the EU

• The European Commission has supported in one form or the other all the major initiatives in European research networking in the last decade. For RARE the EC supported meetings and activities of its Technical Working Groups, for the COSINE project the EC provided the project office, the EC was a partner in EuroCAIRN, an initial connection subsidy was provided by the European NRNs for a connection to EuropaNET, DANTE received a start-up subsidy from the Commission to help set up the company, financial support was provided by the EC for transatlantic connectivity to the United States, the Phare connections were funded by the EC and so is INSIGHT, TEN-34 is co-funded by the Commission under the Telematics for Research/Esprit Programmes, and DANTE is preparingan EC initiated study on the feasibility of providing direct connectivity between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region (CAPE).

• In short: the EU has a long-standing track record in supporting pan-European research networking initiatives and is an important player in the development of interconnection facilities between the National Research Networks in Europe, now and in the future.

What about the future?

The first decade has seen the development of European research networking from an initial limited capacity network (IXI) to one capable of supporting multi-media applications (TEN-34). In looking to continue this successful progress in the future is sensible to consider the future challenges on the basis of the lessons learned in the current decade. For European research networking to continue its success we need:

1. to eliminate the bandwidth gap that exists between the network capacity available to European researchers when compared with their North American counterparts. Currently the US connects at up to 622 Mbit/s. The largest access to TEN-34 is 45 Mbit/s and this is provided to meet the European communication requirements of the German national research network.

2. to provide stable and realistic planning time scales. Over the last decade the planning horizons have been too short.

3. to provide the research community with facilities that offer a network to support research and in parallel to provide an international test bed to support research into networking itself.

To give you a picture of the way research networks in Europe are interconnected, as well as their connectivity to the US.

July 1997
DANTE