University Janet Network Seals £30m Upgrade

Janet, the network that hooks up educational organisations across the UK, is to get a boost thanks to a £30 million investment from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The money will go to building Janet6, increasing its ability to move large data sets around quickly, thereby improving collaborative work across universities. It should mean data intensive projects, which now form the backbone of important medical studies such as human genome research, benefit.

The national research and education network is set to benefit from Ciena’s 6500 packet-optical platform, equipped with WaveLogic Coherent Optical Processors, which will “enable the network to easily scale from 100G to 400G and beyond,” the Janet team said.

Better, faster, stronger

“We are delighted to be able to continue to deliver this fundamental platform for research and education,” said Janet CEO Tim Marshall. “The move to a long-term fibre contract ensures that for the next decade we can provide maximum agility and scalability to meet customer demands, that will inevitably be unpredictable, as research and innovation takes place.

“The new operating model that we are embracing for Janet6 will allow us to do so very cost-effectively in these challenging times.”

Janet6 should be up and running by October 2013 and the team will be working closely with the government’s Public Services Network (PSN) programme.

“E-infrastructure, including high performance computing, is absolutely essential to our research base, whether it’s enabling scientists to carry out complex experiments or helping academics manage large amounts of data,” said minister for universities and science David Willetts.

“This significant government funding will be a real boost to our universities, colleges and schools and is part of a wider package of investment to ensure Britain’s e-infrastructure is truly world-class.”

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