Jisc is set to increase the country’s global competitiveness by launching one of the world’s most advanced computer networks: Janet6.
This advanced network has been designed to address future demands for high-capacity connectivity, enabling vast amounts of data to be exchanged in seconds.
The UK provider of digital services for research and education has designed Janet6 specifically for research and education.
The network is highly scalable up to 8.8 Terabits of capacity and uses state-of-the-art 100Gigabit Ethernet technology. Janet6 provides excellent bandwidth and a flexible infrastructure, enabling the UK’s research, higher-education, further-education and skills-development sectors to collaborate and compete on a global scale.
Martyn Harrow, Jisc CEO said: "Our core mission is to advance and support the use of digital technologies in UK research and education for advantage. This leading edge network infrastructure, delivered so smoothly by the Janet team, is a fundamental component in achieving this and will unlock new levels of ambition and collaboration on a national and international level."
Tim Marshall, the executive director responsible for Jisc technology and infrastructure including Janet and the Janet6 programme, said of the network launch: "The needs of the research and education communities are constantly evolving and we are developing flexible network architecture able to respond not just to these but to future needs."
Replacing the current SuperJanet5 backbone, the Janet6 architecture will facilitate further development of the UK’s knowledge economy.
The current Janet network has been critical to landmark scientific projects such as the ‘Upscale’ climate simulations, which required petabytes of data to be moved from supercomputers in mainland Europe to sites in the UK, including the Met Office.
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) use the infrastructure to share research data from DNA sequencing and other high-throughput methods. Ewan Birney, associate director of EMBL-EBI, says: "The Janet network is crucial to what we do. The exchange of data supports scientific research and innovation throughout the world and this requires good connectivity, low latency and high bandwidth; exactly what Janet6 provides. This supports the discovery of new drugs, therapies, diagnostics and new ways to track biodiversity. The people we work with want the best datasets on demand, at the right time and Janet6 makes this possible."
The official ‘switch-over’ to the Janet6 network took place on 26 November 2013. The new infrastructure will help business that connect UK education institutions to one another, super-computing facilities and global research and education networks, unlocking the potential for a greater number of collaborative research projects.
