Janet, a network dedicated to education and research in the UK, has been granted £2.7m additional funds to extend its Aurora fibre network support to the universities of Aston and Southampton and stretch the operating period of the enlarged network to April 2011.
The Janet network connects UK universities, FE colleges, research councils, specialist colleges and adult and community learning providers through the internet. Janet claims to serve over 18 million end-users.
Funded by the government, Janet (UK) manages Janet on behalf of Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Aurora, with its 350km dedicated fibre network, was launched in early 2008 to interconnect research groups at the universities of Cambridge, Essex and UCL, with access to intermediate locations.
Aurora provides the university research teams with a network to carry out photonics and optical systems research. The network at the two new universities is expected to be functional by April 2009.
David Richardson, deputy director of the optoelectronics research centre (ORC) at Southampton University, said: A direct connection to the Aurora fibre network will allow us to work much more closely with our partners around the UK to develop and properly trial the new components, subsystems and network concepts required to support future generations of the internet, and to explore the new services that they will enable.
ntl:Telewest Business will continue to provide its infrastructure and fibre connections to the two universities as part of an existing relationship with Janet. John Cunningham, director of business markets at ntl:Telewest Business, has said that the company was providing Aurora with a high capacity, and flexible system through its fibre network so that it could enhance the collaboration among the research teams.
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