Asia and Europe are further strengthening their collaboration with an MOU that will see eight Research and Education (R&E) Networks agreeing to provide a backup path for each other in the event of any link failure, creating an extremely robust and resilient network ring. This remarkable collaboration enhances the 100Gbps CAE-1 system launched in June 2019, and will benefit researchers in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Memorandum of Understanding

Eight R&E network organizations, AARNet (Australia), GÉANT (Europe), NICT (Japan), NII (Japan), NORDUnet (European Nordics), SingAREN (Singapore), SURF (The Netherlands) and TEIN*CC (Asia-Pacific), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 22 July 2019 at the 6^th Asi@Connect Project Meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The MOU is for the collaboration to run 100 gigabit per second (Gbps) networks between Asia and Europe. The MOU partners agreed to contribute their own 100Gbps link to create a resilient system, called Asiapacific-Europe Ring (AER). In the event that one link in the ring fails, traffic between Europe and Asia will be transported over one or more of the other links.

Remarkable collaboration

AER is a remarkable collaboration in the field of R&E networking between Asia and Europe and significantly improves the reliability of the connectivity between various R&E network organizations. AER also is an important step forward in further developing the Global Research & Education Network (GREN), based on the Global Network Architecture (GNA) for R&E.

Prior to this MOU, an international consortium of six research and education networks, including AARNet (Australia), GÉANT (Europe), NORDUnet (European Nordics), SingAREN (Singapore), SURF (The Netherlands) and TEIN*CC (Asia-Pacific), established CAE-1, which connects Asia and Europe via an undersea cable between London and Singapore. At the same time, NII (Japan) deployed a 100Gbps terrestrial link using the Trans-Siberian cable system, connecting Tokyo to Amsterdam.

High-speed resilient data transfers for R&E

These two intercontinental links, along with SURF and NORDUnet’s Amsterdam-London link and NII, NICT and SingAREN’s Tokyo-Hong Kong-Singapore network now form the AER. The AER allows more flexible network operation as well as providing high speed resilient data transfers between the R&E communities.

Mary Fleming, Director International, AARNet said: “It is wonderful to see the diversity and resilience we have all gained by working together with our Japanese colleagues. It is a great model for the future and further strengthens our close ties with the Research and Education Networks of North Asia.”

The MOU for AER was signed by representatives of the eight organizations at the 6^th Asi@Connect Project Meeting which was held in conjunction with APAN48 in Putrajaya, Malaysia on 22 July 2019. The initial term of this MOU is for a period of three years.