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. Designed specifically for research and education, Janet6 is highly scalable up to 8.8 terabits of capacity and uses state-of-the-art 100 gigabit ethernet technology. Janet6 provides excellent bandwidth and a flexible infrastructure, enabling the UK's research, higher education, further education and skills sectors to collaborate and compete on a global scale.
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. Mathematical models and high-resolution data captured from Earth observations from space are used to glean important information on sea surface temperature and cloud cover, which provides valuable insights into climate trends that are needed to inform policy decisions.
The official 'switch over' to the Janet6 network took place on November 26, 2013. The new infrastructure will help businesses 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.
The Janet6 project was brought to successful fruition in partnership with a number of organisations. The key partners included: SSE Telecoms for the underlying fibre for the network; Ciena for the optical processors to light the fibre; Juniper Networks, who provided the high-performance routing and switching technology to create the network, and its deployment partner Imtech.
Janet6 has been developed in the context of the government's Public Services Network with funding from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and managed through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
