Around half a million Belgians use one year old pan European research network

Every day, around half a million Belgian students, researchers, professors, lecturers, academic staff and public servants, engaged at a total of 162 institutions use the pan European research and education network, Géant2, which is now celebrating its first anniversary. Thanks to the government agency, BELNET, Belgian users can engage in cooperative research projects and educational initiatives with 30 million other Géant2 users in 34 European countries via a super fast internet connection.

Géant2 was launched in June 2005 by Viviane Reading, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media. It represents a computer network which connects 30 national research and education networks throughout Europe, including BELNET. While BELNET takes care of all national electronic data flow, Géant2 is used for all international traffic. Géant2 is the largest network ever to be devoted to European research and education. 12,000 km of Géant2 fibre-optic cable in a 50,000 km long network, paves the way for the exchange of information between co-users of the respective research and education networks. That exchange takes place at extremely high bandwidth via Géant2, BELNET and other national research and education networks. The connection between the BELNET and Géant2 networks has a capacity of 10 gigabits per second. Géant2 not only provides super fast internet communication for 30 million users from 34 countries in Europe, but also for many more outside their borders. It is, namely, connected to research and education networks in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The intercontinental network of Géant2 and its partners has lead to markedly increased instances of cooperation between scientists and researchers across the globe. Users of Géant2 engage in cooperation across the various scientific disciplines, such as elementary particle physics, astronomy, biology and meteorology. Thanks to the high-tech Géant2 network, they are able to exchange research data, results and analyses at high speed and under maximum security. Géant2 is jointly financed by the European Commission and the 30 subscribing national research and education networks in Europe. Géant2 is managed by the organisation, DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) on the authority of the European community of research and education networks. "Cooperation is of fundamental importance to furthering research both in Belgium and the whole of Europe," says Pierre Bruyère, general manager of BELNET. "Through our network, all our customers have access to Géant2. Both networks offer our users the necessary bandwidth and security to engage in close cooperation in the Belgian, European and international domains. That generates important results. We therefore look forward to the further expansion of Géant2." According to DANTE, the scientific results achieved over the past year would not have been possible without Géant2. The 34 countries currently connected to Géant2 include Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland. For more information: www.geant2.net and www.belnet.be About BELNET - "The knowledge network" The government agency BELNET provides broadband Internet access to Belgian educational institutions, research centres and government departments. More than 550,000 end users have access to bandwidths of up to 2.5 gigabits per second; this is around one thousand times faster than the Internet access available to most consumers. References include all Belgian universities and most non-university higher education institutions, the computer network of the Federal Government departments (FedMAN), all federal scientific institutes, the larger public research centres and various government administrations. BELNET provides high-quality, secure Internet access via CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and a direct connection with worldwide research networks, including the American Internet2 and the European Géant. A pioneer on the internet, BELNET was founded in 1993 on the initiative of the Federal Research Policy. The network continues to further the cause of research, training and scientific co-operation. For more information, please go to http://www.belnet.be and http://cert.belnet.be See also http://www.quadrantcommunications.be/downloads/belnet BELNET Veerle Custers, external communications manager Wetenschapsstraat 4, B-1000 Brussels T: +32 (0)2 790 33 33 E: veerle.custers@belnet.be Media Contact: Quadrant Communications Bart Inslegers Franklin Rooseveltlaan 348, B-9000 Ghent T: +32 (0)9 265 0258 M: +32 (0)472 480 186 E: bart@quadrantcommunications.be