rhnet the icelandic research and university network

[email protected] and NREN conference 18. October 2007

RHnetThe Icelandic Research and University Network

A few aspects of RHnet and some remarks about future prospects

Presenter: Jón Ingi Einarsson,

general manager of RHnet


RHnet Inc. - establishment Was formally established on January 24, 2001

– The establishment was initiated by the University of Iceland Objective:

To link together Icelandic universities and research institutions by means of an high capacity computer network

Supply services in the field of computer communications, both domestically and internationally

The company handles relations with NORDUnet, which is the collective university and research network of the Nordic countries

RHnet is only open to acknowledged Icelandic institutions of research and higher learning

A member of TERENA from May 2003 Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association


RHnet Inc. – mostly “dark fiber” connections

• Leased “dark fibers” have been used for most of the links from the beginning.

– Today only one connection is not with dark fiber

– The use of dark fibers enabled gigabit connectivity from the very beginning

– Institutions at that time had connectivity from 64 kb/s to 2 Mb/s (only one of them had 10 Mb/s) and were “forced” to go to 1 Gb/s


RHnet Inc. - staff• Staff:

– One full time employee

– Two others “part time”, through agreements with two companies

• Five people are on the governing board:

– Three are appointed by the University of Iceland

– One by research institutes

– And one by other universities and institutes outside the Reykjavik area


RHnet Inc.

• The University of Iceland• Iceland University of Education• The University of Akureyri• Reykjavík University• Iceland Academy of the Arts• Hvanneyri Agricultural Universit

y• Bifröst School of Business• Hólar College• The State Horticultural School

• The National University Hospital,• The Nordic Volcanological Institut

e• The Icelandic Technological Instit

ute• The Construction Research Institu

te• The Agricultural Research Institut

e• National Energy Authority• Marine Research Institute• The Icelandic Fisheries Laboratori

es

The founding members were seventeen:


Other items• The router for the RIX connection upgraded in June

2003 to have room for a planned upgrade of that connection– The connection upgraded to to Gigabit in autumn 2003

• RHnet hosts streaming audio/video servers owned by a consortium of Institutes interested in or focusing on distance education/learning– Installed in August 2003

• Ipv6 and Multicast: Trials have been conducted between the University of Iceland and RHnet with a connection to NORDUnet


– RHnet connections in Reykjavik were/are based on fiber made available by the company Lina.Net, which is now disassembled and sold.

– The owner of the fiber then became Reykjavik Energy

– (Orkuveita Reykjavíkur)

– And now by their subsidary:

– Gagnaveíta Reykjavikur

The colored lines represent fiber layed down in seperate periods of time.

(Map from 2002)


RHnet connectivity today in Reykjavik

To Vestmann Islands(international connectivity)

Reserve connectivity to Akureyri,Bifröst and Hvanneyri

RHnetheadquarters

To/fromHvanneyri

Bifröst

The actual fiber layout (red lines) that is used in RHnet’s fiber ring in Reykjavik..

Fjarski


RHnet – equipment in POP´s

• In most connection sites there is a 4908 switch (router) from Cisco

• Two Cisco 7206 NPE-G1 1GB are at RHnet´s headquarters and one at the CANTAT-3 landing station in Vestmannaeyjar

• Other connection equipment include: Cisco 3750-12S, Cisco 3524 and 3508

• In many sites there is also an extra reserve power - surge protection.

– All this is from APC (American Power Comapny)

• Included in most of the sites are also environmental sensors


RHnet – outside Reykjavík• The aim of RHnet has been from the start to have all

connections through dark fiber.– This is no different from similar networks around the globe

• But getting such connectivity outside Reykjavik has been problematic because of:

– pricing strategies and/or availabitlity issues

– RHnet is very small company with gross yearly budget about 45 Mkr

• But RHnet was probably one of the biggest catalyst when decisions were made to lay a fiber optic cable from the southern part of Iceland, across the highland and to Akureyri in the summer/autumn of 2001.


Telecomm operator Fjarski – system overview


RHnet connectivity today in Akureyri

Universityof Akureyri

FSAUniversity HospitalRegional Hospital

To/fromReykjavik

Communicationscenter

Department fromthe National andUniversity Library

Part of the fiber layout in Akureyri (pink lines)The fiber is leased from Tengir (Fjarski).


Fiber owned by the Icelandic telecom Síminn


The NORDUnet connections in August 2003

The connection to Iceland

1990: 9,6 kb/s

1992: 56 kb/s

1994: 128 kb/s

1995: 1 Mb/s

1996: 2Mb/s

1997: 6Mb/s

1998: 10 Mb/s

1999: 12 Mb/s

In September 1999

it was increased to 45 Mb/s


The NORDUnet connectivity map


RHnet – the international “situation”


Submarine cables to Iceland: CANTAT-3 and Farice


Farice: The path in Britain

• Increased dependability

– The path from Inverness in Scotland to London was doubled in Mars 2006

– At the same time the customers connection point was moved from Edinburgh to London

– Dependability in 2005 was 97,94%

– Dependability in 2006 was 99,89%

Information taken from a talk given by

Gudmundur Gunnarsson,

general manager of Farice,

in January 2007


RHnet – future perspectives - domesticallyDomestically:

– Upgrading all major paths to 10 GE or go directly to DWDM Going to 10 GE is considered “business as usual”

– Price on 10 GE equipment (with two 10 GE) ports is getting to the point that we are starting to consider it

We see two possibilities when going to DWDM– The more expensive: Buying more or less total solutions from

vendors

– Or try to put something together with “off the shelf components”

Leasing fiber or wavelength between Reykjavik and Akureyri (currently the only path of the network not with dark fiber)

– Cost is still the most limiting factor


RHnet – future perspectives: Internationally

Internationally:– Government officials said at the beginning of this

year that a new submarine cable was targeted to become operational at the beginning of 2009 (( in collaboration with Farice))

– The future of connectivity to Iceland is starting to look promishing if some of the projects we have heard about this year will be carried through:

The new cable from Farice with landing point in Denmark (Danice?)

Addition to the Hibernia cable system with link to Iceland

A cable from Greenland, that then goes on to Canada


Hibernia – the proposed connection to Iceland


Finally...• The next NORDUnet conference will be held in Espoo

(Helsinki), Finland, on the 8. - 11. April 2008.The theme of this years conference is: "The Biosphere of Grids and Networks“

For more information:http://www.nordu.net/conference/ndn2008web/programme.html

• The next TERENA conference will be held in Bruges (Brugge), Belgium, 19. – 22. May 2008.The theme of this years conference is: “Beyond Connectivity”For more information:http://tnc2008.terena.org/


Thank you!

Questions?

Surprice the speaker!


Want to know more?• www.nordu.net

• www.dante.net

• www.terena.org

• www.sunet.se

• www.uninett.no

• www.funet.fi

• www.uni-c.dk

• www.forskningsnet.dk

• www.uni-c.dk/produkter/sektornet

• www.ietf.org

• http://abilene.internet2.edu

• www.surfnet.nl/info/en

• www.arin.net

• www.startap.net

• www.apac.edu.au

• www.apan.net

• www.canarie.ca

• www.globalcrossing.net

It is also possible to send inquiries to: [email protected]

Or just call: 525-4300 / 892-4302


In 1866 the first usable transatlantic cable was laidThe first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858, but failed within several weeks.

A second attempt was made in 1865. When a fault in the cable was discovered a decision was made to cut the cable and delay the project for the time being. At that time about three fourths of the way had been laid from Ireland to Newfoundland.

Everything went according to plan in 1866. A new cable was laid across the ocean. Also the end of the cable from 1865 was “fished up” and a new cable spliced to its end and taken to Newfoundland.So in reality two cables came operational across the Atlantic Ocean that year


Myndir af bás RHnets II

rhnet the icelandic research and university network

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