JANET

JANET is the Education and Research Network (NREN) of the United Kingdom.

It has over 18 million users in universities, colleges and some other educational institutions.

Its web site is at http://www.ja.net/

Details

(sourced from http://www.ja.net/company/about.html)

JANET connects the UK’s education and research organisations to each other, as well as to the rest of the world through links to the global Internet. In addition, JANET includes a separate network that is available to the community for experimental activities in network development.

The JANET network connects UK universities, FE Colleges, Research Councils, Specialist Colleges and Adult and Community Learning (PCDL) providers. It also provides connections between the Regional Broadband Consortia to facilitate the DfES [now DCSF] initiative for a national schools’ network. Over 18 million end-users are currently served by the JANET network.

The range of activities facilitated by JANET allows individuals and organisations to push back the traditional boundaries of teaching, learning and research methods. For example, JANET's videoconferencing and video streaming capabilities are being used to deliver lectures to remote groups of students. For researchers, the high capacity of the JANET backbone allows the linking of large data storage and high performance computing facilities at a national and international level.

JANET is run by JANET(UK) who manage the operation and development of JANET on behalf of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee of the UK) for the UK Further and Higher Education Funding Councils [these are HEFCE etc]. JISC also works in partnership with the Research Councils.

JANET(UK) is government funded, with the primary aim of providing and developing a network infrastructure that meets the needs of the education and research communities.

Other information

Until very recently, the Chair of JANET(UK) was Professor Geoff Peters of UKOU, a former Pro-Vice Chancellor and well-known in European circles. The current Chair is Roger McLure, formerly CEO of the Scottish Funding Council.

JANET(UK) is a member of DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe). DANTE plans, builds and operates advanced networks for research and education. It is owned by European NRENs (national research and education networks), and works in partnership with them and in cooperation with the European Commission. DANTE provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the development of the global research community.

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