• See our Latest News

• Nordic Research Networks in the Spotlight
• NORDUnet is testing 2.5Gbit/s
• Iceland is now connected to NORDUnet at 45Mbit/s
• NORDUnet is Hiring: We are Seeking an Operations Manager
• NORDUnet2000 Post Conference Information
• NORDUnet and PDC involved in iGrid2000
• Did you know this about ftp.nordu.net?
• Research traffic has a dedicated link, total US capacity now 777Mbit/s
• NORDUnet's Annual Report 1999 has been published
• NORDUnet2000 conference registration has begun
• Connection to TEN-155 Managed Bandwidth Service
• New US Capacity from GTS
• Y2K - No Problem!
• NORDUnet2000 Conference Seeks Sponsors
• NORDUnet Supports Global Observation Information Network (GOIN) Demonstration in Stockholm
• NORDUnet peerings with other research networks in the US
• Multicast feeds from Telecom '99 conference October 10-17
• NORDUnet has published a Year 2000 statement
• NORDUnet and Telia team up to develop the Nordic research network
• US connection upgraded to 465Mbit/s
• Nordunet2 call for project proposals
• NORDUnet SPAM/Mail relay advice
• TERENA-NORDUnet post-conference information
• Nordunet2 Project Board Members

Nordic Research Networks in the Spotlight

Peter Villemoes, the General manager of NORDUnet A/S presented an overview of recent and upcoming developments in the NORDUnet network at the NORDUnet2000 conference in Helsinki. Read all about connectivity, resiliency, traffic patterns and future directions concerning NORDUnet. The presentation slides are available in Powerpoint format.

NORDUnet is testing 2.5Gbit/s

NORDUnet is currently testing a 2.5Gbit/s connection in collaboration with Telia between KTH in Stockholm and Forskningsnet in Lyngby Denmark. This link is an initial step in upgrading the whole NORDUnet network to 2.5Gbit over the coming six months.

Notably the connection is the first international link between research networks in Europe of this capacity.

Iceland connected to NORDUnet at 45Mbit/s

The Icelandic network for research and education (RHnet) is now connected to NORDUnet with a 45Mbit/s link between University of Iceland and Forskningsnet's PoP in Lyngby Denmark.

NORDUnet is Hiring: We are Seeking an Operations Manager

NORDUnet is looking for an Operations Manager. NORDUnet currently requires a highly skilled Operations Manager to ensure that the operation and quality of NORDUnet's services meet the highest standards.

More information along with directions on how to apply can be found in the job posting.

NORDUnet2000 Post Conference Information

NORDUnet2000 Conference, Helsinki Finland was a success with 300 participants from the Nordic countries, Europe and the rest of the World. You can soon view all the presentations in MPEG video. Now you can view also those sessions that you missed from one reason or another. Most of the presentation slides are already available from the conference website and the rest will follow. There is also a feedback form on the website, please use it if you took part in the conference.

NORDUnet and PDC involved in iGrid2000

Grid 2000, the International Grid, demonstrates how the power of today's research networks enables access to remote computing resources, distribution of digital media, and collaboration with distant colleagues. NORDUnet was also involved in the demonstration of iGrid2000 during the INET2000, The Internet Global Summit organized by the Internet Society, ISOC. More information about iGrid can be found at iGrid2000 website. The Center for Parallel Computing at KTH has issued a press release about the use of GEMSviz in iGrid2000. GEMSviz is a project that aims to produce a framework and tools for a distributed computational steering code.

Did you know this about ftp.nordu.net?

NORDUnet's anonymous ftp server contains mirrors of:

• ftp.cert.org - Computer Emergency Response Teams Documents
• ftp.ietf.org/iesg - Internet Engineering Steering Group Documents
• ftp.ietf.org/ietf-mail-archive - Internet Engineering Task Force mail archive
• ftp.ietf.org/ietf-online-proceedings - IETF's Online Proceedings
• ftp.ietf.org/ietf
• ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts - Internet Drafts
• ftp.isi.edu/in-notes - RFCs

NORDUnet's US capacity totalled 777Mbit/s on April 8th this year, as the second GTS 155Mbit/s connection was put into operation. Now advanced research traffic to and from the research networks present at STARTAP has been put on a dedicated STM-1 155Mbit/s link as can be seen from the NORDUnet connectivity map. This arrangement gives excellent response times with network peers present at the STARTAP in the US. Don't just take our word for it, you can try the NORDUnet looking glass which is a web based application that allows anyone to try out ping, traceroute and various other statistics directly from NORDUnet routers' point of view.

NORDUnet's annual report 1999 has been published

Year 1999 was a year when NORDUnet's US capacity rose from 155Mbit's to 465Mbit/s and at the same time NORDUnet was connected to the Abilene network of the Internet2. Soon after that NORDUnet set up peerings with several of the worlds advanced research networks at the STAR TAP peering facility in the US. Read more about last year's events on NORDUnet's Annual Report 1999 including the financial accounts.

Nordunet2000 Conference Registration has begun!

The Nordunet2000 Conference is accepting registrations. Preliminary programme is also available. Deadline for lower registration fee is 30th of June. The theme of this year's conference is Networks in Service of Education and Research and there are two streams called Technical Stream and Application Stream. Topics range from Fast IP routing to virtual universities and open learning environments.

Connection to TEN-155 Managed Bandwidth Service

NORDUnet's 155 Mbit/s IP connection to TEN-155 has been supplemented with a 2 Mbit/s connection to the ATM services of TEN-155. The connection will be used by UNINETT for network research requiring dedicated circuits, in collaboration with other European research networks (TF-TANT). TEN-155 network is an ATM network whereas NORDUnet runs IP over SDH.

TEN-155 managed bandwidth service

TF-TANT

New US Capacity from GTS

NORDUnet has entered into a customer relationship with GTS /EBONE for additional capacity to the US. NORDUnet has had 3 STM-1 connections to the US (3*155Mbit/s) and all of them are provided by Teleglobe. This new arrangement with GTS (Global TeleSystems Group) is an addition to these 3 dedicated connections and it has a capacity of 155Mbit/s. Instead of having a dedicated path to US like in the case of the three STM-1's, GTS carries and routes NORDUnet traffic to US inside their own network. NORDUnet connects to GTS's network node in Stockholm with a 155Mbit/s link and GTS is responsible for handling of the traffic between Stockholm and the US.

NORDUnet's total US capacity is now 622Mbit/s after this upgrade.

Y2K - No Problem!

It was business as usual with NORDUnet's operations during the millennium shift. The Network Operations Centre at KTH mainained normal service status and so far none of the services have been affected by the Y2K related problems. NORDUnet released a Y2K statement late 1999. Only minor adjustments were needed and they were implemented in due time during the last quarter of 1999.

NORDUnet2000 Conference Seeks Sponsors

The NORDUnet 2000 Networking Conference will be organized in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland on 28-30 September 2000. About 300-400 experts from the Nordic and European universities, institutes of higher education and research organizations are expected to participate. The theme of the conference will be "Networks in Service of Education and research" and the speakers include experts also from Europe and overseas.

Local organizer for the conference is CSC, the Center for Scientific Computing. CSC maintains the Finnish University Network (FUNET). The organizers are are currently seeking sponsors. You can find out how to sponsor by visiting the NORDUnet2000 conference home page.

NORDUnet Supports Global Observation Information Network (GOIN) Demonstration in Stockholm

On November 11, NORDUnet is cooperating with the NASA Research and Education Network (NREN) and the Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) to support live demonstrations of the Global Observation Information Network (GOIN) in Stockholm.

NORDUnet, NREN, and APAN, in addition to other High Performance Research and Education Networks (HPRENs) such as Abilene and vBNS, all interconnect at the Science, Technology, and Research Transit Access Point (STAR TAP) in Chicago.

The venue for the demonstrations is the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) 1999 Plenary at the IVA Conference Centre, hosted by the European Meteorological Satellite (EUMETSAT) organization with the support of the Swedish Space Corporation ( SSC).

CEOS (www.ceos.org) is the worldwide technical coordination body for all agencies that develop and operate satellites that observe the earth from space.

GOIN (www.goin.nasda.go.jp) began in 1994 as a US-Japan initiative aimed at promoting scientific cooperation in four focus areas related to global observation of the earth: Land, Atmosphere, Oceans, and Solar-terrestrial interactions. Within the past two years, GOIN has expanded to include Asia-Pacific regional partners.

GOIN demonstrations at the CEOS99 Plenary include:

• the Data and Information Access Link (DIAL), a freeware package for finding, accessing, and manipulating global observation data;
• solar-terrestrial ionospheric-magnetospheric modeling;
• websites providing VRML animations of El Nino and La Nina; and
• a multimedia teleseminar from Japan and Thailand on the latest results from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM).

NORDUnet has set up peerings with many of the worlds advanced research networks in the US at the STAR TAP. The purpose of these peerings is to enable advanced research projects to take the network and high bandwidth connections fully into use. More detailed information about the peerings can be found in the articles section.

Multicast Feeds from Telecom '99 conference in Geneva October 10-17

CITU at KTH in Stockholm is distributing Telia's seminars from Telecom '99 conference in Geneva over NORDUnet using native multicast. Native multicast is enabled in all owner networks (FUNET,SUNET,UNINETT,DARENET) of NORDUnet except ISnet in Iceland. This distribution via multicast to NORDUnet members is a collaboration of CITU, FUNET and Telia.

More information about the formats is available at Telecom '99 by CITU.

The programmes will be transmitted via satellite from Geneva to KTH-CITU in Stockholm where CITU will repackage it to multicast IP and send it out to NORDUnet in several formats:

• 200 Kbps of H.261 with GSM audio
• 500 Kbps of RealMedia G2
• 1.4 Mbps of MPEG-1
• 2 different streams of 6 Mbps MPEG-2 (using two different encoders, one of which is experimental)

The seminar series will be broadcast next week, 11-15 October, and the Saturday and Sunday sessions will be taped and broadcast on Monday and Tuesday the following week (18-19 October).

Comments regarding the multicast feeds are welcome at friends@citu.kth.se.

NORDUnet has published a year 2000 statement

Year 2000 and especially the change of millenium can in worst case do serious damage to network services and functionality. Read our year 2000 statement and find out what has been done to ensure that services will run smoothly into the next millenium. [Document no longer available: NORDUnet Year 2000 statement]

NORDUnet and Telia team up to develop the Nordic research network

NORDUnet and Telia have signed a contract concerning the provision of NORDUnet's Nordic lines between NORDUnet and each of the member networks in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The current system of several providers will gradually switch to Telia during the end of year 1999 and beginning of year 2000. The current bandwidth of 155 Mbp/s into each country will be doubled in October, resulting in two STM-STM-1 connections into each country, the total bandwidth of the Nordic system then becoming 930 Mbp/s. A press release about the contract (in Swedish) is available at http://www.nordu.net/news/pr/ndn-telia.txt

US connection upgraded to 465Mbit/s

NORDUnet has upgraded the US capacity with a third STM-1. The total US capacity is now 465 Mbit/s. This connection uses the CANTAT-3 CANUS cable and it is provided by Teleglobe. This upgrade provides the necessary bandwidth for cooperation with the US universities and the Internet2 framework in general. It also provides better connectivity to other important research networks all over the world via STAR TAP. More information on START TAP peerings can be found in the related article soon.

The second STM-1 was installed in January earlier this year and all the three STM-1s are provided by Teleglobe. The lines have different physical paths, making the system physically better protected and redundant. Even if one line is down, two lines should still be functioning. Redundancy has also been arranged in the backbone routers, providing a reasonably failsafe system. NORDUnet is putting great deal of effort into making the network as transparent to the users as possible, so that researchers can rely on the services on a 24 hours a day 7 days a week basis.

Nordunet2 call for project proposals

The Nordunet2 research programme has published a call for project proposals. Further information and the text of the call can be found on the Nordunet2 website.
The deadline for pre-applications is 15th of October.

NORDUnet SPAM/mail relay advice

Preventing SPAM is everyone's concern. Unsolicited bulk email messages waste the bandwidth and recipients time. NORDUnet mail relay advice document describes what SPAM actually is and what kind of measures can be taken to prevent it. Each of the member networks and organisations connected via NORDUnet have their policies regarding spam.

TERENA-NORDUnet post-conference information

TERENA, the Trans-European Education and Research Networking Association and NORDUnet, the Nordic networking organization joined forces to hold the first TERENA-NORDUnet Networking Conference in the historic city of Lund, Sweden, from the 7th to the 10th of June. Attended by almost 400 participants representing 36 countries, the conference provided an excellent opportunity for experts and professionals from research, industry, academia and related government sectors to discuss the latest Internet developments and the challenges facing the research and education community.

Available: Papers and slides of the conference presentations Some of the presentations can also be viewed in RealVideo format.

Read more about the conference at NEWS from TERENA

The next NORDUnet conference will take place in Helsinki, Finland 28-30 September 2000. The conference website is located at NORDUnet 2000

Nordunet2 Project Board Members

Nordunet2 board members have been elected and they are:

Sven Tafvelin, Sweden - tafvelin@ce.chalmers.se, Chairman of the Board
Johann Gunnarsson, Iceland - johann.gunnarsson@fjr.stjr.is
Juha Hakala, Finland - juha.hakala@helsinki.fi
Markus Sadeniemi, Finland - markus.sadeniemi@csc.fi
Lars Santesson, Sweden - lars.santesson@education.ministry.se
Magnar Antonsen, Norway - magnar@cc.uit.no
Birte Christensen-Dalsgaard, Denmark - birte.christensen-dalsgaard@uni-c.dk

Nordunet2 Project leader is swedish Anders Gillner anders.gillner@kks.se. He will be starting in September this year.

Nordunet2 project supports advanced networking projects in the Nordic countries during the next three years. More information can be found shortly on the official website at www.nordunet2.org

Past and Archived News Items

Nordunet Information Service