JISC announces UKLight, a £6.5 million major international networking

initiative

A new multi-million pound initiative will ensure that Britain can retain

its position as a world leader in research. HEFCE (Higher Education

Funding Council for England) is investing £6.5 million in an initiative

known as UKLight, which will put the UK on the global optical networking

stage.

UKLight is an international collaboration between JISC and SURFnet,

based in the Netherlands. The UK will join several other leading

networks creating an international experimental testbed for optical

networking. These include StarLight in the USA, SURFnet in the

Netherlands (NETHERLIGHT), CANARIE (Canadian academic network), CERN in

Geneva, and NorthernLIGHT bringing the Nordic countries onboard.

UKLight will connect JANET*, the UK’s research and education network, to

the testbed and also provide access for UK researchers to the Internet2

facilities in the US via the StarLight initiative. The management of the

programme will be provided by UKERNA (the UK Education and Research

Networking Association), who manage JANET on behalf of the JISC.

Recent worldwide advances in networking technology are enabling a

transition to the next generation optical network that will make

available ultra-high bandwidth to its users. These developments will

radically transform the landscape of the information economy and present

new facilities and opportunities to both the network research and

development communities and to those responsible for service provision

and delivery. Researchers whose work relies upon fast and efficient

computer networks will be able to stay at the forefront of their

research, particularly in areas such as particle physics, radio

astronomy, and high-performance computing.

Professor Peter Clarke, Particle Physics Research Group, University

College London comments that "UKLIGHT is excellent for the UK. We now

have a real opportunity to be at the forefront of developing new ways of

networking needed to meet the requirements of education and research in

the next decade. UKLight will enable e-Science applications in a way we

have only dreamed of up until now. This news heralds a new era of

International network research collaboration based upon this global

testbed".

"UKLight will provide a leading-edge networking capability that is

critical for supporting the emerging requirements of the computational

sciences," adds Steve Corbató, director of backbone network

infrastructure for Internet2, the advanced networking organization led

by U.S. universities. "The growing ensemble of optical networking

initiatives in the U.K., the U.S., and elsewhere around the world will

enable communities of researchers to collaborate. on distributed

experiments and simulations and to share results in ways that have not

been possible to date."

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For further information on UKLight, contact Joseph Hutcheon, JISC

Executive; email j.hutcheon@jisc.ac.uk; telephone 0117 931 7251 or

Jeremy Sharp, Advanced Technologies Group, UKERNA; email

j.sharp@ukerna.ac.uk’;

telephone 01235 822 259

Notes for editors:

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) supports further and

higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and

opportunities to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to

support teaching, learning, research and administration. JISC is funded

by all the UK post-16 and higher education funding councils. JISC - www.jisc.ac.uk

*JANET, the UK’s education and research network, currently connects over

700 organisations including all UK universities, colleges of higher and

further education, research council establishments and other

organisations that work in collaboration with this community, enabling

the exchange of data and information between connected organisations.

Several hundred thousand computers are currently connected and network

access is available to all staff and students (subject to their

organisations' policies).

JANET is the network operated and developed by UKERNA under a Service

Level Agreement from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of

the UK Higher and Further Education Funding Councils. JANET is connected

to the equivalent academic networks in other countries and to many

commercial networks in the UK and abroad forming part of the global

internet.

UKERNA and JANET are registered trademarks of the Higher Education

Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales.

UKERNA – www.ja.net

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) distributes

public money for teaching and research to universities and colleges. In

doing so, it aims to promote high quality education and research, within

a financially healthy sector. The Council also plays a key role in

ensuring accountability and promoting good practice.

HEFCE – www.hefce.ac.uk

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