Funet gets faster and even more reliable

04.03.2010

The upgrade of the Finnish University and Research Network (Funet) to use solely light-paths is in the final phase. Thanks to the upgrade, which started already in the year 2006, it is possible to increase the bandwidth of the backbone network smoothly and to create separate point-to-point connections within the network. The customers can acquire a second connection for their affiliate and transmit their internal traffic through Funet.

The upgrade of Funet covers three lowest layers of the communication. The physical layer was earlier implemented as a service provided by various telecommunication operators. Now it has been mainly replaced by leased dark fibers. The Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) switches take care of the transmission layer enabling the transmission of tens of 10 Gbit/s data streams with one pair of fibers. These light paths can be used both to carry the traffic between the routers and for point-to-point communication for example move data between servers.

In the Funet IP backbone network the most important devices have been replaced by Juniper MX-series routers. New Juniper MX960 routers enable higher port density. Therefore fewer routers are needed. A fully equipped MX960 router supports 176 Ethernet interfaces each functioning at 10 Gbit/s speed, for a total system capabity of 2,6 Tbit/s.

Along with the new routers the IP backbone links have been upgraded to 10 Gbit/s. Funet member organizations connect to the new routers with either 1 Gbit/s or 10 Gbit/s Ethernet.

International connections are provided by NORDUnet who also utilizes DWDM technology. The compatibility extends to the European GÉANT-backbone and to other international research networks as well. Thus it is possible to set up global light paths.

Support for heavy-user research

As network bandwidth and distances increase, new kind of performance problems may arise. Therefore Funet has established a Performance Enhanced Response Team (PERT). It aims to response quickly to the challenging performance problems. PERT helps researchers for example, when huge amount of transmission capacity is needed or usage of a remote instrument requires high bandwidth.

Funet PERT cooperates tightly with other European PERTs. Together they have established an eduPERT service to troubleshoot performance problems in international communication. This operation has been very successful. The communication troubles don’t follow national borders and a good international cooperation is needed to solve them.

Funet is maintained by the CSC – IT Center for Science. Additional information about Funet is available at: http://www.csc.fi/english/institutions/funet/about/backbone

CSC

CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd. is a non-profit limited company administered by the Ministry of Education. Having core competences in modeling, computing and information services, CSC provides versatile IT services, support and resources for academia, research institutes, and companies. The Funet communication links provide research workers with Finland's widest selection of scientific software and databases and Finland's most powerful supercomputers.