Following the establishment of the UK e-Science programme it was realised that the scale of existing JANET connection tariffs might discourage the participation of industrial partners in e-Science projects, although such participation was being strongly encouraged elsewhere in the programme. This issue becomes particularly acute at higher bandwidths which many e-Science projects are expected to need.
In response to this the JISC Committee for Networking (JCN) has approved a policy recommendation which effectively reduces the cost of connecting to JANET in the context of participation in e-Science projects. Details of this policy are described below.
The organisation will be required to take out as a minimum a 2Mbit/s Primary Connection to JANET at tariffed rates (assuming it does not already have such a connection), and JANET(UK) will then discuss with the organisation the provision of additional bandwidth suitable for its collaboration within the project. It is expected that this would be 100Mbit/s or greater.
The cost to the organisation or project will be the incremental cost of providing the additional bandwidth — typically that of an enhanced access link and associated equipment.
JANET(UK) will seek the most cost-effective solution to provide high bandwidth and this will not necessarily be compatible with the service levels which apply to normal JANET connections. This is not expected to cause significant difficulties for projects but JANET(UK) will apply no specific service levels beyond reasonable endeavours to connections established under this policy.
The duration of any agreement to provide a connection will be tied to and limited by specific objectives in the project.
JANET(UK) will need to verify that the organisation is a bona-fides collaborator in a recognised e-Science project and will ask for a letter of sponsorship from the relevant Research Council which supports the requirement for enhanced bandwidth. This would typically come from the Research Council's e-Science programmme manager.
Please contact David Salmon for further information or to discuss details of a potential e-Science connection.
