SuperJANET5 has the key objectives of
all, of course, both quickly and cost-effectively. This is a challenge, both for the SuperJANET5 backbone provision and also for the Regional Networks which have to deliver these new and flexible services to the customer institutions. The improvements needed to achieve these aims will necessitate expenditure over and above the current funding that is provided to Regional Networks operators.
In England, the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) has allocated an additional ca £5M pa for each of the five years starting FY 2005-06 over and above the present funding provided to Regional Network Operators, and this will be allocated by JANET(UK) on behalf of HEFCE. The allocation will be linked to specific SJ5 goals and targets.
A paper describing the allocation process has been sent to the Chairs of all English MANs and may also be found here (pdf file).
As part of the SuperJANET5 programme the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) asked JANET(UK) to estimate the funding requirements of the five Scottish Regional Networks over the lifetime of SuperJANET5 to ensure that the Regional Networks are in a position to deliver the SuperJANET5 objectives. Working in partnership with the Scottish Regional Network Operators, the requirements were presented to SFC and as a result funding has been made available over a five year period starting FY 2005-06. The funding will be managed by JANET(UK), on behalf of SFC, and linked to specific SuperJANET5 goals and targets, in a similar way that the HEFCE investment into the English Regional Networks is being administered.
A paper describing the allocation process has been sent to the Chairs of all Scottish MANs and may also be found here (pdf file).
POS Router Interface Funding Initiative
In order to make effective use of the dual connections into each Regional Network, it is important that the most effective connection technology is used between the Regional Network and the SuperJANET5 backbone. A thorough consideration of the technical issues and an assessment of associated costs was undertaken by JANET(UK) in consultation with the Regional Network Operators. This concluded that Packet over SONET (POS – commonly referred to as SDH) technology should be used for the connection of the JANET IP service between each Regional Network and the SuperJANET5 backbone, in preference to wide-area Gigabit Ethernet (GE) technology.
A funding initiative to support the Regional Network Operators deployment of SDH interface technology has been launched. A paper describing the funding initiative is available here (pdf file).
A paper describing the technical issues associated with the connection technology between Regional Networks and the SuperJANET5 backbone is available here (pdf file).
