"With GÉANT's massive data processing capacity, Europe can now bring together the best minds in the world to tackle the challenges that we all face," said Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, as she announced an extra €90m of Community funding between 2008 and 2012 for the "third-generation GÉANT".
The network was launched in 2001 as a first step towards the establishment of the European Research Area (ERA). Its aim is to provide an infrastructure to support the advanced communication needs of the scientific community and to research state-of-the-art communication technologies.
The network was upgraded to GÉANT2 in 2005, providing faster and more powerful services and end-to-end connectivity for the scientists. The network currently connects 34 countries through 30 national research and education networks (NRENs) and is co-funded by the Commission and the NRENs themselves.
It contributes, for example, to the EU's radio astronomy project, which links the world's largest radio telescopes in China, Europe, South Africa and Chile to a supercomputer in the Netherlands, which produces real-time imaging thanks to the "massive data-flows from the GÉANT network". According to the Commission, GÉANT has also enabled "ground-breaking research collaboration" in the fields of climate change and biotechnology.
The upgraded GÉANT3 will now establish high-speed computer links with emerging regional research network infrastructures in the Balkans, the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, as well Asia, southern Africa and Latin America. These links are established with the aim of creating a single global research and education network.
