EBONE: European Backbone

EBONE: European Backbone
EBONE is a European international network backbone connecting research network backbone connecting research network services providers. A not-for-profit cooperative effort, EBONE is set up as a consortium whose members share the costs of management and operation based on respective access speeds. EBONE began in september1991 when representatives of several European academic and research networks met to resolve long-standing connectivity problems. Their approach was to evaluate existing available links and look for opportunities to bring these links together quickly under a unified approach. The effort was formally started in January 1992 and has proved successfully. The need for bandwidth and high-speed connectivity to the U.S backbone had long been recognized in the European community. Until late 1991 such connectivity was available only to individual national and international research networks. Among EBONE’s advantages are simplified network interconnection, increased bandwidth, improved connections to the united-states, and greater economy of scale in terms of operations and transmission cost.
EBONE provides two types of service: backbone services and interconnects services. According to the EBONE consortium, the focus in the coming years will be on the interconnect (Global Neutral Interconnect) service as other backbones come into existence, providing networking services for research.
EBONE operates a core backbone among London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Paris, as shown in Fig.3.8. Inter-continental links to the united-states are provided from London, Paris, Stockholm, and Geneva. The European links initially operated at speeds between 256 Kbps and 512 Kbps, but the demand for EBONE services has grown such that the Stockholm-Amsterdam-Geneva links are now being upgraded to 1.5 Mbps, Paris-Geneva will become 2 Mbps, and the Paris-U.S. link will be1.5 Mbps. A new core site in Bonn is being set up and one in Vienna is being investigated to support extension of the network to the central and eastern European countries. Please note that the network speeds in Fig.3.8. Are probably outdated and are used to illustrate the infrastructure at one point in time.
EBONE is managed by the EBONE management committee, which is elected by the participating organizations. Operational support is provided by core sites and other sites in cooperation with EBONE network operations center at the royal institute of technology (KTH) in Stockholm. Development is planned by the EBONE action team, which consists of technical representatives from the participating organizations. Some of the member organizations of the EBONE consortium are listed in Table 3.6
(256 Kbps) Nordic Carriers
(256Kbps) Swipnet / Tele2
(256-512Kbps) NORDUNET
512Kbps
USA

256 Kbps 512 Kbps
1024Kbps
USA

2Mbps 512Kbps (Not Known) SURFnet
JANET (64 Kbps) RedIRIS, FCCN
(IXI) HEAnet
256Kbps (IXI) ULB
(IXI) YUNAC
(not known) EUNET
512Kbps (128 Kbps) ECRC
USA (128 Kbps) ACOnet
256Kbps

REANATER (Not known) (2 Mbps) Geneve, SWITCH
Fourth – (19.2Kbps) (64 Kbps) EARN

KUL (64 Kbps) (256 Kbps) ACOnet
(64 Kbps) ILAN

1544Kbps(until jun 93) (64 Kbps) ARIADNEt
USA (64 Kbps) EASInet, GMD



Figure 3.8 EBONE (European backbone) structure
Table 3.6 EBONE consortium members
ACOnet, Austria KTH, Sweden
ARIADnet, GREECE NFSR, Belgium
EARN NORDUNET
ECRC PIREX, U.K.
EUNET / EurOpen RedIRIS, Spain
FCCN, Portugal Renater, France
FORTH, Greece (Crete) SURFnet, Netherlands
GMD, Germany SwipNet, Sweden
HEANET, Ireland SWITCH, Switzerland
ILAN, Israel TIPnet / Telecom Finland
JANET / JNT, U.K.