30 Years of the Janet Network JANET NEWS | 30 YEARS the Rise of the Janet Network
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1984-2014 30 years of the Janet network JANET NEWS | 30 YEARS The rise of the Janet network Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was hard to imagine where technology would The network used to be take us into the 2000s and beyond. At a time something people thought when the Internet was emerging to scoffs they’d like to be involved in – of ‘it’ll never catch on,’ the world was a very now it’s absolutely critical! different place. Those working to establish the Janet network saw the John Seymour, possibilities; they knew the way technology was developing Head of Network Operations, Janet and now, looking back, are extremely proud to have been part of its evolution. When the Janet network went live on 1 April 1984, the Building relationships connections were 64kbit/s, now there are 100Gbit/s As Head of Customer Engagement and Support, and 200Gbit/s links, with talks of going to 400Gbit/s. An Shirley Wood describes her years at Janet as ‘exhilarating unbelievable leap in such a short timeframe. So how exactly and challenging.’ did we get from the first versions of JANET and SuperJANET to Janet6, and where will we go next? Back in 1986, when Shirley joined, it was a very small community of around 55 universities and 20 research Growing demands council sites. Shirley comments, ‘it’s taken a lot of time to build up relationships and contacts, but people now Head of Network Operations, John Seymour, has seen the know who to talk to when they have a query or need changes over all eight versions of Janet. ‘In the early days help in achieving their goals. My objective is to know we couldn’t have imagined speeds like we’re seeing now,’ what the customer wants before they know they need it. he says. ‘Technology has come on so much. Expectations By constantly looking at how we can deliver the best for have increased dramatically and with bigger networks research, FE and HE, we’re developing the young people of people can do so much more. Traffic is doubling every 18 the future.’ months to two years – what will it be like in another ten?’ The next leap will be Tbit/s Ethernet, and it won’t stop there.’ To keep pace with customer requirements, the company has grown from an original core of just 30 people to over 150. ‘This growth has meant we have been able to develop strong processes and procedures and more importantly raise our levels of customer service,’ says John. ‘We used to be just buried in technology and were doing it ‘because we could’; now we’re focused on providing a service for our customers. The network used to be something people thought they’d like to be involved in – now it’s absolutely critical!’ 2 SPECIAL EDITION UK-US 1.5Mbps Fat-Pipe Connectivity UK NSI NSI GSFC Sprint T1 1.5 Mbps Carrier Proteon Proteon DC TAT 9 Facility Oxford RAL NSI Mux POP University Proteon (DCS) TRANSATLANTIC MCL Conn. Ave. CIRCUIT 128 Kbps 64 Kbps T1 1.5 Mbps EBS UK Cisco Carrier T1 Stockholm MCL 256 Kbps Government’s Mux 512 Kbps Mux NOC T3 Sprint EBS DC NSI T1 Mux ULCC Cisco TCO Proteon Vermont Ave. Amsterdam UCL CYLINK EBS T/20 Cisco 448 Kbps 256 Kbps TWB EBONE T/20 128 Kbps Mux DRA EBS CYLINK SURA T/20 Cisco 256 Kbps CERN JANET NSI TWB Other Cisco Proteon T/20 256 Kbps JIPS EBS JANET INT Cisco Cisco NSF France FIX-E College Park NSS EuropaNet NSFNET RCCN ARIADNE RedIRIS RIPE DFN Belgium Portugal Greece Spain Amsterdam Germany Natural progression Being involved through all the versions of Janet, Sue Weston, Head of Procurement, has seen the evolution of the network JANET MK II Aberdeen Stirling and the way technology has come on. ‘What I do has an 2 Mbit/s in service Dundee 2 Mbit/s planned impact on most of the business, so I get a good insight into Strathclyde < 2Mbit/s in service how the technology has developed to meet customer needs. St Andrews JANET NOC Edinburgh We know that it’s essential to provide a seamless service that Glasgow Heriot Watt works for all of our customers and pride ourselves on being Ulster Belfast critical within the research and education community. Now our customers tell us that Janet is ‘just there’, that it ‘just Newcastle Lancaster works’ and that they can’t do without it.’ Durham Salford York Bangor One step ahead Leeds Bradford Liverpool Daresbury Manchester As Janet grew in the late 1990s, with the introduction of Hull FE and the interest from schools, regionalisation changed Keele Sheffield its infrastructure. Jeremy Sharp, Head of Strategic Aston Nottingham Birmingham East Anglia Technologies, joined in 1994 and believes that the political Aberystwyth Loughborough Warwick Cambridge changes that affected Janet contributed to its growth. Leicester Oxford Rutherford Reading Essex Bristol Brunel Swansea QMW Now Janet is ‘just there’… Cardiff Bath ULCC City it ‘just works’ and people RHBNC Bloomsbury Surrey LSE Kings Imperial Southampton Kent can’t do without it Exeter Sussex Sue Weston, State of the 2Mbit/s Connections to JANET at March 1992 Head of Procurement, Janet 3 JANET NEWS | 30 YEARS It broadened our Average JANET X.25 traffic per working day scope and allowed 80000 70000 User Traffic us to serve the 60000 Switched Traffic wider education 50000 40000 community in 30000 addition to HE Megabytes/day 20000 10000 and research 0 Jeremy Sharp, 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Head of Strategic Technologies, Janet ‘It broadened our scope and allowed us to serve the wider technology then available as quite primitive, Janet was education community in addition to HE and research’, he says. much envied in other countries and the network team was a team to be proud of.’ Janet played a really important part in leading developments in computer networking in the early days. It’s ‘The changes since those days have been vast. Janet now a very mature and fast-moving area, so it’s crucial to always was cutting edge, and I get the impression from still be ahead of the game. Janet6 is a great example of this. afar that it has fully kept pace. It has done a particularly good job in implementing continual technical advances ‘Over the years there’s been a real pioneering spirit, with the while at the same time maintaining day-to-day services, success of SuperJANET really moving us on’, says Jeremy. tailor-made for the research and education community,’ ‘Working in this environment you never stay still for long. I says Alistair. ‘Also, Janet engineers have managed to always had an eye on technology development, from the provide secure access to a huge variety of people and 1990s, but it’s still hard to grasp where we are today.’ organisations. The combination of this special provision, together with seamless interworking with public and Keeping pace commercial service, has been fundamental to the Professor Alistair Chalmers, first Chairman of the Advisory network’s success.’ Committee on Networking, was involved with the creation of Jisc in 1990. He says, ‘My perception of Janet was For the better extremely positive at that time and over the years has only Janet has also been heavily involved in influencing and become more so. Though some might now look upon the improving UK law from 1984, when it was blithely assumed that real-world legislation would simply transfer to networks, to 2014 when more than a dozen laws make special provision for them. Janet has done what it can to ensure the effects are positive – improving network safety and security and recognising that not all networks and users are the same. As a result, newer laws clearly define illegal content and don’t place operators who find it on their networks and systems in an impossible position. Nowadays those developing law and policy often seek Janet’s input, recognising our understanding of the technical and operational implications of online law. Working closely with customers lets us explain the implications for both backbone and organisational networks. Together, we are making the law better. 4 J a H C N N N P C N I E H a a P L D F n S S r e r A A 1 E 1 k A o d A w u u 9 A 0 i u b P IDN113076F P P f p r f n 1 t 0 l 3 l o n i h 2 3 a e U f n R B 1 e r c t D 7 7 B n t e 26km / 7dB e i t t I I 6 7 3 D D 2 6 N N k k m m P 1 1 S F 1 1 / / 3 3 B 1 1 0 0 A 9 2 7 8 i d d 5 1 b B B F F NIRAN r Q B B B C N N N Q C B T A E L B B B T E S U F P e I I I I I I I R U T T r y a e r T T L L L L L L L L h S Y N X F v A U D B A i x A S S e r t 1 3 d e A A A V V V V V a B 2 i 2 o o 7 7 n 8 e h b d 4 A A A A A A A 7 4 B n e n u u 5 v 5 g u u e 3 4 r n l a r i A w i M M M M M f w n b m i f 1 1 P P P IDN113592F 5 IDN113079F IDN113080F IDN113082F IDN113083F IDN113084F IDN113085F e f 4 t 0 r 8 b a m a 3 N t 6 r r f 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 0 0 e l h N N A e d r Q H r a s Y i a o o P e D 2 2 2 R U T f f T n s i y e w y t t m n 8 2 9 0 1 2 3 c G W S N N T n Z e d E B r A w N 8 1 2 I f n k k t 85km / 20dB 238km/48dB t 120km/30dB 101km/23dB 0.4km / 1dB 11km / 3dB 203km/44dB i r i n n I I I 8 9 0 2 f D D D 1 1 5 9 IDN I N D 0 I E D m 0 k r N N N k k k 9 x m m 72 N m 1 1 1 k 6 113591F / 8 0 3 1 1 a e 1 1 1 km m 1 / / B 3 3 3 d t / 1 2 2 e 5 0 0 3 4 / 19 / s 1 3 9 7 7 F 0 6 d r 2 d d 3 7 8 7 B dB 4 B B t F F F 4 d N F B r V e T u E C M E N W M D B E J F S B C e I P M E G G L h X P P a C S B S S S S S e a K r 7 T S B L I I I I K e T T G B G G G G S M R U v A B S A R i e n d r L L L L A 4 l 3 1 r C C C t s 7 8 1 R S S S S S a 1 e O l a r e 1 A t 3 d e r c 1 9 i a n 1 o 4 2 5 e X X r i o s n 3 s y l A A A A 5 O n a e e e e 9 h s d r s E E E E E d 0 5 1 P i IDN113073F 1 IDN112998F IDN112999F IDN113000F IDN113001F IDN113002F IDN113003F IDN113004F IDN113005F IDN113031F l c f g h F 5 1 2 3 g k t c .