POL-34
|
|
POL-34 is a Polish academic computer network created to provide high-speed Internet access and to conduct network-based research. Most of the government founded higher education organisations and all of metropolitan area networks in Poland are connected to POL-34.
POL-34 has been created as a result of an experiment hosted in Poznań in 1997 during a scientific conference in which all major Polish MAN's representatives took part. Its target was to create a high-speed WAN. During the experiment Poznań, Łódź and Gdańsk has been connected and the 34 Mbit/sATM network in an 622 Mbit/s SDH environment has been created and since then called POL-34. Since its creation, POL-34 has been a purely high-speed IP network.
In the beginning, POL-34 have been using fiber-optic links leased from TEL-ENERGO, a company founded by State Power Companies, Polish Power Networks and Polish Power Distribution Association. Since its creation POL-34 has been creating its own infrastructure and now owns all fiber-optic connections to major nodes.
In 1999 a project to extend the bandwidth of the network has been proposed and POL-155 has been created. Speed has been expanded to 155 Mbit/s Asynchronous Transfer Mode between Gdańsk, Łódź and Poznań and constant effort to create 155 Mbit/s links between smaller nodes has been made.
In 2000 POL-34/155 and various other academic organisations set up a project of creating a 10 Gbit/s network within GEANT project. Network called PIONIER is the result of that project. Currently it connects Białystok, Bielsko-Biała, Bydgoszcz, Częstochowa, Gdańsk, Gliwice, Kielce, Kraków, Łódź, Opole, Poznań, Radom, Toruń, Warszawa, Wrocław and Zielona Góra with a fiber-optic 10 Gbit/s link. The rest: Koszalin, Szczecin, Lublin, Olsztyn, Puławy, Rzeszów are connected with links between 155 and 622 Mbit/s. PIONIER is one of the most advanced and modern networks in Europe. PIONIER's Network Operations Center is based in Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center. It has connections to various commercial networks and is well integrated with GEANT network.
Both POL-34/155 and PIONIER is operated by a consortium of 22 metropolitan area network operators and other educational institutions. Decisions within the consortium are made by voting.
External links
- Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center website (http://www.man.poznan.pl/pcss/public/main/index.html?lang=en)
- POL-34/155 website (http://www.pol34.pl/)
- PIONIER website (http://www.pionier.gov.pl/)