RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY NETWORK (RUNNET) AS THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROJECTS

Since the mid-1990s the Government of the Russian Federation has paid considerable attention to the application of ICT for science and education, particularly to the development of telecommunication networks. In 1994 in the framework of the National Program "Universities of Russia" Russian University Network (RUNNet, www.runnet.ru) was established as a nation-wide network of universities and large research institutes. Through regional research and educational networks shaped within federal and regional programs and initiative projects, thousands of educational, research and cultural institutions were connected to RUNNet. This telecommunication infrastructure became the core of an integral informational and educational environment which provided educational institutions with an access to Russian and foreign research and educational resources. RUNNet is operated by State Institute of Information Technologies and Telecommunications (SIIT&T "Informika") and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Today RUNNet is a major federal research and education computer network which unites more than 250 largest Russian universities and scientific institution in 56 regions of Russia. The network backbone nodes are located in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Samara, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg, Nizhni Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don and abroad (Amsterdam, Stockholm, Helsinki). RUNNet has broadband 10Gbps connectivity with foreign research and education networks such as GEANT, NORDUnet and with Tier-1 operators such as Level 3, Tata Communications, Global Crossing, Cogent Communications. RUNNet has its own cross-border DWDM system terminated in Finland. Such technologies as IPv6, multicast, MPLS VPN are broadly implemented at RUNNet infrastructure.

RUNNet is directly involved in a lot of international infrastructure and research projects such as GLORIAD (Global Ring for Advanced Applications Development), GEANT, LHC (Large Hadron Collider) Computing Grid and others. The resources of RUNNet are widely used by other Russian research and education networks such as RASnet (Russian Academy of Science Network), RBNet (Russian Backbone Network), RUHEP (Russian High Energy Physics Network), RSSI (Russian Space Science Internet) and others.

RUNNet is a hosting provider and a developer of infrastructure solutions of major information systems for science and education in Russia such as federal educational portals, digital libraries and repositories of open educational resources. The up-to-date solutions and services for educational institutions based on cloud computing (IaaS/SaaS) are developed and implemented intensively.

This paper describes the network infrastructure and services of RUNNet used for international research and education projects. The examples of notable joint telecommunication projects performed with international collaboration are given.