The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the European Union (EU), announced that it will launch today, GEANT2, the high-speed version of Europe' s world-leading networking infrastructure for scientists and students.
In a press release, the EC said from Tuesday onwards, GEANT2, Europe's world-class research networking infrastructure will start to supply unprecedented computing power to an estimated 3 million users from over 3500 academic institutions in 34 countries across Europe.
In the future, the network will use pulsed light (photons), rather than electrons, to carry huge volumes of research data faster than ever before. GEANT2 will provide a Europe-wide "roaming" service that enables scientists to access the network and their home university's working environments from anywhere, at any time.
In radio astronomy, GEANT2 will provide the ability to observe the universe in real time, by linking up radio telescopes across Europe.
Financially, GEANT2 is the result of joint efforts at European and national level. The EC itself contributes 93 million euros to this project, just under half the total cost. The rest is funded by national research and education networks.
