EU and China Establish Research Network Link

The European Union (EU) and China will fund a high-capacity link between European National Research and Education Networks and their counterparts in China. The EUR 4.15 million ORIENT (Oriental Research Infrastructure to European NeTworks) project, which is supported by the EU's 6th Research Framework Programme, is expected to benefit academic pursuits, including radio astronomy, meteorology, and grid computing applications.



The project began on 1 March 2006 and will run for three years. Funding of the link will come from 3 sources: 50% of the project cost will be provided by CERNET (from the Chinese Ministries of Education, and Science and Technology respectively), 25% from the European Commission and the final 25% contributed by Europe's National Research and Education Networks (NRENs).



ORIENT will provide a complementary service to TEIN2, the Asia-Pacific research network which went live in December 2005. TEIN2 links ten countries, including China, at speeds of up to 622 Mbps, fostering regional collaboration.

http://www.dante.net/orient