Network Infrastructure
Year Event 1997 - 1998 The initial SingAREN network infrastructure comprised a set of international link and an experimental broadband network that links Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and other local research organizations.
SingAREN maintained a 14 Mbps ATM link to the StarTAP in Chicago, United States. From StarTAP, SingAREN is linked VBNS (Very High Performance Backbone Network Service) in the US and CANERIE (Canada Advanced Network for Research, Industry and Education) in Canada.
SingAREN also maintained a 2 Mbps link to Japan The Japan link was connected to various advanced R&D network such as CRL (Center for Communication Research) in Tokyo.
Within Singapore, SingAREN is connected to the Singapore ONE (One Network for Everyone) infrastructure via a 155Mbps ATM connection. Singapore ONE is Singapore’s broadband ATM backbone operated by 1-Net Singapore Pte Ltd.
SingAREN NOC team operated a Point of Presence (POP), which was co-located in 1-Net Singapore Pte Ltd. The POP consisted of a Cisco 7513 router and a core ATM switch that provide international and local access for the two universities and the R&D partners in Singapore.
Full scale diagram
Figure 1 - SingAREN Network Configuration
(November 1997 to December 1998)1999 - 2000 In 1999, SingAREN enhanced the network infrastructure by deploying another Point of Presence (POP) in Los Angeles, US. With this set-up, the international 14 Mbps ATM link to the US transited at the LA POP before connecting to StarTAP at Chicago via a domestic circuit. This was implemented to improve the performance of the link to the US, and at the same time, allow the NOC engineer to implement traffic engineering on this link. Since then, SingAREN has maintained two POPs - one located in Singapore and another located in LA, US. The 14 Mbps ATM link was partitioned into two circuits – a 3 Mbps ATM CBR link and a 9 Mbps ATM VBR link. The network configuration is shown in the figure below. The 2 Mbps link to Japan was maintained from 1998 to 2000. The 2 Mbps link to Korea was established in early 2000 and it was maintained through 2001.
Many research and education networks were connected to SingAREN within these two years. These include National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Kent Ridge Digital Labs (KRDL), Temasek Polytechnic (TP), Singapore Management University (SMU), Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Defence Science Organisation (DSO), National Institute of Education (NIE), Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) and Imajet Tech.
Figure 2 - SingAREN Network Configuration2001 - 2002 In September 2001, there was a change in our network provider. Subsequently, SingAREN’s US POP was migrated from Los Angeles to San Jose. At the same time, the bandwidth on the US link was upgraded from 14 Mbps to 27 Mbps. The link to US was partitioned into two circuits – a 7Mbps ATM CBR circuit and a 20 Mbps ATM VBR-nrt circuit. The 7 Mbps ATM circuit was used to carry video and other real-time traffic while the 20 Mbps ATM circuit carried general data traffic.
The bandwidth on the Korea link has been maintained at 2 Mbps. Within Singapore, various research and education institutes connect to SingAREN via Singapore ONE.
Figure 3 - SingAREN Network configuration
(October 2001 to July 2002)On August 2002, the bandwidth on the international US link was upgraded from 27 Mbps to 32 Mbps. The existing network configuration is as shown below. The upgrade is due to a 6-month review by our existing provider, Starhub.
Figure 4 - SingAREN Network configuration
(August 2002 to September 2002)Oct 2002 - April 2003 Since October 2002, SingAREN maintains a 90 Mbps international private leased circuit from Singapore to San Jose, CA, US. From here, a local loop connects SingAREN San Jose POP to Abilene Network at Sunnyvale, CA. SingAREN also maintains an ATM VBR-nRT link to Korea, which has been upgraded from 2 Mbps to 6 Mbps with effect from Jan 2003.
Figure 5 - SingAREN Network configuration
(October 2002 to April 2003)Existing Configuration On 1st May 2003, SingAREN migrated its link to US to an OC3 International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) which lands at Seattle, WA, US. SingAREN's POP in the US has been re-located from San Jose, US to Seattle, US. SingAREN further connects to Abilene via Pacific North West GigaPOP.
SingAREN also maintains a 6 Mbps ATM link to APAN(Korea).
The existing network configuration is as shown below.
Figure 6- SingAREN Network configuration
(May 2003 to present)
