International Networking

SingAREN had achieved many significant milestones in the area of international networking. Since the end of 1997, various MOUs were signed leading to the establishment of link and peering between SingAREN and its international partners. These includes StarTAP, vBNS, CANARIE, APAN Japan, APAN Korea, Abilene and ESnet. The achievements are summarized in the following paragraphs.

US Link
Date	Event
7-11-1997	Launch of SingAREN link to the US SingAREN network was set up and launched in Washington DC on 7 November 1997 with MOU (Memoranda of Understanding) with the National Science Foundation. An international link of 14 Mbps was established between SingAREN's Point of Presence (PoP) and STARTAP (Science Technology and Research Transit Access Point) in Chicago, US. The contract for the US link was awarded to SingTel. SingAREN-vBNS linkup via STARTAP Inauguration of the Singapore-vBNS (very high performance Backbone Network Service) link took place in November 1997. Nine MOUs for the research and development collaboration between researchers in Singapore and the USA were signed. Project specific MOUs include collaboration in bioinformatics, medical data-mining, distributed databases, network research and high-performance computing.
21-11-1997	Launch of peering arrangement with CA*Net On 21 November 1997, SingAREN officially launched its peering arrangement with CA*Net2 (Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education) in Canada. A MOU of cooperation was signed between Canada and Singapore.
20-2-1998	Peering arrangement with ESnet The peering with US Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) via STARTAP was established on 20 February 1998
23-2-1998	IP Multicast Peering On 23 February 1998, the IP multicast service with vBNS was established through PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast) dense-mode configuration.
7-2001	Extension and upgrade on US link Before the expiry of the contract with SingTel for the US link, SingAREN carried out a closed tender to extend the US link. The contract was awarded to StarHub, which provisioned a 27 Mbps ATM link to the US between September 2001 to August 2002. The ATM link comprised a 17 Mbps ATM VBR-nrt (Variable Bit Rate non-real-time) link and a 10 Mbps ATM CBR (Constant Bit Rate) link
12-5-2002	Service Modification on the US link On 12 May 2002, the bandwidth on the US link was modified. The ATM VBR link was upgraded to 20 Mbps while the ATM CBR link was modified to 7 Mbps. The total international bandwidth to the US was maintained at 27 Mbps. This was due to the increasing demand on the 17 Mbps ATM VBR link and under-utilization on the 10 Mbps ATM CBR link.
4-8-2002	Bandwidth upgrade on the US link After a review on the existing contract with Starhub, the bandwidth on the US link was upgraded from 27 Mbps to 32 Mbps with effect from 4 August 2002. Specifically, the ATM VBR circuit was upgraded from 20 Mbps to 25 Mbps while the ATM CBR circuit remains unchanged at 7 Mbps
8-2002 to 10-2002	Upgrade and extension of the US link SingAREN link to the US was migrated to an OC3 International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) on 1 Oct 2002. The US link, which uses packet-over-sonet (POS) technology, is rate-limited to 90 Mbps. At the same time, the local loop to Abilene was also upgraded from OC3 ATM to OC3 POS. However, the connection to StarTAP was terminated.
1-5-2003	Migration of SingAREN2 Network As the contract with StarHub expired on 31 April 2003, SingAREN link to the US was migrated to an OC3 International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) on 1 May 2003. Provisioned by Asia Netcom (ANC), this circuit lands at Seattle, WA, US. At the same time, SingAREN's Point of Presence (PoP) in the US has been re-located from San Jose to Seattle. From the Seattle POP, SingAREN further connects to Abilene via Pacific North West GigaPOP.
Korea Link
9-1999	Launch of the Korea Link In 1999, SingAREN established a 2 Mbps link to Korea to research organization such as the ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) and universities in Korea. It was part of the APII (Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure) initiative between the governments of Singapore and Korea.
12-2001	Extension of Singapore-Korea Link The link to Korea was extended for another year beginning 1 January 2002. The tender for the contract was awarded to SingTel, which provided a 2 Mbps Bilateral ATM (Half Circuit) Link between Singapore and Korea. The need to provision a half circuit was due to the request from Korean counterpart who has signed a 5-year contract with the Korean Telco for the link to Singapore.
12-2002	Extension of Singapore-Korea Link The link to Korea was again extended for another year beginning 1 January 2003. The tender for the contract was awarded to SingTel, which provided a 6 Mbps Bilateral ATM (Half Circuit) Link between Singapore and Korea.
1-2005	Termination of Link This link was terminated in January 2005.
Japan Link
17-2-1998	Launch of Japan Link On 17 February 1998, SingAREN established a 2 Mbps link with Japan to APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network) Exchange Point under APII through the cooperation of MPT Japan and TAS (Telecommunication Authority of Singapore). A peering arrangement with Centre for Communication Research and universities in Japan was achieved.
3-1998	SingAREN on the APAN In March 1998, Singapore became an exchange point on the APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network), together with Japan and Korea.
12-2000	End of peering with Japan At the end of 2000, the link to Japan was terminated.