Our Journey
SingAREN started as a national project funded by the Singapore government to support Singapore’s R&E community
SingAREN started as a national project funded by the Singapore government in 1997 to take on the challenge of ensuring that Singapore’s research and education community is connected to the international community.
Singapore was the first country outside of North America to establish a high speed connection to the very high performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS) of USA, thus benefiting Singapore’s research and education community.
SingAREN was registered as a Society
SingAREN was registered as a Society to widen its roles to better serve the research and education community.
Established SingAREN Gigabit Internet Exchange (GIX)
SingAREN GIX was established in Global Switch, Singapore, enabling Singapore’s R&E community to be connected internationally.
Singapore joins the TEIN2 network
SingAREN joins the TEIN2 network, during the early phase of the high-capacity Internet connectivity network, linking the research and education communities in Asia Pacific and Europe.
Singapore is also one of the Points of Presence (PoP) for TEIN2 network.
Hosted APAN22 Meeting in Singapore
SingAREN was the host for the 22th Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) Meeting in Singapore, with over 100 participants, to exchange knowledge on advanced network applications.
Launch of eduroam service in Singapore
SingAREN launched eduroam, a global wireless service for secure internet connectivity across eduroam-participating institutes, through the user’s home institution account and password.
SingAREN granted status of Roaming Operator for eduroam in Singapore
SingAREN was granted status of Roaming Operator for eduroam service in Singapore by the Global eduroam Governance Committee (GeGC).
SingAREN 10th Anniversary
SingAREN celebrated its 10th Anniversary of its incorporation as a society.
The pioneers of SingAREN were presented with appreciation awards for their contributions to SingAREN.
Granted 5 years funding from National Research Foundation (NRF) for SingAREN-Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX) project
SingAREN embarked on the SLIX project in 2013.
SLIX is a collaboration and a network built between SingAREN, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Built on an optical fibre core comprising dark fibres, SLIX allows resiliency, future capacity upgrades, and technology-proof network connectivity.
Hosted the 13th Annual Global LambdaGrid Workshop (GLIF) Meeting
SingAREN hosted the 13th GLIF Meeting in Singapore, with over 80 participants, to collaborate and exchange knowledge on new lambda networking technologies, middleware and applications.
Launch of SingAREN Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX)
SingAREN launched SLIX, the first 100 Gbps R&E network in Southeast Asia to benefit Singapore’s research community.
Through SLIX, Singapore’s Research and Education community gained seamless access to a super high speed network with 100 times more capacity than before; and enjoyed bandwidth fully dedicated to their use.
Signed MoU with National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore
SingAREN signed a MoU with National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore, where both parties agree to identify potential areas of collaboration in Supercomputing, Networking and Scientific Software Applications.
Launch of Database Mirroring service
In collaboration with A*STAR, SingAREN launched the Database Mirroring service, a one-stop portal which mirrors major overseas scientific databases in Singapore, thus enabling collaborations by the research communities in Singapore and overseas.
Launch of Singapore Access Federation (SGAF)
SGAF, a federated Identity Management System, was launched. The service enables scalable, trusted collaborations among Singapore’s research and education community.
Launch of SingAREN Open Exchange (SOE)
SingAREN launched SOE to establish a resilient and open Internet Exchange in Singapore to benefit the domestic and international research and education communities. SOE is co-funded by National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore.
Establishment of remote PoPs in USA and UK
In collaboration with National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore, SingAREN established remote Points of Presence (PoPs) at LA, USA and Slough, UK respectively. These remote PoPs enable management of High Performance Networking and data transfers between Singapore and such locations.
MoU signing – Asia Pacific Ring (APR)
SingAREN, together with National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), National Institute of Informatics (NII), Internet2, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment (WIDE) Project, Pacific Wave, and TransPAC, signed a MoU to form the Asia Pacific Ring (APR) , for advanced research and education collaboration across the Pacific Ocean.
The APR network is a set of links and resources operated by the Parties individually to form a resilient, high speed network system in excess of 100 Gbit/s.
MoU signing – NICT, NSCC and SingAREN for collaboration for SG-HK-JP 100G circuit
SingAREN announced the launch of the 100G circuit connecting Singapore to Japan via Hong Kong. This was the first 100G international research and education link in Asia, co-funded by National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore, and coordinated by SingAREN.
NICT, NSCC and SingAREN signed a MoU for collaborations in the field of information and communications technology through the 100G Singapore-Japan circuit.
Hosted APAN45 Meeting, Singapore
SingAREN hosted the 45th Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) Meeting on 25 to 29 March 2018. Over 350 local & international participants from Asia, Europe, U.S. and Oceania collaborated and exchanged knowledge on advanced network technologies and applications.
Partner of Collaboration Asia-Europe-1 (CAE-1)
Under the CAE-1 project, a 100 Gbps link between Singapore (SingAREN Open Exchange) and GÉANT Open (London) is established to support the rapidly growing bandwidth needs for research and education collaborations between Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
The consortium partners of the CAE-1 are AARNet (Australia), GÉANT (Europe), SURF (The Netherlands), SingAREN (Singapore), NORDUnet (European Nordics) and TEIN*CC (Asia-Pacific).
Asiapacific-Europe Ring (AER) MoU Signing
The partners of the AER are AARNet (Australia), GÉANT (Europe), NICT (Japan), NII (Japan), NORDUnet (European Nordics), SingAREN (Singapore), SURF (The Netherlands) and TEIN*CC (Asia-Pacific).
The partners agreed to contribute their own 100 Gbps link to create a resilient system. In the event that one link in the ring fails, traffic between Europe and Asia will be transported over one or more of the other links.
Partnership with NSCC for 2019 Data Mover Challenge (DMC19)
(Top photo: Lunch hosted by NSCC with the DMC19 partners, consisting of international research and education networks.)
SingAREN was a supporting partner for DMC19, organised by NSCC. The competition involved seven supercomputing facilities across the Pacific, including Japan, Australia and the US. The competing teams showcased their capabilities in transferring extremely large data quantities at high speed between supercomputing centres and data storage resources, optimally, safely and efficiently.
Granted 5 years funding from National Research Foundation (NRF) for phase 2 of SingAREN-Lightwave Internet Exchange (SLIX 2.0) project
SLIX 2.0 is part of the National Research Infrastructure (NRI), where SLIX2.0 will be an important facility available to the research and education community in Singapore.
SLIX 2.0 will meet the strategic imperatives relating to advanced, reliable, secure and adequate network connectivities of the research and education community in Singapore.
Partnership with NSCC for 2020 Data Mover Challenge (DMC20)
SingAREN collaborated with NSCC for the 2nd Data Mover Challenge (DMC) in 2020. Data Transfer Nodes (DTNs) were connected by 100 Gbps international research networks, set up globally in Singapore, Australia, Europe, USA, South Korea and Japan. The challenge for the international competing teams is to produce the best solutions for the optimization of point-to-point data transfer between sites.
Launch of 2 x 100Gbps links from KAUST to SingAREN
KAUST new 400 Gbps international connectivity links KAUST to major research and education network hubs in Europe and East Asia. The launch of 2 x 100Gbps links from KAUST to SingAREN and 2x 100Gbps from KAUST to Amsterdam provides KAUST’s faculty and researchers with global connectivity infrastructure that allows research data to move seamlessly around the globe at high speeds and low costs.
Joint procurement of the SG-HK-JP 100Gbps link.
Partners are JUCC, NICT, NSCC and SingAREN
Supporting partner for Data Mover Challenge DMC21
Signing of Asia Pacific Oceania Network (APOnet) MoU
Eleven global leading-edge research and education networks in North America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania are collaborating to improve high-speed network services in the Asia Pacific Oceania region. The APOnet collaboration will connect East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North America. The networks and organisations involved are AARNet, ARENA-PAC, Internet2, KISTI, NICT, NII, SingAREN, Pacific Wave International Exchange, REANNZ, TransPAC, and University of Hawaii (UH). The scope of this collaboration includes enabling multiple paths between R&E networks, providing backup connectivity in case of network outages, coordinating engineering and management activities, cooperating on deployment of emerging network technologies and services, experimenting with and developing applications with high-bandwidth demands, supporting shared routing practices, and sharing of measurement data.
AER MoU renewal: Signing Ceremony, APAN53 Meeting
After 3 years of successful collaboration on the AER, the underlying MoU is extended and expanded in a virtual signing ceremony at the APAN53 conference held in Bangladesh. The new MoU potentially doubles the bandwidth of the Asia-Pacific Europe ring and expands the scope of collaboration. In addition to enabling multiple network paths and providing backup connectivity in case of network outages, the agreement includes the coordination of engineering and management activities, cooperation on deployment of emerging network technologies and services, and the development of applications with high bandwidth demands. It will also facilitate shared routing practices, and the sharing of measurement data.
SupercomputingAsia 2022 HPC Network Achievement Award Winner
A/Prof Francis Lee Bu Sung was recognized for his contributions towards promoting global research and interaction between HPC communities through the establishment and growth of both local and international research and education networks.
Recipient of the SCinet Spirit of Innovation Award at SC22
This award is a firm recognition of SingAREN’s dedication towards providing critical network bandwidth and technical capabilities for the research and education community, thereby facilitating collaborative research.
UCSD-SDSC-SingAREN MoU
Signing of MoU between San Diego Supercomputer Center and SingAREN for Deployment of Open Grid Data Federation and Protein databank cache server
KISTI joined AER at APAN55
KISTI signed a MoU with AER to become the newest member of the collaborative AER network at the APAN55 meeting. KISTI with its 100G connection between Daejeon, Republic of Korea and Singapore, and from Singapore to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, strengthens the AER backbone within East Asia to Europe. This inclusion of KISTI into the AER alongside its original members AARNet, GÉANT, HARNET, KAUST, NICT, NII, NORDUnet, SingAREN, SURF, and TEIN*CC, marks a significant and exciting milestone in building a more resilient, high-speed network services delivery system to benefit researchers globally
First remote robot telesurgery
SingAREN, with international and local partners, enabled the first remote robot telesurgery trial between Fujita Hospital, Japan and NUHS, Singapore.
Signing of East Asia Resilient Backbone Network (EARBN) MoU at APAN56
SingAREN signed the East Asia Resilient Backbone Network Collaboration (EARBN) MoU with China Science and Technology Network (CSTnet) , Joint Universities Computer Centre (JUCC), Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and National Institute of Informatics (NII). The parties of the EARBN MoU agree to allow each other to use their respective 100 Gbit/s link(s) for backup purposes in the EARBN. This is in line with the MoU parties’ objective to jointly work towards developing a resilient, high speed network services delivery system for research and education collaboration among the various parties, as part of the Global REN activities.
SingAREN celebrated 20th anniversary
SingAREN celebrated its 20th Anniversary of its incorporation as a non-profit society since 2003.
Plaques of appreciation was presented to SLIX’s partners, technology partners for their contributions to SingAREN. A special Posthumous Award was presented to the late co-founder Prof Lawrence Wong for his unwavering leadership and contributions to SingAREN.
3 new institutions have joined SingAREN
The SLIX project fiber footprint has been extended to cover NYP, SIT and SUTD. NYP is the first polytechnic to join the SLIX fiber network.