Global Research and Education Networks Collaborate to Connect the Asia Pacific Oceania Region with the Asia Pacific Oceania Network (APOnet)

Global Research and Education Networks Collaborate to Connect the Asia Pacific Oceania Region with the Asia Pacific Oceania Network (APOnet)

June 17, 2021 — 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 Asia Pacific Oceania network (APOnet) collaboration will connect East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North America. The networks and organisations involved are:
● Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet),
● Arterial Research and Educational Network in Asia-Pacific (ARENA-PAC),
● University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development d/b/a (Internet2),
● Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI),
● National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT),
● National Institute of Informatics (NII),
● Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network (SingAREN),
● Pacific Wave International Exchange
● Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand (REANNZ),
● TransPAC, and
● University of Hawaii (UH).

These 11 research and education networks and organisations support important multidisciplinary discoveries made by teams of experts spread around the world, collaborating and sharing data and scientific instruments across national boundaries. Explosive growth in the resolution of sensors and scientific instruments, very high-resolution imagery and video, coupled with global scale instruments, has led to unprecedented volumes of experimental data.

Figure 1: Map of APOnet which will connect East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North America.

To support these multinational collaborations and associated data requirements, these global research and education networks will contribute resources that together can be managed to create a high-speed trans-oceanic network services delivery system that is more resilient, flexible, and consistent than any individual network on its own. The intent is to elevate the services available for research and education across all of the collaborating networks.

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.

Figure 2: Key Representatives of the 11 organisations at the MOU signing ceremony for APOnet.

“SingAREN is excited to work with our Asia Pacific and Oceania national research and education network partners to foster cooperation in enhancing regional and global network resilience that will facilitate collaboration among our research and education communities.”, said Professor Lawrence W. C. Wong, President of SingAREN.

“Our ongoing partnership with colleagues in the US and across the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions is an affirmation of our shared commitment to developing resilient and coherent architecture for advanced networking,” said Howard Pfeffer, President and CEO of Internet2. “This partnership provides the secure and reliable high-speed connectivity and customized services that ultimately bolster scientific discovery and innovation.”

“This collaboration highlights the important relationships between all of the major R&E operators in the Pacific region. The APOnet fabric of networks serves to bring the largest geographic region on the globe together as a community, further driving world-wide innovation and partnership. The spirit of collaboration and support represented by this growing fabric of networks and relationships are the hallmark of our international communities.”, said Garret T. Yoshimi, VP for Information Technology & CIO of University of Hawaii.

For more information on APOnet, please refer to https://www.aponet.global/ and the press release https://www.aponet.global/press-release.

Follow us on social media

Get in touch with us to find out more about our network and services.