18 DECEMBER 2008 -- CESNET Association, which operates CESNET2, the Czech Republic's national research network, has completed a major backbone network upgrade and implemented Cisco Systems' (search for Cisco) CRS-1 Carrier Routing System.
According to Cisco, the system provides great resiliency and availability of network services, enables the utilization of advanced networking technologies, and supports increased video traffic.
"The nature of the services provided on the academic network is shifting from text to multimedia and video, which require a substantially higher transfer capacity," explains Helmut Sverenyák, deputy research and development manager for CESNET. "CESNET2's upgraded 10-gigabit optical network now opens the space for introducing new types of applications."
CESNET2 connects close to 100 science, research, and education institutions, including the country's leading universities. It is also connected to the pan-European GEANT network and other European academic networks like Sanet (Slovakia), Aconet (Austria), and Pionier (Poland). This enables the Czech academic community to collaborate with their peers across Europe and elsewhere.
With the Cisco CRS-1, CESNET2 is able to scale network capacity and deliver next-generation data, voice, and video services via a converged Internet Protocol (IP) network.
"This is one of the first implementations of such a system in the Czech Republic," notes Jan Å Ãp, sales and technical director at Intercom Systems, a Cisco Silver Certified Partner, which was responsible for the implementation. "It saves space and power and optimizes the cooling process, taking into consideration environmental aspects as well."
Cisco's offering also includes fully tunable 10-gigabit Ethernet DWDM interfaces. These can be directly connected from the Cisco CRS-1 to the existing DWDM system without transponder cards.
"The resulting benefits are cost savings and a limited number of devices in the path, which simplifies the management and increases resiliency of the whole system," adds Pavel Kižanovský, systems engineering manager at Cisco Czech Republic.
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