Ebone Ebone is a European international network backbone connecting research network service providers. Connectivity will be offered between these networks, to the United States and indeed to the International Internet. Ebone will offer two services: - an Internet IP (level 3) production service; - an ISO-CLNS (level3 ) pilot service. Ebone is constituted as a consortium of organizations which contribute to the management, operation, and funding of the network. 'Ebone' stands for "European Backbone". The Need for a European Research Backbone Network The requirement for Europe-wide network connectivity at increasing bandwidth and for high-speed connectivity to US networks has long been recognized. In recent years, this demand has focused on IP services. Until late 1991 such connectivity was available only to individual national and international research networks. With Ebone, network interconnection is simplified, increased bandwidth is made available, better connections are provided to the United States, and there is greater economy of scale in terms of operations and transmission cost. The Community Served Ebone focuses on supporting networking organizations which serve the European academic and research communities. Through Ebone, European researchers have improved access and higher-performance connections to their colleagues throughout Europe and the United States. Furthermore, by encouraging the participation of commercial network service providers (e.g., PTTs, information technology companies), Ebone will increase the size of the participating communities, reduce individual costs, encourage the participation of industrial researchers, and stimulate the creation of competitive international IP networking services in Europe. Ebone complements other European activities such as the X.25 service provided by the IXI network, and the EMPP pilot multi-protocol project. Ebone Today Ebone will operate a core backbone between London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Geneva, and France (Montpellier). Stockholm E / \ 256 Kbps / \ 512 Kbps / \ / \ London E E Amsterdam | | | 512 Kbps | | | | | | 256 Kbps | | | France (Montpellier) E-----------------E CERN 256 Kbps Intercontinental links to the United States are provided from London, Stockholm and Geneva. The European links operate initially at speeds between 256 and 512 kilobits per second. National and international networks connect to these core backbone sites. Demand for Ebone services is growing rapidly. Additional links and increased capacity will be installed to satisfy this demand, and several such upgrades are in planning. Ebone is managed by the Ebone Management Committee made up of representatives from selected member organizations. Operational support is provided by core and other sites in cooperation with Ebone Network Operations Center at The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. Background and Time Scales Ebone began in September 1991 when representatives of several European academic and research networks met to resolve long-standing European connectivity problems. Their approach was to evaluate existing available links, to look for opportunities to bring these links together quickly under a unified approach, and to make plans to enhance these links. Contributions were secured, a management structure was established, operational procedures were put in place, and an overall contribution-oriented funding approach was agreed. The effort was formally started in January 1992. Each participating organization has signed a Memorandum of Understanding which defines the terms of Ebone membership and the resources which each member contributes to the Ebone effort. Ebone now has 14 member organizations (see below), with new members joining regularly. The present flexible contribution-oriented approach is expected to evolve towards a more formal funding structure. Over the longer term, it is anticipated that the Ebone will become a part of the multi-protocol networking infrastructure to be provided by the RARE initiated Operational Unit. For More Information About Ebone Please contact Marieke Dekker at the RARE Secretariat (E-mail: ebone@rare.nl, tel: +31 20 639 1131) or any of the participating organizations listed. Annex The following Member Organisations have formally joined the Ebone Consortium per 20.03.92: ACOnet, Austria ARIADNet, Greece EARN EUnet/EurOpen FORTH, Greece (Crete) ICRF, UK ILAN, Israel JNT, UK NORDUnet RARE RedIRIS, Spain SURFnet, Netherlands ULB, Belgium YUNAC, Yugoslavia The following organizations have formally expressed support and cooperation with the Ebone initative, while not intending to join the Consortium by signing the MoU: CERN IBM NSF PTT Telecom, Netherlands The following organizations have expressed interest in joining the Ebone Consortium and announced the intention of signing the MoU: DFN, Germany FCCN, Portugal GMD, Germany KTH, Sweden KU Leuven, Belgium NIKHEF, Netherlands Nordic Carriers RENATER, France STI International/TIPnet SwipNet/Tele2, Sweden SWITCH, Switzerland UCD, Ireland XLINK, Germany Other organizations having shown interest in joining the Consortium: ECRC ESA INFN/GARR, Italy INRIA, France HEANET, Ireland Rutherford laboratories, UK GLOSSARY CLNS: Connection-less network service EMPP: European 2 Mb MultiProtocol Pilot IP: Internet Protocol ISO: International Standards Organization IXI: International X.25 Infrastructure RARE: Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne date: 20 March 1992