Using the GÉANT Consortium’s operational and infrastructure-led expertise, GN5-1 provided scientists, researchers and students access to connectivity and collaboration services needed to support evidence-based decision making and effective collaboration of virtual research communities around the world. In addition, the challenge posed by the increase in the diversity of the user community across multiple disciplines and data types and applications (e.g. Open Science, EOSC, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)) expanded the target audience for the GÉANT connectivity will also be addressed, in particular, through T&I development.
Through GN5-1, GÉANT maintained the operational excellence of the established GÉANT services, while still achieving economies on the costs of the backbone network. The reliable, secure and state-of-the-art, high-speed network services, together with authentication mechanisms, offered to researchers and other network users across Europe, remains exceptional. In addition, developing and implementing a number of security products and services was also vital to GN5-1.
GN5-1’s overall objectives:
1. To advance, deliver and support a secure, pan-European network connectivity infrastructure and related services able to support science, research and education requirements and connect European researchers, staff and students anywhere in the world for the wider European Digital Infrastructure (WP6, WP7) (Service DevOps).
2. To understand and serve the communication networking needs and collaboration between the European NRENs, their expanding user community and important European and global stakeholder groups (WP1, 2, 3) (Support).
3. To enable researchers, students and staff to cooperate and exchange data with their peers through interoperable and secure connectivity infrastructure and services. (WP8) (Service DevOps).
4. To facilitate and enable, through the project, the needs of a wide user base across multiple disciplines for excellent science and research by delivering a broad range of existing and innovative new services. These services incorporate agile incubator development and sustainable operation following thorough business model practices. (all WPs) (Support and Service DevOps).
5. To prototype, pilot and, where appropriate, procure new online above-the-net services and operate and continuously enhance the T&I services and underlying infrastructure to enable students and researchers to preserve privacy (WP4 and WP5) (Service DevOps).
6. To provide operations support for first- and second-line functions (including training) to ensure that developed applications are secure and fit-for-service before going into operation. (WP9) (Operations).
