RNP2 strategy

Following the tendency of the academic networks in the rest of the world, in 1998 RNP started a new phase of expansion of the Brazilian academic network with the construction of RNP2, a new network backbone.

Objectives:

To prepare the Brazilian infrastructure of Internet services to meet the demands generated by next generation applications;
to prepare qualified personnel to operate and support network development based on next generation technology;
to promote the introduction and regional development of sophisticated applications through intensive use of interactive and multimedia resources.

Activities under way

In order to take advantage of the infrastructure already available in Brazil and, at the same time, await the advances in the definitions and international standards, the introduction of the new RNP2 backbone happened gradually. In line with this objective, the staff at RNP got involved in the following projects and activities:

Development of High Performance Metropolitan Networks, an initiative of RNP together with ProTeM – the Theme-Oriented Research and Development Program on Computer Science, backed by CNPq. It is aimed at promoting the development of an infrastructure and services for high performance networks in several regions in the country. Such an endeavor, started in October 1997, represented the first step for the implantation of RNP2 backbone.
Studies of technological prospecting for the introduction of advanced networks services.
Implantation, as of May 2000, of RNP2 backbone, using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology for links with greater flow of data traffic, and Frame Relay technology for areas with less traffic.
Connection with the North American Internet2 and with Géant, the Pan-European academic backbone. In August 2001, RNP2 was linked to the Internet2 through the Americas Path Network project (Ampath). The connection with Géant will be made through the project Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks (Cooperação Latino-Americana de Redes Avançadas – Clara), in the year 2004.

RNP2 backbone

Through RNP2 backbone, the National Education and Research Network (RNP) provides IP services with facilities of national traffic, international traffic, Internet2 traffic and peering, in an infrastructure with high bandwidth and assured quality of service (QoS). These characteristics represent a great advance in relation to what the current Internet offers.

RNP2 was planned to serve the federal education and research institutions, especially the 52 Federal Institutions of Higher Education (Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior - Ifes) and the Federal Research Units (UPs), as well as other public and private research institutions qualified through specific projects of collaboration or development of new technologies. The institutions that intend to be users are approved and classified according to the guidelines of the policy of use of the backbone established by RNP’s Steering Committee.