© CESNET, Association of Legal Entities

Zikova 4, 160 00 Prague 6 / www.cesnet.cz / ISBN 978-80-906308-0-2

Text: Pavel Satrapa, CESNET, a. l. e.

Graphic design: Petr Stupka, Radical Design, s. r. o.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

From history to the present, 20 years of the CESNET Association

CESNET 2016

PresentCESNET National e-infrastructure

Communication infrastructure

MetaCentrum

Data storage

Collaborative environment

Security

Support for communities

Roadmap of Large Infrastructures

for Research, Experimental

Development and Innovation

of the Czech Republic

for the years 2016–2022

06

0808

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

HistoryTimeline

Before the Association

TEN-34 CZ

High-Speed National

Research Network and

Its New Applications

Optical National

Research Network

and Its New Applications

CESNET Large

Infrastructure & eIGer

International Projects

Timeline of projects

Cooperation

3838

40

42

46

48

50

52

56

58

CESNET 2016

It has been twenty years since representatives of all Czech universities and colleges and the Czech Academy of Sciences signed CESNET’s memorandum of association on 6 March 1996. Throughout this time, we have striven to advance and improve the quality of the infrastructure we operate and the services it provides.

06�——�07

Today, there is a 100 Gb/s

network core, most of the

nodes are connected by

multiple 10 Gb/s links, and only

the smallest ones have to make

do with “just” 100 Mb/s. The

bulk of the backbone network

uses Dense Wavelength-

Division Multiplexing (DWDM),

which allows transmitting

dozens of independent signals

over a single optical fi bre.

Thanks to that, we can off er

demanding applications their

own infrastructure, separated

from standard traffi c.

But most signifi cantly,

we have expanded our

activities beyond networks

although high-performance

communication infrastructure

still remains the basis for our

activities today. We now off er

grid and cloud environments

for high-performance

computing, high-capacity

data storage, collaboration

tools for distributed teams,

support for user mobility

and easy user access to

network services. All of this is

connected with a number of

mechanisms hidden “under

the hood”, which make sure

the entire infrastructure is

running smoothly and can be

used by users. These include

system and component

monitoring, activities of our

security team, or various

authentication infrastructures.

Naturally, our activities

require in-house research.

We are at the cutting edge

of today’s technology

and we try to push it even

farther. We have moved

from software development

to the development of our

own hardware. We hold

nine Czech, two European,

and fi ve US patents and

have won several awards

in the Czech Republic and

abroad. The components

and technologies we

developed are used in several

manufacturers’ products.

Looking back at our twenty-

year history, we believe we

can be proud of what we

have achieved. And we intend

to go on. In 2016, we are

at the beginning of another

big project aiming to further

expand and enhance the

parameters and services of

our e-infrastructure, included

in the Roadmap of Large

Infrastructures for Research,

Experimental Development

and Innovation of the

Czech Republic for the years

2016–2022. We hope that

we will be as progressive and

as valuable for our users in

the coming years as we have

been so far.

In 1996, we started with

a network whose fastest links

had a bit rate of 2 Mb/s.

CESNET NATIONALE-INFRASTRUCTURE

It provides a complex of advanced information and communication services to research, development, and education organizations throughout the Czech Republic. It is based on state-of-the-art technologies and their innovative combinations.

08�——�09

Our e-infrastructure services

are used by 94% of the scientifi c

and research community

in the Czech Republic.

They can be accessed by

all 54 institutes of the Czech

Academy of Sciences, all

28 public universities and

colleges, eight private

universities and colleges,

and almost 300 other

organizations. Overall, there

are some 450,000 individual

users with access to our

services.

Map of today’s infrastructure

SERVICES

Network services

» Internet protocol (IPv4

and IPv6) connectivity

» Dedicated circuits and

subnetworks (VPN, lambda

circuits, photonic circuits)

» Support for network

applications (backup mail

and DNS servers, antispam

gateway)

Computation and

development environments

» High-performance

computing environment

(MetaCentrum)

» Cloud services

(MetaCloud, VMware)

» Development and testing

environment (PlanetLab)

Data storage and backup

» Data storage

» User services

(FileSender, ownCloud)

Collaboration support

and multimedia

» Videoconferencing and

web conferencing

» IP telephony

» Special video transmissions

» Streaming and multimedia

archiving

Security services

» Security incident resolution

» Security risk monitoring

» Forensic laboratory

Identity management

» Federated access

to services (eduID.cz)

» User roaming infrastructure

(eduroam)

» User and server certifi cates

» User and access right

management system (Perun)

Monitoring

and measurement

» Monitoring of network

traffic and qualitative

parameters

» Time services

Consulting and training

» Expert seminars

» Security training

» CESNET Days

» Technical consulting

» Cisco Academy

Map of today’s infrastructure

10�——�11

NUMBER OF SERVICES

1995 → 1

1996 → 2

1997 → 3

1998 → 5

1999 → 8

2000 → 14

2001 → 17

2002 → 17

2003 → 17

2004 → 22

2005 → 24

2006 → 24

2007 → 24

2008 → 24

2009 → 27

2010 → 27

2011 → 27

2012 → 31

2013 → 34

2014 → 36

2015 → 38

COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Building and developing a state-of-the-art backbone network were the reasons why the Association was formed and have remained the core of its activities. We strive to keep up with what is happening in communication technology and off er our connected organizations a communication infrastructure with parameters that are not commonly available on the market.

12�——�13

Bit rates have increased by

several orders and today’s

backbone network capabilities

are something completely

diff erent. The second half of

1990s was dominated by ATM;

backbones off ered 34 Mb/s

and 155 Mb/s.

The turn of the new century

marked the start of an era of

gigabit transmission rates.

Packet over SONET and

especially various variants

of Ethernet completely

dominated local area as

well as wide area networks.

The core of our current

communication infrastructure

works at 100 Gb/s; most

other links off er 10 Gb/s. Only

those nodes whose users

have lower demands on data

transmission volumes are

connected at lower bit rates.

A major technological

breakthrough came

with Dense Wave Division

Multiplexing (DWDM),

a technology that we started

to deploy in 2004 and that

can be currently found in

an overwhelming majority

of our backbone links.

By transmitting multiple

independent signals over

a single optic fi bre, it

allows literally multiplying

the capacity of an optical

infrastructure. This allows

us to separate experimental

data transmissions from

routine traffi c and increase

the reliability of the whole

network. Most importantly,

we can off er dedicated

links and entire networks

for special applications with

extraordinary transmission

demands.

Jan Radil, Josef Vojtěch

(both CESNET),

and Miroslav Karásek (Institute

of Photonics

and Electronics,

Czech Academy

of Sciences) received

the education

minister’s award

for research on

26 November 2007.

Naturally, technology has developed

considerably over the twenty years

of our history.

We also provide appropriate

external connectivity. We

are connected to the standard

Internet (6 Gb/s) and the NIX.

CZ peering centre (2×20Gb/s),

and more importantly to

the GÉANT pan-European

backbone academic network

(100 Gb/s), academic networks

in Slovakia, Poland, and Austria

(10 Gb/s each), as well as the

GLIF experimental optical

infrastructure (10 Gb/s). Since

our connection to the GÉANT

network also implements

DWDM, dedicated links and

networks can be created

internationally.

We conduct our own research and

development to support network

development. We build CzechLight,

a line of our own optical elements that

are deployed in many backbones.

We also develop software and hardware

for network traffi c monitoring and analysis.

0

2E+10

4E+10

6E+10

8E+10

1E+11

1.2E11

VOLUME OF INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

In

Out

2. 6. 2005 15. 3. 2007 26. 4. 2009 9. 10. 2010 22. 7. 2012 5. 5. 2014

14�——�15

METACENTRUM

Our high-performance computing environment is named MetaCentrum. Its history goes back to the mid-1990s, to a project that involved building fi ve independent and interconnected university computing centres.

metacentrum.cz

16�——�17

It began to be managed by

CESNET in 1998 and since

2009 it has been offi cially

recognized as the National

Grid Infrastructure (NGI) of

the Czech Republic, which it

represents at the European

Grid Infrastructure (EGI).

The concept behind

MetaCentrum is

interconnecting needs

and existing capacities. Its

interconnected resources

represent a wide range

of technologies from big

computers with shared memory

to clusters – many identical,

relatively standard-sized nodes.

For every user and their task,

the optimum set of resources

is always sought among all

available resources. Overall, the

interconnected capacity consists

of more than 12,000 computing

cores and 2 PB of disk space.

MetaCentrum integrates

heterogeneous computing

resources owned by several

organizations, creating an

umbrella environment for

them. CESNET guarantees and

conceptually develops the

shared environment’s services

and technologies and owns

about one half of the computing

capacity. The rest is provided by

the institutions involved, with

which we cooperate closely.

A large share of MetaCentrum’s

resources consists of the

CERIT-SC large infrastructure;

additional computing capacities

are provided by the Institute

of Physics, CEITEC, University

of West Bohemia, University

of South Bohemia, and others.

It was conceived with the idea

of interconnecting various owners’

resources in order to create

a uniform environment for

the entire academic community.

2004

262 262600 680

1 2001 5601 468

2 028

6 028

9 020

10 160

12 256

0

2 000

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

14 000

2006 2008 2010 2012 20142005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

COMPUTING CORES

Examples include GP- GPU

computing or using the

MapReduce model in

a Hadoop environment.

Software is an important

complement of the

hardware. It covers a wide

range of scientifi c fi elds

and computing methods.

Users can take advantage

of ready-made applications

or use the available tools for

developing and optimizing

their own applications. This

also applies to computation

specifi cation and run control,

with the command line and

web interface complemented

by an integrated and

modular scientifi c workfl ow

environment, called a portal

(Galaxy).

MetaCentrum off ers several

methods for accessing the

resources, from standard task

execution to cloud services that

allow creating a customized virtual

environment to specialized and

experimental environments.

18�——�19

SOFTWARE

There are over

250 programs available

to users. Some examples

of them are:

Bioinformatics

» CS-Rosetta

» Galaxy

» Chipster

» MrBayes

» PhyloBayes

» PhyML

DNA sequencing

and analysis

» Blast

» Bowtie

» BWA

» CLCbio Genomics

Workbench

» Cuffl inks

» Geneious

» RepeatExplorer

» RepeatMasker

» SAMtools

» SOAPdenovo

» Stacks

» TopHat

» Trinity

» Velvet

Computational chemistry

» Amber

» Gaussian/GaussView

» Gromacs

» MolPro

» Turbomole

Mathematics

» Grid-Mathematica

» Maple

» Mathematica

» MATLAB

» Octave

» R

Engineering

and material simulations

» Ansys (Fluent + CFX +

Mechanical + HPC)

» OpenFOAM

Development tools

» Allinea DDT

» Intel CDK

» Numpy

» PGI CDK

» Scipy

» TotalView

DATA STORAGE

Data storage as a standalone service is the newest item in our off er – we put our fi rst large-capacity data storage facility into operation in 2012. However, the popularity and utilization of our storage facilities has been growing rapidly.

filesender.cesnet.czowncloud.cesnet.czdu.cesnet.cz

20�——�21

All of them are based on

the Hierarchical Storage

Management (HSM) concept,

under which each storage

facility has several data tiers

with increasing capacity

and decreasing speed and

energy demands, from fast

disk arrays to tape libraries.

The storage management

system automatically moves

data that has not been

used for some time to the

slower tiers while keeping

currently accessed data in

the faster tiers. This allows

building a suffi ciently fast

and large storage facility

at a signifi cantly lower cost

in comparison to keeping

all data in standard disk

arrays.

We now operate three storage

facilities – in Plzeň, Jihlava,

and Brno – with total physical

capacity of over 21 PB.

There are also interesting

options for team collaboration

– users can use the storage

facilities to transfer large

amounts of data or even share

their data with others directly,

allowing team members to

participate in data processing.

A number of communication

protocols for access to stored

data are available for these

purposes: NFSv4, rsync, SCP,

FTP, the Globus system, and

others. The storage facilities

are also directly accessible

from the MetaCentrum

environment.

We also off er specialized

services such as FileSender

for sharing large amounts

of data, allowing a user to

upload a fi le to the storage

using a simple web interface

and send a download link to

the recipient via e-mail.

Considerable popularity

has been gained by our

ownCloud data syncing

and sharing service. There

is a special client program

available that allows users to

synchronize data between the

server and a local computer

or mobile device. Another

option for working with their

data is using a web interface.

Data can be easily shared with

other users or made publicly

available in a controlled

manner.

The primary use

is for backing up

and archiving.

22�——�23

FILES STORED IN OWNCLOUD

2014/06 2014/10 2015/02 2015/06 2015/10 2016/02

0

5�M

10�M

15�M

20�M

25�M

35�M

30�M

Files

Time

Number of fi les

NETWORK TRAFFIC OF THE PLZEŇ STORAGE

2013/07 2014/01 2014/06 2014/12 2015/06 2015/12

0

500

1 000

1 500

2 000

2 500

3 500

3 000

Traffi c (Mbps)

Time

In

Out

VOLUME OF DATA STORED IN THE PLZEŇ STORAGE

2013/01 2013/06 2013/12 2014/06 2014/12 2015/06 2015/12

0

1

2

3

4

5

7

6

Data (PiB)

Time

Tapes usage

MAID usage

Tapes + MAID

COLLABORATIVEENVIRONMENT

The team that was building and developing the backbone network had been dispersed throughout the Czech Republic since the very beginning. That is why we paid a lot of attention to resources enabling remote collaboration. We were then able to off er our experience to a wide range of users.

24�——�25

Originally, its backbone was

an IP telephony infrastructure

but videoconferencing and

web conferencing tools

have prevailed over time.

Videoconferences rely

on specialized software

or hardware that allows

users to communicate.

Our multipoint units make

such communication possible

among a larger group of users

and can record it if needed.

Altogether, they save the

participants a great amount

of time and money.

We have progressed from

our initial attempts at

transmitting voice and video

over a computer network

to building specialized

videoconferencing rooms

and conducting our own

research into appropriate

tools to today’s extensive

infrastructure that off ers

many possibilities.

The laboratory

environment gives birth

to new applications and

allows us to participate

in teaching and fi nd

new colleagues.

26�——�27

Web conferences off er a lower

quality of the transmitted

video signal but they can make

do with a common web browser

and usually include additional

options for collaboration, such

as document exchange, shared

“whiteboards”, and more.

The whole environment is

complemented by a reservation

system that allows user

coordination.

We specialize in transmitting

high-quality video – HD, 4K and

higher resolution, stereoscopic

transmissions, or minimum-

latency transmissions, including

transmissions among multiple

places at a time. To this end, we

have been developing UltraGrid,

our own software solution

enabling video compression by

graphics adapters, and MVTP

(Modular Video Transmission

Platform), a hardware

system achieving extra-low

latency. UltraGrid has won an

international award and MVTP

has been patented; each of

them resulted in the formation

of a spin-off (Comprimato and

Infi vision, respectively).

We have found interesting

applications in medicine

(e.g. live streaming of surgeries

for medical conferences),

the fi lm industry, culture,

and sports broadcasting.

For example, the top-level

parameters allow organizing

a joint concert with musicians

located in several countries.

Crucial for development in the

fi eld of special transmissions

and visualization on tiled walls

with ultra-high resolution are

SAGElab and Sitola, laboratories

that evolved from our

collaboration with universities.

SECURITY

csirt.cesnet.czwarden.cesnet.czmentat.cesnet.czflab.cesnet.cz

28�——�29

We place great emphasis on the security of infrastructure and its services.

We offi cially founded

our security team,

CESNET-CERTS, at the

beginning of 2004, when it was

recognized as a CSIRT-type

team by the global security

infrastructure and appeared

in the global directories of

security teams worldwide.

Its core activities involve

detecting and responding

to security incidents, usually

in cooperation with the

security teams and network

administrators of associated

organizations. An important

part of its activities is

cooperation with similar teams

in the Czech Republic and

abroad.

In 2008, CESNET-CERTS

became the fi rst

team in the Czech Republic

to receive international

accreditation under the Trusted

Introducer activity of TERENA

(now GÉANT). We have

participated in a number

of international exercises

verifying mutual cooperation

and ability to respond to

large-scale incidents.

Security issues are specifi c

in that they virtually cannot

be handled individually.

The source and the target

of an attack often come

from diff erent organizations

or even diff erent countries

and continents. Attack

prevention and response

require extensive

collaboration at many

levels.

We created CSIRT.CZ using

the tools and procedures of

our CESNET-CERTS team and

performed its tasks until 2010.

Since 2011 its operations have

been carried out by CZ.NIC.

Besides responses to

incidents that have occurred,

prevention is also very

important in computer

security. We have been

running and developing

several systems that identify

weaknesses in the security

of infrastructure and services

and send notifi cations to their

administrators. Since 2013

we have been running FLAB,

our forensic laboratory that

off ers more extensive security

testing (penetration and load

tests of networks and services)

and security incident analysis.

To be able to successfully

operate and develop the

CESNET e-infrastructure, we

need detailed information

about its behavior, status

and usage and particularly

a complex environment

supporting the security

teams. Over the years, we

developed and operate

various technologies and

tools for automatic network

monitoring, detection of

anomalies and providing

information needed by the

administrators to investigate

and eliminate problems.

CESNET has a long term

experience in packet-based

analysis of network traffi c. The

fi rst step is the measurement

of network fl ows performed by

in-house developed COMBO

hardware accelerators. Storage

and processing of the results

are ensured by FTAS – system

for continuous monitoring

of IP traffi c in large network

infrastructures. Its functionality

is based on an advanced

processing of IP network fl ow

data (NetFlow). To monitor the

status and behavior of large

powerful infrastructures based

on SNMP, we developed the

G3 system.

Experience and practical

results in the area of large

network monitoring were

transferred into the Invea-

Tech company, currently

Flowmon Networks, a spin-

off of Masaryk University

and Brno University of

Technology.

We put a lot of eff ort

into security research and

development. We have

participated in a number of

projects focusing on new

methods for detection,

defence, and information

sharing. We have been

developing Warden and

Mentat, systems that play

a crucial role in this. We have

the ambition to turn Mentat

into a powerful SIEM tool.

We should also mention

our involvement in FENIX,

a project organized by NIX.

CZ. It originated in 2014

in reaction to large-scale

DDoS attacks on important

Czech servers and allows its

members to shut off external

traffi c while preserving mutual

communication. CESNET is

one of the founding members.

Important aspects of

defence include awareness,

cooperation, and exchange

of experience. Therefore, we

have organized a number of

security seminars and training

courses, intended both for

network, computer, and

service administrators and for

end users. In addition, we are

a member of several task forces

– TF-CSIRT, an international

task force associated with

GÉANT; the CSIRT.CZ working

group organized by the Czech

National CSIRT; eCrime,

a Jihlava-based working group

associated with the Vysočina

Region; etc. – where we often

present our experience.

We took advantage of our experience with

the CSIRT foundation and operations in a project

named Cyber Threats from the Perspective of

the Czech Republic’s Security Interests, which

gave birth to the Czech Republic’s national

security team, CSIRT.CZ.

30�——�31

International security exercisesWe participated

in international

security exercises

organized by ENISA

(European Union

Agency for Network

and Information

Security):

» Cyber Europe 2010

» Cyber Atlantic 2011

» Cyber Europe 2012

» Cyber Europe 2014

SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITIES

One of the key requirements for the e-infrastructure we operate is its ability to meet special demands. Let’s take a look at some cases where we supported scientifi c communities by building environments “tailored” to their needs.

32�——�33

PARTICLE PHYSICS

Particle physics, or high

energy physics, has a long

history of generating large

amounts of data and pushing

the limits of what computer

technology can do. Whole

new dimensions of this were

reached when the Large

Hadron Collider (LHC) was

built at CERN. Putting it into

operation was expected to

increase the volume of data by

several orders of magnitude and

it was obvious that the existing

model of centralized processing

at CERN’s computing centre

will not suffi ce.

Therefore, the construction

of a distributed infrastructure

to process the data started

in 2000. The infrastructure

combined three fundamental

aspects: storage capacity,

computing resources, and an

interconnecting network. All

of them had to off er state-

of-the-art parameters to be

able to handle the expected

amount of data.

The European foundations

of that infrastructure were

laid by the DataGrid project,

which was followed by other

projects. CESNET joined those

projects with its MetaCentrum

grid environment and

collaborated in the formation

of a European particle physics

grid. We built a network

of dedicated links for

extreme data transmissions,

interconnecting the individual

centres nationally and

internationally.

This allowed our

community of particle

physicists fully-fl edged

involvement in LHC

experiments. One of

the acknowledgements

of the qualities of our

infrastructure was CHEP

2009 (Computing in

High Energy and Nuclear

Physics), an important

conference held in Prague

and co-organized by

CESNET.

1

BIOINFORMATICS

A more recent example of

our support for the scientifi c

community is the ELIXIR

project started in 2013. Its

goal is to build an effi cient

and economical system to

store, retrieve, and process

data from molecular biology

research.

This environment is more

heterogeneous than the one

built for particle physics. Its

data will not originate from

a single source but comprise

results of a number of diff erent

laboratories. Therefore, the

integration and interoperability

of data from various sources

will be a major task to solve.

The system under construction

has a hierarchical structure

with its centre in Hinxton,

UK, which is where the

European Bioinformatics

Institute (EBI) coordinating

the entire project is located.

This is complemented by

national nodes with a uniform

architecture in 13 participating

countries. The technical

facilities are similar to the

infrastructure mentioned above

– storage capacity, computing

capacity, and communication

infrastructure. This is the basis

on which unique software is

being developed to provide the

bioinformatics community with

necessary tools.

CESNET is one of 12 ELIXIR

participants in the Czech

Republic. We take care of

the technical aspects of the

national node’s operation

and development – we

provided the hardware needed

for its launch and have

been collaborating on the

development of its software.

Photographs1 CERN data processing (source: CERN)

2 ELIXIR national node (source IOCB AS CR)

3 Particle accelerator in CERN

(source: CERN)

2

34�——�35

3

ROADMAP OF LARGE INFRASTRUCTURES FOR RESEARCH, EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC FOR THE YEARS 2016–2022

Drawn up by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, this strategic document defi nes the model of support for large infrastructures for the purposes of science, research, development, and innovation.

36�——�37

This is the second

generation of this

strategic document. Its

predecessor was approved

by a government resolution

on 15 March 2010 and

ensured support for the

large infrastructures in 2011

to 2015. The CESNET Large

Infrastructure was already

in the fi rst generation of the

Czech Roadmap and, thanks

to its excellent results, it has

been included in the current

generation, too.

The Czech Roadmap covers

a range of natural sciences

as well as humanities.

Overall, it contains 58 large

infrastructures: 22 under

physical science, eight

under the energy sector,

seven under environmental

science, ten under medicine,

eight under social science

and humanities, and three

under information and

communication technology.

Naturally, CESNET is

included in the last mentioned

category, together with the

IT4Innovations national

supercomputer centre and

the CERIT Scientifi c Cloud

infrastructure. We cooperate

closely with these two large

infrastructures, taking mutual

advantage of off ered services.

It builds on the ESFRI Roadmap,

describing research infrastructures at

European level. The Government of the

Czech Republic took cognizance of

the document on 30 September 2015.

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TIMELINE

BEFORETHE ASSOCIATION

The Czech Republic’s science, research, and education computer network is older than CESNET. The fi rst possibilities of access to international communications opened up in the early 1990s.

40�——�41

In 1990, an IBM mainframe owned by the Czech Technical

University in Prague was connected to the European Academic

and Research Network (EARN), the European off shoot of

BITNET. In 1991, a number of universities gained access to

UUnet, which allowed e-mail transmissions over phone lines.

Those pioneering times

of networking were

characterized by highly limited

options and huge enthusiasm

among the people involved.

Methods for providing

universities, the Academy of

Sciences’ institutes, and other

organizations with full-scale

access to the Internet were

explored intensively.

The turning point came

in February 1992, when

the Internet was offi cially

launched in what was then

Czechoslovakia. In the

same year, the Ministry of

Education, Youth, and Sports

supported a project for

a backbone network named

FESNET (Federal Education

and Scientifi c NETwork),

which was to interconnect

domestic academic

institutions.

Because the country split

up, the network was not put

into operation until early 1993,

with somewhat limited extent,

and with its name changed

to CESNET (Czech Education

and Scientifi c NETwork). It

interconnected eight cities at

a bit rate of 19.2 kb/s; only the

most important link between

Prague and Brno operated

at 64 kb/s. The network

was built collaboratively by

a number of universities and

administered by the Czech

Technical University’s Regional

Computer Centre.

The network was extremely

popular. Link capacities grew

rapidly and the number of

newly connected towns and

organizations kept increasing.

To tap into a subsidiary source

of income, the network began

providing Internet access

to commercial customers.

However, there was the

notorious problem with

insuffi cient bandwidth, with

upgrades being very costly.

A whole new dimension

was then opened up by the

TEN-34 CZ project and the

formation of the Association,

which resulted in the

separation of academic and

commercial networks.

The Association operated the

commercial CESNET network

until 2000, when it was sold

to Contactel. Since that time,

the CESNET Association

has focused solely on

e-infrastructure for science,

research, and education.

Photographs1 This panel delivered the fi rst Internet

connectivity in the Czech Republic

2 Initial topology of the CESNET network

1 2

TEN-34 CZ

Telecommunication monopolies continued to exist in many European countries in the fi rst half of the 1990s. This resulted in high prices of telecommunication services and transmission rates lagging behind the USA. Eff orts to improve the situation for the scientifi c and research community gave birth to a project named TEN-34 (Trans-European Network at 34 Mbps), which aimed to build a backbone interconnecting academic networks in European countries using high-speed lines.

1996–1998

42�——�43

The Czech Republic was

the only country from the

former Eastern Bloc to join

TEN-34, announcing its

TEN-34 CZ programme.

Universities, colleges,

and the Czech Academy

of Sciences reached the

conclusion that the best form

of joining the programme

will be through a special

independent organization

created for that purpose.

The result was the formation

of the CESNET Association,

which subsequently became

responsible for the project

named TEN-34 CZ Network

Implementation.

It allowed us to build

a backbone network with

state-of-the-art parameters –

the basic bit rate was 34 Mb/s

and the Prague–Brno link was

even upgraded later to 155

Mb/s. Due to lack of available

transmission services, some

links were implemented by

radio relay, which was a highly

unusual engineering solution.

During the project, scientifi c,

research, and academic

institutions moved from the

original CESNET network to the

newly built TEN-34 CZ, which

resulted in a split between the

commercial network and the

academic network.

Participation in the project was

conditional on building an analogous

national infrastructure.

Key results» Construction

of a 34–155Mb/s

backbone network

» Initiation of

international

cooperation

» Strict separation

of academic and

commercial traffi c

We focused mostly on

building and developing

the backbone network and

on directly related activities

(network management,

network development

planning, etc.). However,

we were already concerned

with some application fi elds.

These included our fi rst steps

in videoconferencing and IP

telephony or the construction

of a sophisticated

infrastructure of WWW caches

that were intended to reduce

network load.

Our participation in the TEN-34

project was also the beginning of

a long series of international projects

we have been and still are involved in.

Thanks to those projects, CESNET has

gained position of a respected partner

on the international scene.

Network topology at the end of the project

44�——�45

HIGH-SPEED NATIONAL RESEARCH NETWORK AND ITS NEW APPLICATIONS

In 1999, the Ministry of Education changed its research funding strategy and initiated an era of large, specifi cally funded research projects. Under that programme, we obtained funding for a research project named High-Speed National Research Network and Its New Applications, which aimed to further develop the national communication infrastructure for science, research, and education. It had a somewhat specifi c position, because in reality it was more of an infrastructure-focused activity that was primarily intended to support the research of connected organizations.

1999–2003

46�——�47

From the perspective of

the backbone network, the

research project brought

about literally revolutionary

changes. We abandoned

the ATM technology used

in the previous generations

of the backbone network

and switched to PoS and

especially various versions

of Ethernet. This resulted

in upgraded bit rates on

the order of gigabits – we

deployed 2.5 Gb/s on the

Prague–Brno link in 2000

and on other crucial links

a year later.

We stopped leasing

transmission services on

intercity links and started

leasing fi bre optics fi tted with

our own technology, which

gave us far more options

for future development. We

found this concept, called

Customer Empowered Fibre

(CEF) Network, to be very

useful and became one of

its pioneers worldwide. We

also signifi cantly changed the

topology of the backbone

network, which was previously

built as a tree. We turned it

into a multi-ring network

during the research project,

which provided major nodes

with redundant connection.

Our research activities

focused mainly on network

technology. Among other

things, we began to develop

our own hardware – at fi rst

with the aim of developing

a hardware-accelerated router

(Liberouter), later on focusing

more on monitoring tools and

optical transmission elements.

The research project also

initiated the expansion

of our services beyond

communication infrastructure

because it involved a range

of application fi elds. Most

importantly, we developed

MetaCentrum, our grid

environment for high-

performance computing,

which was originally created

as a separate project. We

off ered users IP telephony

and videoconferencing

services, our own certifi cation

authority, and many other

services.

Nevertheless, its categorization as

a research project meant that we had to

step up our own research activities.

Key results» Gigabit backbone

network

» Redundant

connection

of nodes

» Switch to fi bre

optics and CEF

approach

» Development

of our own

hardware

Network topology at the end of the project

OPTICAL NATIONAL RESEARCH NETWORK AND ITS NEW APPLICATIONSOur successful execution of the fi rst large research project allowed us to follow up with another large project, which was the core of our activities in 2004 to 2010. Its name suggests the greater role played by optical technology in backbone network development. However, there were additional fi elds of our activities that were quickly evolving, too.

From the perspective of communication

infrastructure, the crucial change was

converting the backbone network to

DWDM, which allows transmitting several

independent channels over a single fi bre.

2004–2010

eduroam.czeduid.cz

48�——�49

We boosted the development

of our own hardware. We

developed a family of optical

transmission elements named

CzechLight, several cards and

devices for network traffi c

monitoring and processing

(COMBO, FlowMon, NIFIC,

MTPP), or special devices

for top-quality video signal

transmissions (MVTP). We

have successfully used

these results in international

projects and some of them

are even manufactured and

commercially available.

Our MetaCentrum was

virtualized during the second

large research project to off er

its users greater capabilities.

Its development involved

progressively increasing its

computing capacity (it off ered

about 250 computing cores at

the beginning of the research

project and almost two

thousand cores, naturally with

higher performance, at its end)

and expanding its range of

available software.

For users, the most noticeable

benefi t was creation of remote

collaborative environment

(video and webconferencing)

and establishment of eduroam

and eduID.cz. The European

roaming infrastructure eduroam

supports mobility of academic

users, who can use it to easily

connect to the Internet when

visiting another organization.

The eduID.cz system facilitates

access to network services

via single sign-on in the user’s

home organization.

Our security team, CESNET-

-CERTS, was the fi rst team in

the Czech Republic to receive

international accreditation.

It built several systems for

security monitoring and

warning against potential risks

during the research project.

It then made good use of its

experience when collaborating

on the formation of CSIRT.CZ,

the national security centre.

Gradually, we worked

more and more with several

user communities with

extraordinary demands on

communications. Typical

examples are physics

(especially high energy

physics and the processing

of data obtained from CERN

experiments) and medicine.

The software (UltraGrid)

and hardware (MVTP) we

developed have been used

in a number of unique

transmissions.

Together with the deployment of a 10 Gb/s bit rate, this

resulted in a dramatic increase in backbone throughput.

In addition, DWDM enabled parallel and mutually

uninfl uenced transmission of standard traffi c, experimental

signals, and communications reserved for special applications.

Key results» Backbone network

with DWDM

and a bit rate of

n × 10 Gb/s

» Creation of

eduroam and

eduID.cz

» Creation

of video and

webconferencing

environment

» Virtualization

of MetaCentrum

» A number of

devices and

components

developed, some

manufactured

commercially

» Accredited

security team

and collaboration

on CSIRT.CZ

formation

Network topology at the end of the project

CESNET LARGEINFRASTRUCTURE& eIGer

2011–2015

The period from 2011 to 2015 was dominated by two large, mutually complementary projects: CESNET Large Infrastructure (2011–2015) and Extension of National R&D Information Infrastructure in Regions (eIGeR, 2011–2013).

50�——�51

Their shared objective was to rebuild the national

research network into a large infrastructure comprising

all information and communication e-infrastructures

necessary for the Czech Republic’s inclusion in

the European Research Area and connection to

the e-infrastructures described in the ESFRI Roadmap.

The projects brought the

communication infrastructure

to a new qualitative level. The

DWDM infrastructure was

completely renewed to off er

a higher number of channels

and greater bit rates. This was

followed by switching the

core to 100 Gb/s.

Other areas experienced no

less important changes. We

installed several new clusters

and developed software to

extend the capabilities of the

MetaCentrum computing

infrastructure, which was

refl ected by a more than

fi vefold increase in its

utilization. We launched

a completely new data storage

service; our fi rst data storage

facility was put into operation

in Plzeň in early 2012 and two

others – in Brno and Jihlava

– followed in 2013. Altogether,

we prepared a storage

capacity exceeding 21 PB for

our users. Our collaborative

environment also underwent

major development –

fundamentally improved

capacity of webconferencing

system and installation of new

videoconferencing units with

recording capabilities enabled

to handle requirements of

an ever increasing number

of users.

The fi nal assessment of

the results of the CESNET

Large Infrastructure

project, carried out by an

international committee,

gave us the highest rating

of A1. The quality of our

work is also evidenced by an

honourable mention in the

Innovation of the Year 2014

competition, organized by

the Association of Innovative

Entrepreneurship of the

Czech Republic.

Honorable mention in the Innovation of the Year and its presentation on 5 December 2014

Key results» Upgrading the

network core

to 100Gb/s

» Increasing the

number of DWDM

channels up to 80

» Raising the

number of

MetaCentrum

cores from 2,000

to 10,000

» Building data

storage facilities

» Installing robust

web conferencing

systems

» Establishing

several

laboratories

(SAGElab, FLAB)

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

International collaboration is a crucial part of our activities. After all, the Czech Republic’s involvement in the European TEN- 34 project played an important role in the Association’s formation.

52�——�53

» AARC (Authentication and

Authorization for Research

and Collaboration):

2015–2017

› Developing federated

identity infrastructure

for the authentication

and authorization of

education users

» BEBA (Behavioural-Based

Forwarding): 2015–2017

› Developing new

approaches for software-

defi ned networks

» COMPLETE

(Communication Platform

for Tenders of Novel

Transport Networks):

2015–2017

› Sharing knowledge

to optimize resource

utilization in the creation

of state-of-the-art

networks

» DataGrid: 2001–2003

› Creating an extensive

computing and data

infrastructure for the

evaluation of CERN

experiments

» Digital Restoration

of Czech Film Heritage:

2014–2016

› Digitizing and restoring

old Czech fi lms using new

network technologies

» EGEE (Enabling Grids

for E-sciencE): 2004–2006

› EGEE II: 2006–2008

› EGEE III: 2008–2010

› A series of related

projects that built and

developed a European

grid connected to

analogous infrastructures

outside Europe (USA,

Japan, Korea)

» EGI_DS (European Grid

Initiative – Design Study):

2007–2009

› Designing and taking

fi rst steps to implement

a sustainable pan-European

grid infrastructure

» EGI-Engage: 2015–2017

› Developing the European

backbone infrastructure

for data processing and

storage, involving large

user communities

Throughout our existence, we have

been joining projects aimed at building

science, research, and education

infrastructures and at research into

new technologies or their applications.

We have participated in the following

projects to date:

» EGI InSPIRE (Integrated

Sustainable Pan-European

Infrastructure for

Researchers in Europe):

2010–2014

› Developing the European

grid infrastructure built by

the EGEE series of projects

» ELIXIR-EXCELERATE:

2015–2019

› Creating a European

bioinformatics

infrastructure with unique

tools for the bioinformatics

scientifi c community

» EMI (European Middleware

Initiative): 2010–2013

› Developing middleware

components for the

EGI grid and other

distributed computing

infrastructures

» EUAsiaGRID: 2008–2010

› Promoting the use of

the gLite middleware

developed for the EGEE

grid in Asian grids

» EuroCareCF (European

Coordination Action

for Research in Cystic

Fibrosis): 2007

› Coordinating basic and

clinical research into

cystic fi brosis and related

diseases

» FEDERICA (Federated

E-infrastructure Dedicated

to European Researchers

Innovating in Computing

network Architectures):

2008–2010

› Creating a European

virtual infrastructure

for testing innovative

communication

architectures

» GÉANT: 2000–2004

› GN2: 2004–2009

› GN3: 2009–2013

› GN3plus: 2013–2015

› GÉANT 2020: 2015–2016

› A series of related

projects that created and

developed the GÉANT

pan-European backbone

gigabit communication

infrastructure for science,

research, and education.

This network is used by

over 40 million users in

38 countries today.

» CHAIN (Co-ordination &

Harmonisation of Advanced

e-INfrastructures):

2010–2012

› Interconnecting regional

grid infrastructures in

Asia, Latin America, and

Africa with the EGI grid

» CHAIN-REDS

(Co-ordination and

Harmonisation of Advanced

e-Infrastructures for

Research and Education

Data Sharing): 2012–2015

› Intercontinental support

for the technological and

scientifi c cooperation of

various e-infrastructures

» INDIGO-DataCloud

(INtegrating Distributed

data Infrastructures for

Global ExplOitation):

2015–2017

› Developing software

components for cloud

and grid infrastructures

» Ithanet: 2007–2008

› Using information

and communication

technology for research

on thalassaemia

and related

haemoglobinopathies in

the Mediterranean region

» LOBSTER: 2004–2007

› Creating a large-scale

monitoring infrastructure

using tools developed by

the SCAMPI project

» MAGIC (Middleware for

collaborative Applications

and Global virtual

Communities): 2015–2017

› Developing middleware

tools to support

collaboration among

research communities

» NEAT-FT (Network for

European Accurate Time

and Frequency Transfer):

2012–2015

› Using fi bre optics for

improving the accuracy

and stability of time

transfers

» ORIENT: 2006–2009

› Building high-quality

interconnection between

European and Chinese

research, development,

and education networks

» ORIENTplus: 2011–2014

› Follow-up project

developing infrastructure

for scientifi c

collaboration between

Europe and China

» OSIRIS (Towards an

Open and Sustainable ICT

Research Infrastructure

Strategy): 2010–2011

› Coordinating the

development of

research infrastructures

in information and

communication

technology

54�——�55

» PHOSPHORUS:

2006–2009

› Creating an architecture for

the utilization of network

resources and services

in a heterogeneous

environment

» Porta Optica Study:

2006–2007

› Developing high-speed

optical networks for

research and education in

Eastern Europe, the Baltic

states, and Southern

Caucasus

» QUANTUM (QUAlity Network

Technology for User Oriented

Multi-Media): 1998–2000

› Building TEN-155, a 155

Mb/s European backbone

science, research and

education network

» SCAMPI (A Scaleable

Monitoring Platform for the

Internet): 2002–2005

› Developing a network

monitoring adapter for

bit rates of up to 10 Gb/s

and related tools for

monitoring attacks and

security incidents

» SEEFIRE (South-East

Europe Fibre Infrastructure

for Research and

Education): 2005–2006

› Developing science,

research, and education

networks in Southeastern

Europe

» TEN-34: 1996–1998

› Creating a backbone

network for European

science, research, and

education with parameters

comparable to those of

the US NSFNET network

» VINI (Virtual Network

Infrastructure): 2007–2009

› Creating a virtual

infrastructure for the

verifi cation of protocols

and services in a large

network

» XIFI (eXperimental

Infrastructures for Future

Internet): 2014–2015

› Building a European

platform for testing

the outputs of the

Future Internet

programme

» 6NET: 2002–2004

› Creating a large-

scale international

network using the

IPv6 network

protocol

PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Our role in international

projects is illustrated

by our staff being elected

to project management

functions:

» Jan Gruntorád was

elected to the GÉANT

Executive Committee in

three consecutive terms

(2004–2012). He was the

chairman of the Executive

Committee in 2011.

» Luděk Matyska was

elected as a member of the

EGEE steering committee

in 2005, becoming its

chairman in 2006. He was

elected chairman of the

EGI-InSPIRE steering

committee in 2011.

» Helmut Sverenyák was

elected to the TERENA

Executive Committee

as its vice-president for

conferences (2012–2014).

19961997 200620011999 20031998 20022000 2004 2005

6NET (2002–2004)

LOBSTER (2004–2007)

TIMELINE OF PROJECTS

TEN-34 CZ Network Implementation

(1996–1998)

High-Speed National Research Network

and Its New Applications (1999–2003)

SCAMPI (2002–2005)

SEEFIRE (2005–2006)

GN2 (2004–2009)TEN-34 (1996–1998)

QUANTUM

(1998–2000) GÉANT (2000–2004)

EGEE (2004–2006)DataGrid (2001–2003)

56�——�57

201620102008 20122007 20112009 2013 2014 2015

CHAIN-REDS (2012–2015)

NEAT-FT (2012–2015)

Digital Restoration of Czech

Film Heritage (2014–2016)

Optical National Research Network

and Its New Applications (2004–2010)

CESNET Large Infrastructure

(2011–2015)

eIGeR (2011–2018)

CESNETe-infrastructure(2016–2019)

ORIENTplus (2011–2014)

AARC (2015–2017)

COMPLETE (2015–2017)

ELIXIR-EXCELERATE (2015–2019)

INDIGO-DataCloud (2015–2017)

MAGIC (2015–2017)

BEBA (2015–2017)

EGI-Engage (2015–2017)EGI InSPIRE (2010–2014)EGI_DS (2007–2009)

XIFI (2014–2015)EMI (2010–2013)

ORIENT (2006–2009)

EUAsiaGRID (2008–2010)

FEDERICA (2008–2010)

PHOSPHORUS (2006–2009)

Ithanet (2007–2008)

Porta Optica Study

(2006–2007)

EuroCareCF

(2007)

VINI (2007–2009)

CHAIN (2010–2012)

OSIRIS (2010–2011)

GN3plus (2013–2015) GN3 (2009–2013) GÉANT 2020 (2015–2016)

EGEEII (2006–2008) EGEE III (2008–2010)

COOPERATION

Involvement in international projects strengthens our relations with foreign and domestic experts and organizations engaged in information and communication technology.

58�——�59

Conferences, seminars,

workshops, and working

meetings provide an

excellent opportunity for

exchanging information;

we have organized and

co-organized a great number

of them during the twenty

years of our existence.

Here are the most important

ones (in alphabetical order):

Exchanging experience

with them means a great

contribution to our work

– we get inspiration for

our further development

as well as feedback.

1

2 3

54

Popisky k fotografi ím1 TERENA Networking Conference, 2011

2 EU Commissioner Viviane Reding and rector Vlastimil Růžička

opening the Future of the Internet conference, 2009

3 Campus Network Monitoring Workshop, 2012

4 Vint Cerf and Jan Gruntorád, 2007

5 CEF Networks Workshop, 2012

60�——�61

CONFERENCES

» Annual Global

LambdaGrid Workshop

› A conference for GLIF

members and experts

on optical networks.

We organized the

workshops in 2007

and 2015.

» Campus Network

Monitoring Workshop

› A seminar focusing on

traffi c monitoring in local

area networks, 2011,

2012, and 2014

» CEF Networks

Workshop

› A working meeting

we initiated for specialists

in customer-operated

optical networks. 

Eight workshops have

been organized so far:

in 2004, 2005, 2006,

2007, 2009, 2010, 2012,

and 2014.

» CESNET Conference

› A conference focusing

on optical networks,

middleware, virtualization,

and security; 2006 and

2008

» EGI Technical Forum

› A conference on grid

computing; 2012

» Future of the Internet

› A conference on Internet

trends and development;

2009

» The Networking

Conference (TNC)

› A large conference

on computer networks;

2011 and 2016

» 10th Anniversary

of the Internet in

the Czech Republic

› A national conference

with international

guests; 2002

WORKSHOPS

» CESNET Community

Forum

› Meeting of national

e-infrastrusture users

with CESNET specialists,

2014, 2015

» CESNET Days

› Informal meetings

of CESNET specialists

with representatives

of member organisations,

2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

» Security of networks

and services

› A big workshop on

securing ICT infrastructures,

2014, 2015, 2016

MEETINGS

There have also been

a number of individual

meetings with various

partners. The most

important ones

included:

» On 9 June 2008,

we met with Eugene

Yeh and other

representatives

of Taiwan’s National

Center for

Supercomputing.

» On 22 September 2008,

CESNET was visited by

Vint Cerf.

» On 28–30 September

2008, CESNET director

Jan Gruntorád was invited

to a White House advisory

forum meeting.

» On 7 May 2015,

CESNET was visited

by Japan’s ambassador

Tetsuo Yamakawa and

representatives of the

Internet Initiative Japan.

THANK YOUFOR YOUR FAVOUR