Janet Network

Keeping 18 million users in education and research reliably and securely connected.

Connectivity to rely on

Capacity
Exchange vast amounts of data in seconds - Janet currently carries six petabytes of data each day.

Scalability
Whether it's a research-intensive organisation connected at 100Gbits/s or a smaller institution running 1Gbits/s, we monitor usage and manage capacity planning.

Global reach
600+ direct peerings to key education and research network facilities and cloud providers (including Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple), key content providers (BBC, Facebook, Netflix, Akamai) as well as supporting international collaborations.

Secure
Built-in, world-class cyber security protection - all Janet IP connections are protected by our DDoS mitigation and CSIRT services.

Unparalleled power and access

We're with you, every gigabit of the way. Find out more about the Janet Network in our video explainer.

Dr Matt Williams, research software engineer, University of Bristol

"It provides a very stable, high speed connection to the cloud providers. If we hadn’t had access to the high-speed Janet Network...we would have to use smaller amounts of data. We wouldn’t be able to do our jobs.”

World-class cyber security

Cyber threats are getting more sophisticated and frequent. As a Janet Network user, cyber security is fully integrated into your infrastructure and platforms, protecting you, your users and the whole Janet-connected community.

Our CSIRT team works around the clock to mitigate attacks and resolve security incidents. You can also sign up to our trusted cyber security community group of over 1,000 members and experts who can help you to increase your security posture.

Next generation networking

Jisc innovates so that individual institutions don’t have to. We explore the evolution of secure, sustainable next generation networking to help your institution thrive in the evolving digital infrastructure landscape.

From SD Wan, 5G/6G, secure access service edge and active learning and machine learning applications to cyber security, SAAS and high performance computing.

Find out more at Networkshop 2023.

Sector journeys

Discover how the Janet Network supports the sector.

Higher education

The Janet Network supports innovative learning and teaching within higher education, underpins collaborations with research partners and enables business efficiencies.

Crucially the Janet Network also enables institutions to improve the student experience with rich learning resources and student wellbeing services that help students stay on track and achieve their potential.

It provides students with an agile learning experience, allowing them to roam at will across campus and onsite accommodation using single sign-on on their own devices.

Whether students want to game or use Netflix for work or play, the Janet Network gives them the huge amounts of bandwidth they need, so they enjoy a high-quality streaming experience with no delays. And, as the power behind our learning analytics service, the network allows tutors and mentors to spot struggling students and to intervene before problems escalate.

This infrastructure allows the sector to plan for continued engagement with their research partners and commerce.
Peter Tinson, executive secretary, UCISA

Further education

As critical infrastructure and as the gateway to a range of Jisc services for education, the Janet Network allows colleges to give students richer learning experiences.

We recently benefited from a Janet Network upgrade as part of the Janet access programme. The improved bandwidth and reliability we’ve experienced since having our new link is broadening our options for teaching, learning and pastoral support in the future.
Simon Shackleton, technical, estates and facilities manager, Hereward College

Research

The Janet Network is the UK’s national research and education network (NREN). It’s also Europe’s busiest.

Open science and big data are placing increasingly larger demands on our network. We’re investing to ensure network reliability and to maintain robust access management mechanisms so that network users can work collaboratively, exchanging huge quantities of highly sensitive data and carrying out complex computations in real-time in the cloud.

We’re currently moving four terabytes of data from Australia to Armagh. To be able to transfer the data across networks is infinitely better and the links are always improving. With the Janet Network we are on a one-gig network and from next year we’ll be upgrading that.
Ciaran Magee, ICT manager at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

International

The UK is the second largest provider of transnational education (TNE), and it contributes more than £500m to the UK economy each year. Janet is the UK's national research and education network (NREN)

The Janet Network’s cost-effective and reliable connectivity makes much of it happen. Providers of TNE need to give their students overseas a learning experience that’s just as good as the ones their UK students enjoy. As part of a global network of NRENs the Janet Network gives you a head start.

Local authorities

The Department for Education funds us to support provision of Janet services to schools in England. This funding agreement means regional broadband consortia (RBC) or tier-1 local authorities (LA) in England can take advantage of connectivity services by being connected to the Janet Network. This includes Janet IP connection, allowing them:

  • Secure and seamless internet access across locations and devices
  • High capacity, direct peering to services such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Dropbox
  • Cyber security monitoring by CSIRT and inbuilt DDoS mitigation

Read about provision to regional broadband consortia or find out about the seven RBCs in England.

Stories from our members

When Cardiff Metropolitan University realised the university’s systems were under attack, it kickstarted a powerful working relationship with Jisc that transformed security.

A collaboration powered by the Janet Network, is helping researchers access genetic and health data to gain new insights into health and disease.

Rochford District Council in Essex needed to streamline its infrastructure to deliver better services to its residents.

Helping the education and research sector leverage technology as a force for good.

How eduroam can increase accessibility, reduce IT workload and help close the digital equity gap.

Dr Steven Newhouse, head of technical services EMBL-EBI

"In addition to providing low-latency high-bandwidth (40Gbs) access to our data across the UK and a worldwide audience...Jisc is also able to provide internal connectivity."

Connectivity services for your needs

IP and interconnectivity - connecting your whole IT estate through resilient, high-capacity and high-availability services extending your IT management, maintenance and monitoring to remote sites.

Bespoke connections - bring multiple sites and multiple partner organisations together to work on your strategic goals, whether they involve profile research projects, a cloud strategy or transnational education.

Access and roaming - connect users seamlessly to support innovation and productivity via eduroam and govroam.

Browse our connectivity services.

Help us shape the future of Janet

Each year, we invest £12m capital to develop it to meet current users' needs with high-capacity, high-availability connectivity and to lay the groundwork to support their future ambitions.

Find out about the Janet access programme