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The history of the Janet Network

The Janet Network has gone through a huge transformation since it went live on 1 April 1984.

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1984 - JANET launches

JANET connects the UK's universities and research councils. At the time, it's the fastest computer network in the world using  X.25 with a 48Kbit/s core and 9.6Kbit/s to sites.

1986

JANET backbone upgraded to 256Kbits/s.

1993

Native IP links added to JANET.

1994

SuperJANET ATM network expands to 14 sites. 

JANET CERT created.

1997

JANET starts to serve further education colleges.

X.25 is turned off.

1998

SuperJANET III begins service.

2001

SuperJANET 4 begins service at 2.5Gbps.

2002

SuperJANET 4 backbone upgraded to 10Gbps.

2003

Backbone becomes native IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack.

2004

Wide-scale launch of LIN (location independent networking), eduroam’s precursor.

2007

SuperJANET 5 begins service.

JANET Lightpath service launched.

Aurora begins operation.

2009

Tests of 100Gbps on JANET core.

2011

More investment lead to JANET reaching speeds of 100Gbit/s.

2013

Janet6 launches - one of the the world's most advanced computer networks at the time.

2014

eduroam, a roaming service for education users, reaches 95% of universities and is working on 500,000 devices.

2017

Govroam service launches. 

400Gbit/s optical technology deployed on Janet backbone.

2018

First 100G member connection.

Janet access programme is launched.

2021

First Janet-connected organisation to connect to Janet through a 200G resilient connection

Find out more about Janet and its evolution

  • Watch a video showing the key achievements of Jisc over the last 50 years
  • Read 'JANET: The First 25 Years' by Christopher S Cooper (Author) ( 2010), Foreword by Professor Peter T. Kirstein, University College London. ISBN 978-0-9549207-2-2.

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