The Edinburgh and Stirling Metropolitan Area Network
The Edinburgh and Stirling Metropolitan Area Network
University of Edinburgh Press Release of 6th September 1995
The network links up the major campuses of the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Napier University, Edinburgh College of Art, Moray House Institute of Education, Queen Margaret College and the University of Stirling including links to the wider academic community networks (the high speed SuperJANET), the Internet and international networks available through SuperJANET.
"The new network will enable data to be transferrred up to 5 times faster than the existing high speed academic network SuperJANET and almost 11,000 times faster than the the normal modem dial-up service accessible to most external Internet users," explained George Howat of Edinburgh University Computing Service (EUCS) who are managing the new network.
"On a fast modem call from the home at 28.8Kbits/sec, to download the entire text of the 32 volumes of Encylopedia Britannica, containing some 44 million words, would take about 24 hours. On the new 155Mbps MAN service, transferring the same amount of data would theoretically take about 16 seconds."
The infrastructure will enable new developments in distance learning, video conferencing and other interactive applications such as multi-location tutorials or even composing a piece of music at two or more sites simultaneously.
Previously, the slower speed of data transfer would not generally be able to support the numbers of users who would wish to use these new applications, nor in the case of ethernet, for example, would the necessary quality of service be generally assured to allow non-interference between users. ATM (Asychronous Transfer Mode) will be able to address both these problems of scaleability and service guarantees.
The new optical fibre network is leased from ScottishTelecom - a subsidiary of ScottishPower. Some was built specifically for EaStMAN, other parts use ScottishTelecom's existing ducts and cables. Funding for the project came from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), with the institutions involved contributing 20% of costs.
"As lead Scottish site for JANET and SuperJANET, and the new ATM SuperJANET pilot scheme, the University of Edinburgh has the necessary expertise to co-ordinate the installation, evaluate and maintain this state of the art computing infrastructure," said Edinburgh Vice-Principal, Dr Richard Field, Convenor of the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) Steering Committee.
"In the future it is hoped to extend the network to provide connections for other sites across the area. These will include additional university departments located in hospitals and at other sites away from the main campuses, and other educational establishments such as schools and colleges. It is also planned to establish partnerships with a range of interested parties in both the wider public and the private sectors in order to exploit the new technology for mutual benefit."
Roger Thomas, Bespoke Business Manager of ScottishTelecom adds, "The partnership that ScottishTelecom has established with the Higher Education institutions through the MAN projects will bring mutual benefits as we explore the innovative ways in which these very high bandwidth networks can be used. The MAN provides inter-connectivity between institutions, and ScottishTelecom's wide area network provides potential interconnectivity to the rest of Scotland and even further afield."
EaStMAN Phase 1 consists of two interconnected network technologies: a 100Mbps FDDI ring linking ten Edinburgh city sites which will deliver SuperJANET IP services to various institutions via the University of Edinburgh's SMDS and ATM interfaces, as well as high speed metropolitan connectivity. Five city sites and the University of Stirling will also be directly connected to the faster 155Mbps SDH/STM-1 ATM network and the SuperJANET ATM Pilot network.
Previously the fastest connections for academics in the EaStMAN area were via SuperJANET (the Joint Academic Network) which is currently rated at a mixture of 10 and 34Mbps.
The design of EaStMAN allows the universities to operate a two-speed network. One using the well-established FDDI technology, and the other the new ATM technology which can mix multiple voice, data and video transmissions over the same fibres. At present, the Scottish Universities' MANs are at the leading edge of this latter approach.
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