Spain Upgrades National Research Network

ADVA and SIA have announced that RedIRIS is deploying ADVA’s technology to create a national, high-capacity research and education network (NREN) that connects universities and research facilities across Spain. The NREN will enable educators and scientists to share “huge” data sets and harness bandwidth-intensive applications.

ADVA develops hardware and software for networks, creating open connectivity solutions for applications such as the cloud and mobile services. Indra is a Spanish information technology and defence systems company. SIA is Indra’s cybersecurity company, serving the sector in Spain and Portugal. RedIRIS is the Spanish academic and research network that provides advanced communication services to the scientific community and national universities

The new long-haul backbone infrastructure is built on the ADVA FSP 3000 and monitored by the ADVA ALM fibre assurance solution. The network carries services at speeds up to 200Gbit/s and features ADVA’s ROADM technology and QuadFlex^™ line cards, allowing RedIRIS to migrate from legacy technology to flexible, high-performance connectivity.

“Our new transport system empowers Spain’s scientists and academics to work together on national and international projects under optimum conditions”, said Esther Robles, head of communications networks, RedIRIS. “With flexible coherent wavelengths up to 200Gbit/s, it provides secure, highly reliable access to everything from video conferencing tools to high-performance remote computing facilities.

“ADVA’s open FSP 3000 technology-enabled a smooth and painless transition from our existing transport infrastructure. With its modular design, it also provides massive scale, giving us the freedom to easily expand and evolve our network to meet future needs”.

Connecting more than 80 points of presence and over 500 institutions, RedIRIS’s new backbone network includes long-haul single-span submarine links to Spain’s Balearic Islands and the city of Melilla, as well as connections to the Canary Islands, the Canarian Institute of Astrophysics and its observatories.

For flexibility and high spectral efficiency, the solution features ADVA’s flexgrid multi-degree ROADMs, enabling high-speed coherent and high-baud-rate transport. Through ADVA’s MicroMux™ technology, the new infrastructure also supports a mix of 10Gbit/s and 100Gbit/s Ethernet client ports without any footprint increase. This optimizes space efficiency and ensures no stranded bandwidth. The network upgrade also involved the deployment of a solid and thorough migration plan by SIA, a leading Indra company in cybersecurity and ADVA’s Select partner.

“RedIRIS’s long-haul infrastructure is now one of Europe’s most advanced NRENs. It will enable researchers and teachers in Spain to leverage a new breed of data-intensive applications and collaborate in new ways using innovative video conferencing and augmented reality tools”, commented Hartmut Müller-Leitloff, SVP, sales, EMEA, ADVA.

“Our open and scalable technology efficiently bridges the gap between the legacy needs and the future demand of RedIRIS’s users. Its unique client port flexibility supports a mix of 10Gbit/s and 100Gbit/s Ethernet services without the need for additional hardware. With our open optical layer, RedIRIS is also free to tackle rising demands in the future by expanding to higher baud rates and more complex modulation schemes”.

You can find more information about ADVA, SIA, RedIRIS and the organisations’ work on the upgraded National Research Network in Spain on their respective websites.

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