NETWORKS

TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association) has published the fifth edition of the TERENA Compendium of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Europe. These NRENs provide advanced, high-speed and high-performance Internet connectivity for universities and research institutions in their countries. The Compendium gives detailed information about these organisations and their services, allowing for comparisons and analysis of trends. Since the first edition of the Compendium in 2001, it has grown into a sought-after and authoritative source of reference for all those who take an interest in the development of research and education networking. In its current form, the Compendium consists of two parts. One part contains basic information on the NRENs in Europe and surrounding regions. This part is available on the web only. For each NREN, in addition to the basic information, the web pages offer organisational information, information on staffing, finances, the user base of each NREN, capacity and plans and services and developments. The second part is the printed version, which is a compilation and analysis, giving information on various dimensions on a large number of NRENs in Europe. This year’s edition is the first that is part of the GÉANT2 project, and that has benefited from the input from activity leaders in that project. This year, the Compendium has been expanded with a new chapter on Services, additional tables and a glossary of terms. For a number of key areas, an attempt has been made for the first time to aggregate data for groups of NRENs and to look at and partially explain multi-year trends. These aggregations and explanations are given in ‘overview’ sections on Users/Clients, Network and Traffic. Throughout the Compendium, such analytical or explanatory text has been highlighted. Some of the trends have again been summarised in the “Summary of key findings”. The publication was made possible by a financial contribution from the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Community. Copies of the printed version (ISSN: 1569 - 447) may be requested from the TERENA Secretariat, email: secretariat@terena.nl ; The web version of the Compendium (ISSN: 1569 - 4496) is available in pdf format from the TERENA website at: its Web site.