Jisc secures future of UK Janet Network with 10yr Neos Networks deal

Jisc, the not-for-profit company responsible for maintaining the UK’s critical national research and education network, Janet, has today announced that they’ve reached a new 10-year agreement with Neos Networks to provide the scalable fibre optic infrastructure needed to support their increasingly data-intensive network.

Connectivity provider Neos Networks currently operates one of the biggest 34,000km long and 400Gbps capable business fibre optic networks in the UK – spanning 550 exchanges, 90+ data centres and 600+ Points of Presence (PoPs). Neos has long supported the Janet Network and in 2022 began helping them to deliver a new Dark Fibre network spanning the North-West of the UK – achieving high-capacity speeds up to 100Gbps.

However, the demands being placed on this infrastructure are growing rapidly. Advances in AI, alongside increasingly data-intensive areas of research, mean institutions need to move ever greater volumes of data between researchers, facilities and computing resources, often in real time. As these workloads grow, the underlying network must be able to scale with them.

Jisc’s new agreement aims to secure the high-capacity fibre foundation Janet needs to meet this demand over the next decade, although the announcement didn’t include any technical details on precisely what would change. Over the course of the contract, the new infrastructure will also enable other users to benefit from the technical and security capabilities of Janet, including public sector and government organisations.

Bella Abrams, Group CTO at Jisc, said:

“This agreement represents a significant milestone for the Janet Network. By extending our partnership with Neos Networks, we are ensuring the long-term stability, scalability, and security of the UK’s research and education connectivity. It gives us the foundation to continue innovating and to support the increasingly complex digital needs of the UK’s education and research community.”

Lee Myall, CEO for Neos Networks, added:

“Over the next decade, AI, advanced computing and increasingly data-intensive research will drive huge growth in the information institutions need to move quickly and securely between people, facilities and computing resources.

That makes high-capacity, resilient and scalable connectivity increasingly fundamental to the UK’s research ambitions. By extending our partnership with Jisc for another 10 years, we’re helping ensure Janet has the network foundation it needs to keep scaling as those demands evolve, supporting world-leading research and innovation across the UK.”

The importance of this capacity can already be seen in projects such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory project in Chile. With 25% of the data generated expected to be managed by the UK, Janet will transmit huge volumes of information to participating UK research sites for analysis. Infrastructure supplied by Neos Networks will help give Janet the capacity and resilience required to support projects of this scale.