"Academic Networks- Europe and the former USSR" By:C.W.Cheong TopologyTEN-34 Europanet ACOnet FREENet SWITCH RedIRIS Others

Belgium reseach network - (BELNET) Introduction BELNET was created by the Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs(OSTC). It provides a communications tool to 20,000 Belgian researchers in over 50 institutions. Topology - Click here The picture below shows a detailed description of the connectivity between the BELNETsites. Technology - Click here The BELNET infrastructure is built around a network of digital leased lines from Belgacom which are linked together by routers installed at BELNETsites (mainly the universities). This national network is itself connected to the Internet world via international connections. The BELNETbackbone has international connections: 6 Mbit/s to the U.S.A, 2 Mbit/s Global One (US East Coast), 4 Mbit/s BT/MCI (US West Coast) 31 Mbit/s to Amsterdam 10 Mbit/s to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) 20 Mbit/s of connection SURFnet 22 Mbit/s to most European research networks via the TEN-34 2 Mbit/s Services - Click here FTPsearch * File transfer using FTP * NETNews: The world wide conference * The World Wide Web (WWW) * The Internet accelerator proxy. * The Domain Name System (DNS) * Sending Electronic Mail (E-mail) * Internet Relay Chat (IRC) * Searching the Net * NTP: the network time