PIONIER network celebrates 10 years!

2011-05-13

PIONIER network celebrates 10 years!
Solemn meeting of the PIONIER Consortium combined with a scientific session, held on 13th and 14th may in Zakopane, officially completes the construction of the PIONIER network.

Exactly 11 years ago in Gliwice an “Agreement on the establishment of the Consortium for the exploitation and use of the National Optical Network of scientific-academic units PIONIER” was signed. One year later, the construction began, and as early as in 2003, a newly built segment of the Network was opened. And so, piece by piece, the subsequent segments were being constructed, ready for exploitation. Today, PIONIER network has a length of 6494.26 km fiber optics in Poland, combines all the MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) networks, and the full optical fiber loop is closed, together with its own transmission system.

The basis for construction of PIONIER network is the program: “PIONIER: Polish Optical Internet – Advanced Applications, Services and Technologies for the Information Society”. The program was accepted in year 2000 and adopted for implementation in the next year by the Committee for Scientific Research. PIONIER program initiated a series of actions (later joined by such programs as: e-Poland, Gates of Poland etc.) aimed at building the basic mechanisms of information society, enabling Poland an equal partnership with other countries.

The main objective of the PIONIER network is to operate Polish academic and scientific community as a whole, and to support its research and educational projects. Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center is the operator of the PIONIER Network but also manages the Poznan Metropolitan Area Network – POZMAN.

The solemn meeting of the Presidium of the PIONIER Consortium, followed by the scientific session summarizing 10 years of operation of the Network, will bring together representatives of all MAN Networks, whereas speeches will be given by, among others, Prof. Kazimierz Wiatr – Chairman of the Consortium PIONIER, Prof. Jan Weglarz – Director of PSNC and Dr Maciej Stroiński – Technical Director PSNC.

Below we present a short video showing, with a “a pinch of salt”, various stages of construction of the Network.