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Janet UK plans £80m network deal

This article is more than 12 years old
Suppliers sought for upgrade to higher education and research councils' Janet network

Janet UK has advertised a framework contract worth up to £80m for the managed fibre infrastructure to upgrade its network of the same name for the higher education and research sectors.

According to a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, the framework will supply services for 'Janet 6', the first stage in the replacement of SuperJANET5, the telecommunications network between the regional networks that together form JANET.

The project will be divided into two lots which will deliver fibre infrastructure to the UK and to Northern Ireland.

The notice says that although the framework is likely to be agreed initially for five years, with the possibility of extending for a further two years, Janet UK is also considering placing an initial order with suppliers for up to 10 years. The value has been estimated at between £20m and £80m.

Funding for the project is expected to come from both the public and private sectors, and there are plans for Janet 6 to be made increasingly available to industrial or commercial organisations engaged in research, under initiatives such as the UK e-infrastructure initiative funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee.

Dr Bob Day, chief technology officer at Janet UK told GGC: "Upgrading the Janet network infrastructure means we can provide greater value for our research and education communities.

"The Janet 6 project, which aims to deliver late in 2013, will enable research and education organisations to meet the challenges of their new policy contexts and technological developments."

He added that users have told Janet UK that they expect a huge growth in the amount of research data they will be working with. They also expect to be making much more use of the cloud for their outsourcing and data storage requirements.

"The overall aim is that Janet will continue to provide a flexible, sustainable and resilient network to be able to handle these challenges and accommodate developing demand," he said.

This article is published by Guardian Professional. For updates on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.

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