CANARIE

CANARIE is a Canadian not-for-profit organization responsible for operating the national backbone of Canada's research and education network. Its name originally stood for the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education. Rather than functioning as a conventional consumer telecommunications brand, CANARIE provides specialized digital infrastructure and services for universities, colleges, research hospitals, federal laboratories, schools, incubators and other approved research and innovation participants. The organization emerged from the development of Canada's early advanced research network. The original CA*net was created in 1990 with support from the National Research Council, and CANARIE was established in 1993 to advance the network and related collaborations. Through successive generations—CA*net, CA*net II, CA*net 3 and CA*net 4—the network evolved from an experimental data system into a high-capacity optical backbone. The network connected provincial and territorial advanced networks, which in turn served institutions within their jurisdictions. This federated model allowed Canadian institutions to exchange research data and collaborate with partners in Canada and abroad. CANARIE's role extends beyond backbone connectivity. Its network program provides research and education Internet services, including IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast capability, international connectivity and specialized point-to-point connections. Its infrastructure has supported high-performance computing, large-scale scientific collaboration, medical and health research, advanced visualization, digital media and other data-intensive activities. The organization has also developed or supported services for content delivery, private research links and network-management capabilities. The national network connects to international research and education exchanges and links Canada with more than 100 counterpart networks around the world. The organization also operates or supports services that address access, identity, cloud computing and research-data management. The Canadian Access Federation provides a trusted identity and access framework through which users can access participating services using institutional credentials. Its eduroam support enables participating students, faculty, researchers and staff to obtain authenticated Wi-Fi access at participating institutions in Canada and internationally. CANARIE has also supported research software development, offered cloud resources to startups and small businesses through the Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research program, and contributed to initiatives focused on policies, standards, infrastructure and tools for preserving and reusing research data. CANARIE is primarily funded by the Government of Canada and works through provincial and territorial Regional Advanced Networks. These partners include organizations and institutions serving British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the northern territories. The resulting national system serves a broad community rather than a mass-market subscriber base. Its value proposition is high-performance, secure and collaborative connectivity designed for research, education and innovation. The organization remains active as a national digital-infrastructure provider. Its network footprint is described as approximately 23,000 kilometres of fibre, with core capacity reaching up to 100 Gbit/s in the reference material. CANARIE's present scope therefore combines infrastructure operation, international research-network coordination, identity federation, innovation support and research-data policy development. It occupies a specialized position at the intersection of telecommunications, higher education, scientific computing and public-interest technology.

CANARIE's history is rooted in Canada's early efforts to build a dedicated advanced network for research and education. The original CA*net, also written CAnet, was created in 1990 with support from the National Research Council. It was intended to provide Canadian universities and research organizations with connectivity better suited to scientific collaboration than the commercial Internet services then generally available. In 1993, the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education was established, and the CANARIE organization became associated with the development and operation of the national research network. The early network went through several rapid capacity increases. Its links were upgraded to 56 kbit/s in 1993, to 10 Mbit/s in 1995 and later to 20 Mbit/s. By 1996, aggregate capacity had reached 100 Mbit/s. That year, the National Test Network project introduced ATM technology, creating a platform for the next phase of the network. In 1997, Bell Advanced Communications, later known as Bell Nexxia and ultimately part of Bell Canada, received operating control over network operations. The replacement CA*net II network used National Test Network links and introduced an OC-3, or 155 Mbit/s, core. In 1998, CANARIE deployed CA*net 3, described as the world's first national optical research and education network. Its planned capacity was 2.5 Gbit/s, a major change from the lower-capacity packet networks that preceded it. Optical networking enabled researchers to exchange much larger datasets and made dedicated, high-performance connections more practical. The subsequent CA*net 4 program was supported by a federal commitment announced in 2002. CA*net 4 used OC-192 optical circuits and reached a stated total network capacity of 40 Gbit/s, sixteen times the capacity of its predecessor. It also supported optical Lightpath services, which provided dedicated point-to-point connections between research facilities. CANARIE gradually expanded from network construction into a broader platform for digital research infrastructure. Beginning in 2007, it funded the development of research software tools. In 2011, it assumed operational and support responsibilities for the Canadian Access Federation, a trusted identity framework that enables institutional users to access participating online resources. The federation also supports eduroam, allowing authenticated users to obtain Wi-Fi access at participating education and research institutions in Canada and abroad. In the same year, CANARIE launched the Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research, providing cloud-computing resources to small businesses and entrepreneurs. The organization's research-data role developed further during the 2010s. From 2014, CANARIE provided financial support for Research Data Canada, an initiative concerned with standards, policies and infrastructure for the preservation, management and reuse of research data. It also became a partner in the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, supporting development and commercialization of advanced networking technologies. CANARIE operates through a partnership model. Provincial and territorial Regional Advanced Networks provide local and regional connectivity, while CANARIE supplies national backbone services and international links. The connected community includes post-secondary institutions, research hospitals, federal laboratories, schools, incubators and other research and innovation organizations. The network also exchanges traffic with more than 100 national research and education networks internationally. By the period covered by the reference material, the CANARIE portion of the national network extended across approximately 23,000 kilometres of fibre and supported speeds of up to 100 Gbit/s. Its traffic had grown rapidly, reflecting the expansion of data-intensive science, digital learning, high-performance computing and distributed collaboration. CANARIE's continuing identity is therefore that of a specialized national infrastructure organization: it operates a research network, supports federated access and identity, enables innovation programs, and contributes to the policies and tools needed for modern research data.

• 2015

  Core network upgrades

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  Most core links were upgraded to 100 Gbit/s to prepare for continued traffic growth.

• 2014

  Support for Research Data Canada

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE began providing financial support for Research Data Canada and its work on research-data standards, policies and infrastructure.

• 2014

  Partnership with CENGN

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE became a partner in the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks.

• 2011

  Expanded identity and cloud programs

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE took on support for the Canadian Access Federation and launched the Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research.

• 2011

  High-speed data-transfer record

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE participated in a reported 186 Gbit/s transfer of approximately one petabyte between Caltech and the University of Victoria.

• 2007

  Research software support begins

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE began funding development of software tools intended to support research activities.

• 2002

  Federal support for CA*net 4

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  The Government of Canada committed funding for construction and operation of the CA*net 4 generation of the national network.

• 1998

  CA*net 3 launches

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  CANARIE deployed CA*net 3, a national optical research and education network designed for substantially higher capacity.

• 1997

  CA*net II replaces the earlier network

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  Bell Advanced Communications received operational control, and CA*net II was launched using National Test Network links with an OC-3 core.

• 1996

  National Test Network introduces ATM

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  The National Test Network project introduced ATM technology as part of the transition toward higher-capacity network infrastructure.

• 1993

  CANARIE is established

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education was created to advance the national research and education network.

• 1990

  Creation of the original CA*net

  [1]CANARIEen.wikipedia.org

  The original Canadian advanced research network was created with support from the National Research Council.

A public-interest digital infrastructure organization providing secure, high-capacity connectivity and associated services for Canada's research, education and innovation communities.

• Research and education network · 1993

  CANARIE Network Program

  The core national network service provides high-capacity connectivity for Canadian research and education institutions. It supports IPv4 and IPv6 unicast and multicast routing and connects to international research-network exchanges in North America. The service is delivered in cooperation with provincial and territorial Regional Advanced Networks, allowing institutions to exchange data nationally and reach research partners overseas.

• Network content access

  Content Delivery Service

  The Content Delivery Service provides participating Canadian research and education institutions with high-speed access to content providers and online platforms. It is designed to improve performance and capacity for frequently accessed digital content within the research and education environment.

• Dedicated research connectivity

  NREN Connection Service

  This service provides researchers and institutions with dedicated, secure and private connections to peer facilities in Canada or internationally. It can support direct links to high-performance computing centres and research facilities, including point-to-point Ethernet connections at very high capacity.

• Identity and access management · 2011

  Canadian Access Federation

  The Canadian Access Federation supplies a trusted framework for institutional identity and access. Users can employ credentials from their home institution to reach participating web resources and datasets. CANARIE also supports the federation's connection to eduroam, enabling authenticated Wi-Fi roaming across participating education and research locations.

• Cloud resources · 2011

  Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research

  The Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research was created to provide cloud-computing resources to startups, small businesses and entrepreneurs. It extends CANARIE's infrastructure role into innovation support by helping smaller organizations access computing resources for technology development and experimentation.

• Research technology development · 2007

  Research software support

  CANARIE funds the development of software tools that assist researchers and research communities. This work complements the network by supporting applications, collaborative tools and digital infrastructure used in data-intensive research.

• 2015

  Upgrade most core links to 100 Gbit/sGeneration change

  Background

  Network traffic was growing rapidly and future research workloads were expected to require additional backbone capacity.

  Action taken

  CANARIE upgraded most of its core links to 100 Gbit/s.

  Aftermath

  The upgrade increased the network's ability to support large-scale research data transfers and distributed computing.

  Source

• 2011

  Broaden services beyond backbone connectivityStrategy

  Background

  Research institutions increasingly required software, identity, cloud and collaboration services in addition to high-speed transport.

  Action taken

  CANARIE expanded into research software support, Canadian Access Federation operations and cloud resources for startups and entrepreneurs.

  Aftermath

  The organization developed a broader digital-infrastructure portfolio serving researchers, institutions and innovation-oriented businesses.

  Source

• 2002

  Build and operate CA*net 4Generation change

  Background

  Growing research requirements called for a network generation with substantially more capacity and dedicated connectivity options.

  Action taken

  CANARIE proceeded with CA*net 4 using OC-192 optical circuits and Lightpath capability.

  Aftermath

  CA*net 4 reached a stated total capacity of 40 Gbit/s and enabled dedicated point-to-point links between research facilities.

  Source

• 1998

  Deploy CA*net 3 as an optical national research networkGeneration change

  Background

  The earlier CA*net infrastructure needed substantially greater capacity for research and education traffic and data-intensive collaboration.

  Action taken

  CANARIE deployed CA*net 3 using optical networking technology and planned capacity of 2.5 Gbit/s.

  Aftermath

  The deployment established CANARIE as an operator of advanced optical research-network infrastructure and prepared the organization for later high-capacity generations.

  Source

1. 1CANARIEen.wikipedia.org
2. 2CANARIE official websitecanarie.ca