The programme "PIONIER: Polish Optical Internet - Advanced Applications, Services and Technologies for the Information Society" has been prepared in 1999. In 2000 the project was accepted by the State Committee for Scientific Research as a continuation of former programs for building the Information Infrastructure for Science in Poland.

Research-deployment objectives of the PIONIER Program are the following:

• development and deployment of a new architecture for the Optical Internet;

• development and deployment of advanced services for the Information Society;

• development and deployment of a new economical model for the Optical Internet.

One of the main priorities of the PIONIER Program is to build a new generation optical network- the PIONIER network for short. The network topology includes over 6000 km of its own optical fibres and will connect 21 optical academic metropolitan area networks. The DWDM technology, up to 32 lambdas, is used starting with 10 Gb/s Ethernet.

The mission of the PIONIER Consortium is the construction of Polish Optical Network and the support of the statutory activities of the leading institutions and the development of the Information Society in general using the network and IT infrastructure.

To realize the mission the consortium established the rules for the PIONIER research network, defining the ownership of the infrastructure, its exploitation and the cooperation with the private institutions, the international cooperation etc.

The PIONIER Network has optical international links to research and education networks such neighbouring countries as Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Bielarus, Lithuania and Russia. For the benefits of the European co-operation it provides international connectivity to the pan-European network GÉANT through 10 Gb/s Ethernet and 10 Gb/s Packet over Sonet direct connections between the PIONIER Network and GÉANT PoP in Poznan. Moreover, two 2.5 Gb/s links provide general Internet access for the whole academic community in Poland. The PIONIER Network offers data transmission with guaranteed quality of service and virtual private networks enabling the usage of advanced applications and services.

Backup links as well as 24h/7d monitoring of the Network Operation Centre ensure high reliability of the network.

Optical network investment

The primary medium transmission in PIONIER network are optical fiber cables, arranged in a sewer or suspended on poles of energy. In the period from 2001 to October 2009 were built nearly 4900 kilometers of fiber, which are standard singlemode fiber (G.652), and filaments of the displaced non-zero dispersion (G.655). Along with fiber leased from other operators in the PIONIER network used is 5375.5 kilometers of fiber. On these fibers broadcasts are carried out using a DWDM system, currently using a 2-Lambda 10Gbit/s.

The current infrastructure used

PIONIER network now includes 21 academic network MAN (22 Units) and providing scientific and research access to global resources and a dedicated Internet connection between research centers in Poland and the centers abroad (universities, research institutes, supercomputing centers, libraries, etc.).

PIONIER connects 19 academic network MAN's own links with a speed of 2 x 10Gbit/s (DWDM technology) and 2 academic MAN network connections using technology 1 GE lines with a third operator.

On fiber optic G. 652 and G.655 installed ADVA's DWDM system, which is the transmission layer for the MPLS network built on the NetIron XMR backbone equipment of Foundry Networks 16000/8000. The main and backup router for PIONIER network are located in Poznan (Juniper's carrier-grade T320).

PIONIER network has external connections to the European research network GÉANT2 and the Internet. Connections to the GÉANT2 network technologies were implemented in 10 Gbit/s Packet over Sonet technology - the basic connection and 10 Gbit/s Gigabit Ethernet technology and brought directly to the GÉANT2 network node in Poznan. The combination of external Internet bandwidth currently holds 7.5 Gbit/s.

The proper functioning of PIONIER network under surveillance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year claims PIONIER Network Management Center (PIONIER NOC) located in Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center with IP-NOC operating in the Computer Center of University of Lodz.

Logical connections in the PIONIER network