CARNet
Encyclopedia
CARNet is the national research and education network
of Croatia
. It is funded from the government budget and it operates from offices in Zagreb
and five other cities.
CARNet was established in 1991 as a project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia
. In March 1995 the Government of the Republic of Croatia passed the Decree on founding of the CARNet institution with the purpose of facilitating progress of individuals, as well as of the society
as a whole, through the use of new information technologies.
CARNet's activities can be divided in three basic areas: Internet service provision, encouragement of information society
development and education for the new era.
Improvement of higher education and science as well as of the work and lives of students, associates, lecturers and scientists by applying the information and communication technology, getting to know its capabilities and assisting in its implementation.
Stimulating information and communication technology implementation, and especially providing support to knowledge dissemination
and information exchange
as well as the development of contents available through the network
.
Co-operation with international organizations and linking with the academic and research networks, establishing and maintaining of central national services for the Internet.
Although CARNet activities are significant for the whole region of the Republic of Croatia, these are primarily targeted at the academic and research community. The role of the academic and research community in every society, including also the Croatian society, is to design, introduce and implement new technologies. This is the reason why the best and the latest information technology
and infrastructure have to be made available first and foremost to the academic and research community.
Croatia in the society of knowledge.
(ISP) in Croatia. In the several years that followed CARNet was the only Internet service provider
in Croatia, providing the service free of charge, not only to the academic community, but to all citizens of the Republic of Croatia as well.
In November 1992 the first international communication connection was established, which connected CARNet Internet exchange point
in Zagreb to Austria. By that act Croatia became a part of the world computer network – the Internet.
During 1992, the first equipment was procured and the backbone of the CARNet network was built. Institutions in Croatia were connected at the speed of 19 - 200 kbit/s, while the whole network was connected to the Internet through Austria at the speed of 64 kbit/s.
The first institutions to be connected to the Internet were the University Computing Centre - Srce
, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb, the Ruđer Bošković Institute, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split, the Faculty of Engineering in Rijeka, the Faculty of Economics in Osijek and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
During the first months of 1993, CARNet was assigned the administration over the top-level .hr
domain by the international organisation called the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA).
In October 1994, CARNet started offering the first Internet courses to its users and, in time, user education became one of CARNet’s most important activities.
In January 1997, the first distance lecture in Croatia was organized through the CARNet ATM core between the Rectorate of the Osijek University and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb.
GÉANT
, the pan-European academic and research network, was put into service on 1st December 2001, and CARNet, among others, connected to it.
In cooperation with the University Computing Centre - Srce
, in 2003 CARNet released the Giga CARNet project in order to use gigabit
technologies to develop a high quality infrastructure for CARNet member institutions, faculties and research institutes. In the framework of the Giga CARNet project, in February 2004 CARNet was enabled, through the connection to the GÉANT network, to have a twice-faster connection to similar academic and research networks in Europe and all over the world (at the speed of 1.2 Gbit/s instead of the former 622 Mbit/s).
As a necessary requirement for further cooperation between CARNet and the world's academic and research communities, in June 2007 the speed of CARNet's connection towards the GÉANT network was increased to 10 Gbit/s.
Chronology
The CEO coordinates the activities at the level of the entire institution and outside it, acts on behalf of the institution and represents CARNet in public
. CARNet Executive Committee
consists of the CEO, the vice CEO and deputy CEOs (heads of the said departments). The Committee coordinates short- and long-term planning, makes decisions on business organisation and is responsible for the relations with the government bodies, users, partners and the public.
CARNet is run by the Managing Council which represents the interests of CARNet founders, the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Managing Council members are appointed by the Minister of Science, Education and Sports.
The Users Board is CARNet's advisory body consisting of all CARNet coordinators at CARNet member institutions as the representatives of the academic community, heads of county-level computer science councils as the representatives of school system users, and the CARNet CEO.
The total amount of budget funds allocated to CARNet was over 88.5 million HRK
(ca. 12 million EUR).
Network infrastructure is owned by the CARNet institution, but cables are rented from a number of telecommunication
providers. CARNet network is an example of a WAN network which enables CARNet members throughout Croatia to be connected into a compact information and communication system.
CARNet network is a data network whose principal purpose is to transfer data through the TCP/IP protocol. The currently supported version of the TCP/IP protocol in the CARNet network as its integral part is version 4 (IPv4). The key characteristic of every private network is its connection to the global network - the Internet. The CARNet network established this connection through the GÉANT pan-European research network, with the current connection speed of 10 Gbit/s. The connection to other Internet service providers in Croatia has been implemented through the Croatian Internet Exchange Point – CIX.
In Croatia, the CARNet network connects the major Croatian towns and cities on the mainland
and a number of settlements on the islands. The larger university centres (Dubrovnik
, Osijek
, Pula
, Rijeka
, Split, Zadar
, Zagreb) have high speed connections (ranging from 155 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s), while smaller centres are connected at the speeds ranging from 2 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s. Zagreb has a particularly advanced infrastructure, connecting larger faculties and scientific institutions at the speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. Thanks to the project "e-Split,", which CARNet has accomplished in cooperation with the City of Split, Split is the first city in which CARNet has its own optical network. Through that optical network 158 CARNet member institutions, in the city area, are connected to CARNet network.
More than 900 institutions from the primary and secondary school systems are also connected to the CARNet network via ADSL connections, and schools on Croatian islands have been connected to CARNet network in the framework of the e-Islands project.
Parallel with the increase of physical link speed on GEANT
network, there is an increased development of CARNet's parallel (human) link towards European and international academic Internet community. CARNet activities in the sphere of international cooperation
are forming a stable communication channel towards foreign countries, providing CARNet with an opportunity to present Croatia and its academic research community.
International cooperation includes following the activities of other academic networks in Europe and participating in the work of international organisations that gather national, educational, academic and research networks. CARNet also promotes the inclusion of the Croatian academic community into international projects in the field of information technologies research and application and coordinates the participation of CARNet employees in international projects.
CARNet is active member of several international organisations:
CARNet member institutions are institutions belonging to the science and higher education system, as well as those belonging to the primary and secondary school systems. By obtaining the member status, institutions are connected to the CARNet network and entitled to use the CARNet services. CARNet has 241 member institutions from the academic community connected to the CARNet network at 418 locations. There are 1385 members from the primary and secondary school systems, connected at 1283 locations.
Individual users are higher education students and professors, scientists and persons employed in the academic and higher education community, primary and secondary school students, teachers and employees at primary and secondary schools and student homes.
At their respective central institution individual users obtain electronic identities in the AAI@EduHr system. Electronic identity is a virtual identity on the CARNet network which serves for user authentication and authorisation for different CARNet services and is necessary for the use of CARNet services.
National Research and Education Network
A National Research and Education Network is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country....
of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. It is funded from the government budget and it operates from offices in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and five other cities.
CARNet was established in 1991 as a project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia
Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (Croatia)
The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia is the ministry in the Government of Croatia which is in charge of primary, secondary and tertiary education, research institutions and sports.-List of ministers:...
. In March 1995 the Government of the Republic of Croatia passed the Decree on founding of the CARNet institution with the purpose of facilitating progress of individuals, as well as of the society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
as a whole, through the use of new information technologies.
CARNet's activities can be divided in three basic areas: Internet service provision, encouragement of information society
Information society
The aim of the information society is to gain competitive advantage internationally through using IT in a creative and productive way. An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, integration and manipulation of information is a significant economic,...
development and education for the new era.
Mission and Vision
CARNet's mission is to "provide the infrastructure, knowledge and the necessary resources to individuals and organizations that wish to build Croatia as an information society.Improvement of higher education and science as well as of the work and lives of students, associates, lecturers and scientists by applying the information and communication technology, getting to know its capabilities and assisting in its implementation.
Stimulating information and communication technology implementation, and especially providing support to knowledge dissemination
Dissemination
To disseminate , in terms of the field of communication, means to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view of communication, which involves a sender and receiver...
and information exchange
Information exchange
Information exchange is an informal term that can either refer to bidirectional information transmission/information transfer in telecommunications and computer science or communication seen from a system-theoretic or information-theoretic point of view....
as well as the development of contents available through the network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
.
Co-operation with international organizations and linking with the academic and research networks, establishing and maintaining of central national services for the Internet.
Although CARNet activities are significant for the whole region of the Republic of Croatia, these are primarily targeted at the academic and research community. The role of the academic and research community in every society, including also the Croatian society, is to design, introduce and implement new technologies. This is the reason why the best and the latest information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and infrastructure have to be made available first and foremost to the academic and research community.
Croatia in the society of knowledge.
The institution
A body responsible for coordinating the establishment of the Croatian educational computer network has been established on 3 October 1991. That was the beginning of the work of the Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet, the first Internet Service ProviderInternet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP) in Croatia. In the several years that followed CARNet was the only Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
in Croatia, providing the service free of charge, not only to the academic community, but to all citizens of the Republic of Croatia as well.
In November 1992 the first international communication connection was established, which connected CARNet Internet exchange point
Internet Exchange Point
An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers exchange Internet traffic between their networks . IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the average per-bit...
in Zagreb to Austria. By that act Croatia became a part of the world computer network – the Internet.
During 1992, the first equipment was procured and the backbone of the CARNet network was built. Institutions in Croatia were connected at the speed of 19 - 200 kbit/s, while the whole network was connected to the Internet through Austria at the speed of 64 kbit/s.
The first institutions to be connected to the Internet were the University Computing Centre - Srce
Srce
The University Computing Centre in Zagreb is the oldest infrastructural institution of the Croatian academic and scientific community in the area of construction and application of information and communication technologies . Srce is an organizational unit belonging to the University of Zagreb,...
, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb, the Ruđer Bošković Institute, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split, the Faculty of Engineering in Rijeka, the Faculty of Economics in Osijek and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
During the first months of 1993, CARNet was assigned the administration over the top-level .hr
.hr
- Details :The .hr domain is administered by CARNet - Croatian Academic and Research Network, via the CARNet DNS Committee which determines policy, and the CARNet DNS Service which handles day-to-day matters. The Committee is composed of members generally associated with the academic community...
domain by the international organisation called the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA).
In October 1994, CARNet started offering the first Internet courses to its users and, in time, user education became one of CARNet’s most important activities.
Network
In 1996, the backbone of CARNet network was upgraded by introducing the ATM technology which enables real-time transfer of image and sound at the basic speed of 155 Mbit/s.In January 1997, the first distance lecture in Croatia was organized through the CARNet ATM core between the Rectorate of the Osijek University and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb.
GÉANT
GEANT
GÉANT is the main European multi-gigabit computer network for research and education purposes...
, the pan-European academic and research network, was put into service on 1st December 2001, and CARNet, among others, connected to it.
In cooperation with the University Computing Centre - Srce
Srce
The University Computing Centre in Zagreb is the oldest infrastructural institution of the Croatian academic and scientific community in the area of construction and application of information and communication technologies . Srce is an organizational unit belonging to the University of Zagreb,...
, in 2003 CARNet released the Giga CARNet project in order to use gigabit
Gigabit
The gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore...
technologies to develop a high quality infrastructure for CARNet member institutions, faculties and research institutes. In the framework of the Giga CARNet project, in February 2004 CARNet was enabled, through the connection to the GÉANT network, to have a twice-faster connection to similar academic and research networks in Europe and all over the world (at the speed of 1.2 Gbit/s instead of the former 622 Mbit/s).
As a necessary requirement for further cooperation between CARNet and the world's academic and research communities, in June 2007 the speed of CARNet's connection towards the GÉANT network was increased to 10 Gbit/s.
Chronology
Organisation
CARNet operates through services and projects integrated in eight departments:- Network Infrastructure Department
- Computer and IT Systems and Services Department
- Computer Security Department
- National CERT Department
- User Support Department
- Education Support Department
- General and Financial Activities Department
- Office of the CEO
The CEO coordinates the activities at the level of the entire institution and outside it, acts on behalf of the institution and represents CARNet in public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
. CARNet Executive Committee
Executive Committee
Executive Committee may refer to:* The Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, a government body in the United Kingdom 1921–1972* The Northern Ireland Executive, a government body in the United Kingdom...
consists of the CEO, the vice CEO and deputy CEOs (heads of the said departments). The Committee coordinates short- and long-term planning, makes decisions on business organisation and is responsible for the relations with the government bodies, users, partners and the public.
CARNet is run by the Managing Council which represents the interests of CARNet founders, the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Managing Council members are appointed by the Minister of Science, Education and Sports.
The Users Board is CARNet's advisory body consisting of all CARNet coordinators at CARNet member institutions as the representatives of the academic community, heads of county-level computer science councils as the representatives of school system users, and the CARNet CEO.
The total amount of budget funds allocated to CARNet was over 88.5 million HRK
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
(ca. 12 million EUR).
CARNet infrastructure
Basic activities of the Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet are network development, building and maintenance. CARNet network is a private network of the Croatian academic, scientific and research community and the primary and secondary school system institutions.Network infrastructure is owned by the CARNet institution, but cables are rented from a number of telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
providers. CARNet network is an example of a WAN network which enables CARNet members throughout Croatia to be connected into a compact information and communication system.
CARNet network is a data network whose principal purpose is to transfer data through the TCP/IP protocol. The currently supported version of the TCP/IP protocol in the CARNet network as its integral part is version 4 (IPv4). The key characteristic of every private network is its connection to the global network - the Internet. The CARNet network established this connection through the GÉANT pan-European research network, with the current connection speed of 10 Gbit/s. The connection to other Internet service providers in Croatia has been implemented through the Croatian Internet Exchange Point – CIX.
In Croatia, the CARNet network connects the major Croatian towns and cities on the mainland
Mainland
Mainland is a name given to a large landmass in a region , or to the largest of a group of islands in an archipelago. Sometimes its residents are called "Mainlanders"...
and a number of settlements on the islands. The larger university centres (Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, Pula
Pula
Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,...
, Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
, Split, Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, Zagreb) have high speed connections (ranging from 155 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s), while smaller centres are connected at the speeds ranging from 2 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s. Zagreb has a particularly advanced infrastructure, connecting larger faculties and scientific institutions at the speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s. Thanks to the project "e-Split,", which CARNet has accomplished in cooperation with the City of Split, Split is the first city in which CARNet has its own optical network. Through that optical network 158 CARNet member institutions, in the city area, are connected to CARNet network.
More than 900 institutions from the primary and secondary school systems are also connected to the CARNet network via ADSL connections, and schools on Croatian islands have been connected to CARNet network in the framework of the e-Islands project.
International cooperation
As part of its vision of inclusion of the Republic of Croatia in modern information society, CARNet participates in a series of international activities.Parallel with the increase of physical link speed on GEANT
GEANT
GÉANT is the main European multi-gigabit computer network for research and education purposes...
network, there is an increased development of CARNet's parallel (human) link towards European and international academic Internet community. CARNet activities in the sphere of international cooperation
Internationalism (politics)
Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
are forming a stable communication channel towards foreign countries, providing CARNet with an opportunity to present Croatia and its academic research community.
International cooperation includes following the activities of other academic networks in Europe and participating in the work of international organisations that gather national, educational, academic and research networks. CARNet also promotes the inclusion of the Croatian academic community into international projects in the field of information technologies research and application and coordinates the participation of CARNet employees in international projects.
CARNet is active member of several international organisations:
- Trans - European Research and Education Networking AssociationTERENAThe Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association is a not-for-profit association of European national research and education networks incorporated in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and NumbersICANNThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
- Réseaux IP Européens
- Council of European National Top-Level Domain RegistriesCouncil of European National Top Level Domain RegistriesThe Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries is an association of Internet country code top-level domain registries...
- Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST)
- NREN Consortium
CARNet users
CARNet users are member institutions and individual users.CARNet member institutions are institutions belonging to the science and higher education system, as well as those belonging to the primary and secondary school systems. By obtaining the member status, institutions are connected to the CARNet network and entitled to use the CARNet services. CARNet has 241 member institutions from the academic community connected to the CARNet network at 418 locations. There are 1385 members from the primary and secondary school systems, connected at 1283 locations.
Individual users are higher education students and professors, scientists and persons employed in the academic and higher education community, primary and secondary school students, teachers and employees at primary and secondary schools and student homes.
At their respective central institution individual users obtain electronic identities in the AAI@EduHr system. Electronic identity is a virtual identity on the CARNet network which serves for user authentication and authorisation for different CARNet services and is necessary for the use of CARNet services.
CARNet Services
- Internet AccessInternet accessMany technologies and service plans for Internet access allow customers to connect to the Internet.Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 20th century....
: Continuous Connection, Net in School, E-islands, Mobile CARNet, XCARNet/3DCARNet, MetroCARNet, DUO.CARNet, OptiCARNet, Vipme CARNet, Stick2CARNet, Tele2CARNet, Homebox CARNet and CARNet Modem Entries. - EducationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
: Online Courses, E-learning Academy, E-courses for Schools, Moodle, Teacher Training, National Distance Learning Portal "Nikola Tesla", Školska Učilica, Schools Portal, E-library, CARNet Users Conference CUC, Online Encyclopedia, Cisco Academy, Courses for CARNet System Engineers and Portal for System Engineers - Internet Services: Hosting Service for Primary and Secondary Schools, CMS for Schools, Electronic Identity, Public Server, CARNet Debian, Virtual Servers, VOOPIX, www.hr, SmartX, E-mail, Webmail, Web Space, Domains, NTP, News, FTP and CARNet Cruncher.
- MultimediaMultimediaMultimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
: Room Videoconferences, Internet Transmission (streaming)Streaming mediaStreaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
, Media on Demand and Adobe Connect Pro. - Computer SecurityComputer securityComputer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
: Abuse Service, Content FilteringContent filteringContent filtering is the technique whereby content is blocked or allowed based on analysis of its content, rather than its source or other criteria. It is most widely used on the internet to filter email and web access.- Content filtering of email :...
, Security Advice Vulnerability Test , Server Certificates, Security Advice and Mediation in Resolving Computer Incidents. - Help and Support: User support service - helpdesk, Membership in the CARNet Network, Helpdesk for CARNet System Engineers and Membership in the CARNet Network.