NRENs

As New Zealand’s designated National Research and Education Network (NREN), we are an active member of the global community of over 120 national and regional research and education networks.

These NRENs have long-established working relationships, and have developed shared practices and protocols that enable them to facilitate the transfer of huge data sets on a global scale.

This community works together on a not-for-profit basis, collaborating for the benefit of their users and stakeholders. NRENs support global research collaboration through data movement at a scale not commonly found outside of the research and education sector.

Map of the world with blue location pins over each country that has an NREN

Connections and collaboration

The underlying network infrastructure that supports NREN's members and end users is anchored in connections, be that at a people level or an infrastructure level. Today’s research is becoming increasingly distributed and data-intensive and the scale of global collaboration is increasing, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

New Zealand’s isolation should not limit its ability to participate in collaboration and contribute to world class research. In fact, it drives the need for continued, reliable connectivity so that the work of New Zealand’s researchers is accessible to the world. That is where REANNZ comes in.

NRENs are...

As New Zealand's NREN, REANNZ acts as a fundamental part of the science, research and innovation system in New Zealand, connecting people, knowledge and capability to support developing ideas and contribute back to the sector.

There are four common denominators for all NRENs, they:

  1. provide services for a specialist user or member group,

  2. have a shared mission to provide services and infrastructure for the good of their communities and to reduce costs through agreements and protocols,

  3. provide national and international connectivity at a minimum, and

  4. provide additional services that support and enable effective use of these networks.

Shared tools and infrastructure

The global NREN community also develop and manage services that are designed to meet the needs of their research, science and innovation communities.

These services include eduroam (education roaming: the secure, worldwide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community) and eduGAIN (the global federated identity management system). Find out more about these services here.

New Zealand's NREN

REANNZ participates actively in groups like the  Global NREN CEO Forum. This group works towards a collaborative model for evolving the world's Global Research and Education Network (GREN) and its services to meet the changing needs of the global research and education community.

REANNZ is also a member of the Global Network Advancement group and APAN - the Asian Pacific Advanced Network. This community in the Asia Pacific region connects, coordinates and shares collaborative research successes and explores networking technologies and innovations across NRENs.

REANNZ also works closely with and builds relationships with both regional and individual NRENs, including the APOnet Collaboration. This collaboration connects East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North America in order to contribute resources and support a high-speed trans-oceanic network that is more resilient, flexible, and consistent.

You can find more information about APOnet and the NRENs involved in the collaboration here at aponet.global.

A seat at the table - read more about REANNZ's role in the global NREN community.

Global research and education community
The global research and education community connect and collaborate through national research and education networks (NRENs).

Who uses REANNZ?

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