CEENet
Central and Eastern European Networking Association

Croatia

Networking organization:

Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet)
J. Mahronica bb
41000 Zagreb; Croatia

CARNet activities

The Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet, was established in 1991 as a project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia. In 1995 the Croatian Government issued a Decree on the founding of the CARNet institution.

The term CARNet is an acronym of the English title of the institution (Croatian Academic and Research Network).

The building of an information society means widespread, efficient, and omni-available information infrastructure, which consists not only of the computer - communication infrastructure, but also the legal regulations, contents, and support systems. CARNet information infrastructure consists of:
. CARNet network,
. services at the national level.

Modern, top-quality and diverse educational system, adapted to the needs of individuals and of the community, is a necessary precondition for joining the information society, and at the same time a lever of further development of Croatia. In order to support the integration of Croatia in the information society, CARNet teaches the users about the new technologies by means of:
. educational projects,
. educational centre,
. the Internet conferences.

Although CARNet activities are significant for the whole Croatia, CARNet activities are primarily focused on the academic and research community. The role of the academic and research community in any society, including the Croatian society, is to create, introduce and use the new technologies. This is the reason why the academic and research society should be the first to be able to have available the best and the most sophisticated information technology and infrastructure.

Topology of the network

See the picture

Protocol used

CARNet network is a data network intended first of all for the transfer of data by using the TCP/IP protocol. currently supported version of the TCP/IP protocol on the greater part of the Internet network as well as in the CARNet network as integral part of the global network is version 4 (IPv4). It is based on lines and capacities leased from the national telecomm operator HPT ( Croatian Post and Telecommunications) . Dial-up lines . PPP and ISDN are supported.

Number of hosts connected and estimated number of users

Currently, 199 institutions at 286 locations in 27 towns in Croatia are connected to the CARNet network. 97929 students and 9252 professors (and other academic staff) are CARNet users.

Financial sources

From its start in 1991, CARNet's only financial source is the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Plans for the future

CARNet has started new project titled Gigabit CARNet. The main objective of the project is to provide high quality, advanced network service, connecting services provided by faculties and institutes - members of the CARNet network by means of gigabit speeds. Gigabit CARNet will be created by connecting CARNet member networks (included in the project) into an omnipresent infrastructure based on the joint "central networkability" operating at the moment at 155 Mbps, 622 Mbps and 1 Gbps initially, with the possibility of upgrade to dozens of Gbps over the next period.

Problems

The main problem is the price of international lines.