National research and education network

A national research and education network (NREN) is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country.

It is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backbone network, often offering dedicated channels for individual research projects.

In recent years, many NRENs have expanded their remit of services to include areas such as identity and access management, security, automation, and cloud offerings, while others have evolved into fully fledged digital transformation agencies for their respective national governments.

List of NRENs by geographic area

East and Southern Africa

North Africa

West and Central Africa

Asia Pacific

North America

NameType
Internet2national
National LambdaRailnational [closed]
vBNSnational [closed]
Edge state (New Jersey)
ESnetnational
NERENregional (New England)
CAAREN regional (Washington metropolitan area)
CENICstate (California)
CENstate (Connecticut)
NERENregional (Midwest)
Illinois Century Networkstate (Illinois)
KanRENstate (Kansas)
LEARNstate (Texas)
Merit Networkstate (Michigan)
NEROstate (Oregon)
NCRENstate (North Carolina)
NYSERNetstate (New York)
OARnetstate (Ohio)
OneNetstate (Oklahoma)
OSHEANstate (Rhode Island)
PeachNetstate (Georgia)
PennRENstate (Pennsylvania)
THEnetstate (Texas)
UENstate (Utah)
WVNETstate (West Virginia)
WiscNet state (Wisconsin)
NameType
CANARIEnational
ACORN-NLprovincial (Newfoundland and Labrador)
ACORN-NSprovincial (Nova Scotia)
BCNETprovincial (British Columbia)
Cyberaprovincial (Alberta)
GTAnetprovincial (Ontario)
ECNprovincial (New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island)
MRnetprovincial (Manitoba)
ORIONprovincial (Ontario)
RISQprovincial (Quebec)
SRNetprovincial (Saskatchewan)

Latin America

High-speed Fibre Optic Data Link to ALMA and REUNA.

Caribbean

Europe

Nordic countries

Middle East

Central Asia

See also

References

  1. ↑ "GÉANT Compendium of NRENs". Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  2. ↑ "NRENs driving digital transformation in the Western Balkans". 2025-04-08.
  3. ↑ National Research Council (U.S.). National Research Network Review Committee, Leonard Kleinrock; et al. (1988). Toward a National Research Network. National Academies. ISBN 9780309581257.
  4. ↑ "LEARN: Lonestar Education and Research Network". Tx-learn.org. 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  5. ↑ "The Higher Education Network". www.the.net.[permanent dead link]
  6. ↑ "MRnet Manitoba Research Network - Enhancing Education and Research Through Advanced High Speed Optical Networks". Mrnet.mb.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  7. ↑ "New High-speed Fibre Optic Data Link to ALMA". www.eso.org. European Southern Observatory. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "CEENet - Central and Eastern European Networking Associations". 2012-04-03. Archived from the original on 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  9. ↑ "Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research".