RENATER (France)

RENATER (France)
Name	RENATER
Formation	1993
Type	National research and education network
Headquarters	Paris, France
Region served	France
Membership	French higher education and research institutions

RENATER (France) is the French national research and education network connecting universities, research laboratories, museums, hospitals, and cultural institutions across France. It provides high-capacity networking, identity federation, and advanced services to support collaborations among institutions such as Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INRIA, and CEA. RENATER underpins national participation in European initiatives like GÉANT and global efforts involving Internet2 and ESnet, enabling data-intensive science in fields linked to CERN, Institut Pasteur, and CEA-List.

Overview and Mission

RENATER’s mission centers on delivering resilient, high-performance connectivity and digital services to support research, higher education, cultural heritage, and public research organizations including CNES, INSERM, IRD, and IRSN. It aims to foster collaborations among institutions such as École Polytechnique, École Normale Supérieure, Université de Strasbourg, and Université Grenoble Alpes while interoperating with international research networks like GÉANT and regional networks such as SURFnet and JANET. RENATER’s service portfolio connects stakeholders including Bibliothèque nationale de France, Musée du Louvre, CHU de Grenoble, and Centre Pompidou to computational resources like PRACE and national infrastructures such as GENCI.

History and Development

RENATER originated from earlier French academic networking efforts related to projects involving Minitel era initiatives and collaborations with entities like CNRS and Université Paris-Sud. Over time RENATER evolved through partnerships with organizations including Ministry of Higher Education and Research (France), CEA, and INRIA to support emerging requirements from domains such as astrophysics partnerships with Observatoire de Paris and life sciences collaborations with Institut Pasteur. Milestones include network upgrades to dense wavelength division multiplexing hardware from suppliers linked to projects at Thales and Alcatel-Lucent, expansions to regional nodes serving institutions such as Université de Lyon, Université de Bordeaux, and Université de Toulouse — Paul Sabatier, and integration with European research infrastructures like EUDAT and ELIXIR.

Network Infrastructure and Services

RENATER operates a national backbone based on optical fiber, wavelength division multiplexing, and IP/MPLS technologies procured from vendors that have supplied equipment to projects with Thales, Orange S.A., and Nokia. It provides services including high-bandwidth point-to-point circuits, IP transit, multicast, peering with commercial carriers such as Bouygues Telecom and SFR, and identity federation through eduGAIN and Shibboleth deployments used by institutions including Université de Montpellier and Université Jean Monnet. RENATER supports grid and cloud access for computing centers like TGCC and IDRIS and enables collaboration tools, videoconferencing systems interoperable with H.323 endpoints used by UNESCO partners, and domain name services connecting research sites such as CEA Saclay and Institut Curie.

Governance and Funding

RENATER is governed by a consortium model involving stakeholders such as Ministry of Higher Education and Research (France), CNRS, ComUE groups, and regional university federations like Réseau Universitaire de Recherche et d'Enseignement (RURE). Its funding mixes public allocations from bodies including Ministry of the Economy and Finance (France), membership contributions from institutions such as Université Grenoble Alpes, and service revenues arising from partnerships with entities like CEA and INSERM. Oversight involves technical steering committees with representatives from INRIA, CINES, and regional research organizations such as Laboratoire d’Annecy de Physique des Particules.

Research, Education, and Collaborations

RENATER supports domain-specific collaborations across projects associated with CERN experiments, astrophysics consortia around Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, bioinformatics infrastructures like ELIXIR France, and cultural digitization programs involving Bibliothèque nationale de France and Musée d’Orsay. It participates in European programs such as Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe and partners with networks like GÉANT, SURFnet, CANARIE, and Internet2 to enable transnational science with institutions including Max Planck Society, ETH Zurich, University of Oxford, and MIT. RENATER also supports training and capacity building through collaborations with CNAM, Institut Mines-Télécom, and regional schools like Université de Lille.

Security, Privacy, and Policy

RENATER implements security operations and incident response services cooperating with national CERTs such as CERT-FR and with European initiatives like TF-CSIRT. It enforces policies for identity management through implementations of eduGAIN and Shibboleth, data protection practices aligned with CNIL guidance and interactions with legal frameworks tied to European Commission directives. RENATER liaises with cybersecurity research groups at ANSSI and academic teams at IRISA and LIP6 to develop best practices for securing high-capacity research networks used by hospitals like Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou and laboratories such as Institut Pasteur.

Impact and Future Directions

RENATER has enabled large-scale science collaborations for projects associated with CERN, climate science programs tied to Météo-France, and genomics initiatives involving Genoscope and INSERM, enhancing France’s role in European and global research ecosystems. Future directions include network capacity upgrades to support exascale workflows connected to PRACE centers, deeper integration with cloud federations like OpenNebula and OpenStack instances used by GENCI, expanded support for 5G testbeds coordinated with ARCEP, and strengthened partnerships with European research networks such as GÉANT and innovation hubs linked to European Open Science Cloud.

Category:National research and education networks