CANARIE, NORDUnet, and SURF, National Research and Education Network (NREN) partners in Canada, the European Nordic, and the Netherlands, today announced a major upgrade to the transatlantic connection between Montreal and Amsterdam — a significant enhancement to the performance, resilience, and flexibility of the global research and education (R&E) network that underpins data‑intensive science and international collaboration.The newly deployed 400 gigabit per second (400G) link is anchored at MOXY, Canada’s Global Exchange Point for R&E in Montreal, and at NetherLight, the Dutch Global Exchange Point in Amsterdam. The exchange points serve as vital landing points for European–North American R&E traffic, providing an open, high-capacity environment where global R&E networks interconnect to advance large-scale scientific discovery.
Why 400G Matters
Today’s upgrade reflects both the scale and urgency of modern science. Computational research, high‑energy physics, astronomy, climate modelling, biomedical research, and other data‑intensive fields are generating unprecedented volumes of information. In practical terms, with a 400G connection upgrade over the previous 100G connection:
- Physicists can transmit larger datasets from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), allowing for faster observations and resulting research.
- Astronomy researchers alone are expected to use a steady 100 gigabits per second of the connection to receive observational data from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory, delivered nearly in real time for analysis and discovery.
To sustain this growth, CANARIE and its international partners recognized the need to modernize transatlantic pathways.
Strengthening a Core Route for Global Research
The Montreal–Amsterdam route has been an example of international research connectivity partnerships since 2017. Previously operating at 100G, it has supported activities under the Advanced North Atlantic (ANA) collaboration and served as a key link between CANARIE, NORDUnet, SURF, and their global partners.By upgrading the Montreal–Amsterdam circuit to 400G, the partners ensure continued support for researchers who depend on fast, reliable access to global datasets, instruments, and collaborators.
“This expansion of capacity along the Montreal–Amsterdam corridor strengthens a critical route in global research networking,” says Mark Wolff, Chief Technology Officer, CANARIE.
“By working closely with NORDUnet and SURF, we’re ensuring that Canadian and international researchers can move the massive datasets that power discovery, innovation, and scientific breakthroughs.”
NORDUnet and SURF echoed the importance of collaboration in providing resilient, scalable infrastructure that can keep pace with the accelerating speed of scientific innovation.
“At NORDUnet, our network strategy commits us to maintaining a global peering fabric with unrestricted capacity and built-in diversity — ensuring that we are never dependent on a single provider, infrastructure, or country,” says Lars Lange Bjørn, Head of Network Engineering at NORDUnet.
“Through our collaboration with CANARIE and SURF, we can realise that ambition across the Atlantic. The federated ANA system provides a level of resilience and scale we could not achieve alone and clearly demonstrates the strength of global NREN collaboration. Contributing the Amsterdam–Montreal link to this shared infrastructure is important for NORDUnet and for the researchers we serve.”
“Expanding to 400G on the Amsterdam–Montreal route is something I’m super proud of and loved working on with the partners from CANARIE and NORDUnet,” says Karin Wessel, PM International Connectivity & NetherLight at SURF. “While most transatlantic R&E links land in the U.S., our dedicated path linking NetherLight directly to MOXY provides the geographical diversity that’s essential for a robust global network. Strengthening the ANA collaboration is vital — it’s partnerships like these that ensure the global research community, including data-intensive projects like the LHC and SKA, keeps a high-performance, reliable path to discovery.”
A Foundation for the Next Generation of Global Science
The 400G upgrade marks a major milestone in longstanding transatlantic collaboration and sets the stage for continued growth. As science becomes increasingly data driven, distributed, and globally interdependent, this expanded capacity ensures that researchers can continue to push the boundaries of discovery.
About NORDUnet
NORDUnet is a collaboration between the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of the five Nordic countries, i.e., Denmark (DeiC), Finland (Funet/CSC), Iceland (RHnet), Norway (Sikt), and Sweden (Sunet). NORDUnet operates a world-class data network, based on dark fiber and spectrum sharing, together with support for e-infrastructures, including media services like videoconferencing and lecture capturing & playback.
More than 400 research & education institutions in the Nordics, with over 1.2 million users, are connected via the Nordic NREN networks, enabling scientists, educators, and students to work and share knowledge globally. NORDUnet is an active participant in the European NREN collaboration GÉANT and is a founding father of intercontinental NREN collaborations such as the Advanced North Atlantic (ANA) and Asia Pacific Europe Ring (AER) systems that are part of the Global Research and Education Network (GREN). In 2020, NORDUnet celebrated 40 years of Nordic NREN collaboration.
About SURF
SURF is the ICT cooperative of Dutch education and research institutions. The members, the owners of SURF, join forces to develop or procure the best possible digital services, work together on complex innovation issues and develop and share knowledge with each other.
SURF actively collaborates with other European NRENs united in GÉANT and participates in global consortia like the Advanced North Atlantic (ANA) and Asia Pacific Europe Ring (AER).
NetherLight, SURF’s Global Exchange Point (GXP) dedicated to research and education data in Amsterdam connects similar GXPs and advanced high-capacity networks for scientific and educational collaboration. The NetherLight GXP plays a major and vital role in the federation of research and education networks worldwide, also known as the Global Research and Education Network (GREN).
About CANARIE
CANARIE, together with its 13 provincial and territorial partners, forms Canada’s National Research and Education Network (NREN). This ultra-high-speed network connects Canada’s researchers and educators to each other and to global data, technology, and colleagues.
To strengthen the security of Canada’s research and education sector, CANARIE collaborates with its partners in the NREN, government, academia, and the private sector to fund, implement, and support cybersecurity initiatives. CANARIE also provides identity management services to the academic community through eduroam and identity and access management services.
Established in 1993, CANARIE is a non-profit corporation, with most of its funding provided by the Government of Canada.
