NORDUnet and Sunet Agreement

NORDUnet and Sunet entered into an agreement for handing over the operation of the Sunet Network to Sunet

Copenhagen, Denmark & Stockholm, Sweden – 2 January 2019

The current Nordic R&E Network operational model was established during 2006 when both NORDUnet and Sunet were implementing a fiber optic network and there was a need for an operational organization that could handle both the network and the NOC.

Prior to this the NOC and network operations were outsourced to a university organization but an organization without background in optical networking. The cost for continuing this way was prohibitive.

The general position, at that time, from the NORDUnet Board was that NORDUnet should take care of the inter-Nordic and global connectivity and that each country should have their own operational organization. For Sunet, that was not possible at that time as Sunet did not have a legal entity that could employ staff and could enter into legally binding contracts.

Therefore, the NORDUnet Board agreed that NORDUnet could host and operate not just its own network but also Sunet’s network, until Sunet was able to establish a legal entity.

At this moment in time, with Sunet now being a part of VR[1], the time has come to return to the original mode of operation, in which NORDUnet have the responsibility for the interconnection of the Nordic NRENs and for global connectivity, and where each country’s R&E Networking organization takes responsibility for the national network.

With this agreement, the 12 employees at the NORDUnet subsidiary in Stockholm were transferred to Sunet/VR as of January 1^st, 2019. In the transition period, Sunet will assist NORDUnet in running part of the NORDUnet network.