What is HEAnet?

HEAnet is Ireland's national education and research network. It has been in operation since 1983 as a collaborative endeavour between its member institutions. From 1993 until the end of 1997, the network services were managed by UCD Computing Services, under contract to HEAnet. In November 1997, HEAnet was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, and relocated its network operations centre to Brooklawn House, Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4. In July 2006, the company moved to new offices at 5, George's Dock, I.F.S.C, Dublin 1.

HEAnet Today

HEAnet's very high bandwidth network connects all Irish Universities, all Institutes of Technology, other higher education institutions (HEIs) and research organisations, in addition to all primary and post-primary schools across Ireland.

HEAnet’s e-Infrastructure services underpin academic research and education activity in Ireland with approximately 200,000 students and staff (third-level) and approximately 800,000 students and staff (first and second-level) relying on the HEAnet network each day for their learning and research needs.

These institutions are linked in a state-of-the art wide area network (WAN) spanning the country. Significantly, HEAnet played a key role in the establishment of the Irish Neutral Exchange (INEX), a facility which enables all Irish Internet service providers (ISPs) to exchange their Internet traffic in Ireland. As a result, HEAnet members benefit from a high level of connectivity with all other major Irish networks, while customers of the commercial ISPs enjoy a high level of connectivity with the national education and research network. HEAnet currently connects to INEX with 2 x 10Gbps links.

HEAnet Ltd. also provides connections to networks in Europe by means of its 2 x 10 Gbps link with the GÉANT backbone, and 2 x 1Gbps circuit links HEAnet to JANET, the UK education and research network. HEAnet has a 2 x 10 Gbps connection to the General Internet. HEAnet also funds and manages the National Information Server (ftp.heanet.ie) which serves as an online repository of information resources of relevance to the academic and research community, both in Ireland and around the globe. HEAnet also hosts a number of major dataset services for the education and research community. Through the provision of state-of-the-art network and communications technology, and important Web-based information services, HEAnet Ltd. has and will continue to promote progress in today's Information Society.

HEAnet Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of HEAnet consists of fourteen members. These represent the Universities (seven representatives), the Institutes of Technology (four representatives), the Higher Education Authority (one representative), the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation (one representative), and CONUL (one representative). The present members of the board are:

Tom Boland (Higher Education Authority) - Chairman
Prof. Vinny Cahill (Trinity College Dublin)
Brian Carolan (Nat. University of Ireland Maynooth)
Denis Cummins (Institutes of Technology Ireland - Dundalk Institute of Technology)
Jim Fennell (Institutes of Technology Ireland - Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology) - appointed under Article 42 (c)
John Fitzgerald (University College Cork)
Dr John Howard (Consortium of Nat. & Uni. Libraries)
Dr Kieran Loftus (Nat. University of Ireland Galway)
Barbara McConalogue (Dublin City University)
Dr Brendan Murphy (Institutes of Technology Ireland - Cork Institute of Technology)
Prof. Fionn Murtagh (Department of Enterprise, Trade & Innovation)
David Scott (Dublin Institute of Technology)
Seamus Shaw (University College Dublin)