HEAnet, the Irish academic and research communications network, has just completed a major upgrade of its infrastructure which will enable it to support speeds of up to 40Gbits per second.

This is equivalent to roughly 20,000 2Mbits per second broadband lines - the average speed available to residential users.

The upgrade was completed by Eircom subsidiary Lan Communications and involved a capital investment of €2 million which has been funded under the National Development Plan.

HEAnet chief executive John Boland said having a leading edge next generation network was essential in attracting the best researchers to Ireland and retaining them. "Building a world-class, high bandwidth network, capable of supporting the unique demands of this community is critical," Mr Boland said.

HEAnet provides connectivity to more than 50 universities, institutes of technology and research bodies around the country. They will now be able to run applications such as video conferencing and exchange large volumes of data such as high resolution medical imaging.

It also supports the Republic's connection to the GÉANT network, a high capacity pan-European backbone which connects research and education networks in 38 countries.

The upgraded network is based on Cisco's high-end CRS-1 network routers which are normally deployed by telecommunications providers. As a result the network has been redesigned, with the routers located in two data centres.

Equipment which was deployed in points of presence around the country to provide access can now be redeployed in colleges, Mr Boland said.

HEAnet continually invests in the latest networking technology according to Andrew O'Kelly, managing director of Lan Communications. "What we see in HEAnet becomes the mainstream for big businesses a year later," Mr O'Kelly said.