KISTI Expands Global Research Network Collaboration Across Asia, the Pacific, and Oceania

 * KREONET(Korea Research Environment Open NETwork) : A national research network backbone capable of transmitting up to 1.2 Tbps through 18 regional network centers nationwide, interconnecting with approximately 30,000 research networks worldwide via international links.

□ To this end, KISTI signed a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on August 11 with research network institutions from seven countries, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and China, to establish the Asia Pacific Oceania Network (APOnet) consortium. This agreement expands and renews the APOnet collaboration framework originally launched in 2021.

□ Despite 44 outage incidents totaling 3,357 hours on international backbone circuits in 2025, KREONET achieved a world-class service availability rate of 99.99% through a 100Gbps mutual backup system with its APOnet partners.

□ The APOnet member nations plan to expand cross-border transmission of large-scale research data and shared utilization of computing resources by interconnecting international research networks at speeds of up to 400Gbps.

□ Furthermore, member institutions will operate the network as a mutual backup system to ensure stable service delivery even during network disruptions, while collaborating on the development of new application services and network technologies required for international joint research.

□ APOnet is expected to serve as a vital foundation for transmitting and sharing vast amounts of data generated by mega-science research facilities, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope currently under construction in Australia, and the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

□ Through this network, domestic researchers will be able to rapidly access data from global mega-science facilities and conduct joint analyses with research teams worldwide. The shared utilization of cross-border AI computing resources and large-scale training dataset is also expected to expand. 

□ In addition, as the cost of leasing 100Gbps and 400Gbps international circuits has recently risen, making it difficult for a single national research network to independently construct backup links, building a mutual backup system through APOnet will significantly reduce operational costs for high-bandwidth international backbones. 

□ Dr. Buseung Cho, Director of the KREONET Center at KISTI, stated, "The APOnet-based international research network will serve as a core research infrastructure connecting AI computing resources and large-scale research data at ultra-high speeds. Through the 400Gbps KREONET Asia-Pacific international backbone being established this year, we will create a stable global research environment by expanding shared AI infrastructure and mutual network backups based on trust-driven cooperation among national research networks."

□ Dr. Jungsuk Song, Director of the Division of Network Future Technology Research at KISTI, stated, "APOnet holds great significance as a national AI infrastructure network for research data collaboration as well as AI and HPC cooperation across the Asia-Pacific-Oceania region, laying a solid foundation for international joint research and global partnership." 

APOnet Global Research Network Map

APOnet Multilateral MOU Signing Ceremony