KISTI Launches Korea’s First Single 400G International Backbone for KREONET

- Expanding the Daejeon–Chicago international backbone, quadrupling transfer capacity from 100G to 400G

- Establishing a world-class single 400Gbps international backbone in the Asia-Pacific region

□ The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (President Sik Lee, hereafter KISTI) announced on September 10 that it has launched the Daejeon–Chicago international backbone network, expanding its capacity by fourfold from the existing 100Gbps to 400Gbps within the Korea Research Environment Open NETwork (KREONET*)

 * KREONET(Korea Research Environment Open NETwork) : A national research backbone network delivering up to 1.2Tbps bandwidth across 18 regional network centers. It is interconnected with approximately 30,000 research networks worldwide via international research network links. 

□ This backbone network represents the nation's first 400Gbps per single wavelength international circuit, spanning both private commercial telecom operators and the public sector in South Korea. It holds significant value in upgrading the nation’s international network infrastructure, as well as the national research network, to a world-class level. Theoretically, transferring a large-scale research dataset of 100TB takes approximately 2 hours and 13 minutes in a 100Gbps environment, but this duration is drastically reduced to about 33 minutes under the 400Gbps environment.

□ To achieve this, based on the international optical circuits provided by KT including submarine cable segments between South Korea and the United States, KISTI established an international research network backbone capable of ultra-high-speed and large-scale data transfer, thereby securing long-distance transmission quality and validating ultra-high-performance international research network services. 

□ On the 8th (local time), KISTI visited StarLight, an international research network interconnection hub operated by the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University in the United States. During the visit, KISTI set up the international backbone network and discussed collaborative strategies for next-generation research network technologies, including the application of high-speed international research networks to global megascience research, AI-based high-speed transmission technologies, and performance-guaranteed networking technologies for large research communities. StarLight serves as a pivotal global hub connecting major research networks and advanced research infrastructures across North America and worldwide. 

□ The Daejeon–Chicago route serves as the core axis of KREONET's international backbone. Its terminus, StarLight, brings together leading regional research networks including Internet2 and ESnet (US), CANARIE (Canada), AmLight (South America), as well as GÉANT, NORDUnet, and SURF (Europe) via transatlantic links. Through this expansion, KREONET can now reach North American, South American, and European research networks from Chicago at four times the previous speed. Consequently, domestic researchers will be able to utilize massive research datasets, AI resources, and supercomputing infrastructures generated by large-scale international facilities with greater speed and stability.

□ Prof. Joe Mambretti, Director of iCAIR at Northwestern University, stated, "We have partnered with KISTI for a long time to support global data-intensive science," adding, "We expect this launch to serve as a critical foundation supporting next-generation international collaborative research that leverages AI and large-scale scientific data." 

□ Dr. Buseung Cho, Director of the KREONET Center at KISTI, stated, "Constructing this international circuit goes beyond a simple network capacity upgrade; it elevates our national research infrastructure to the top global standard." He added, "Research networks are essential core infrastructures for securing AI sovereignty and data sovereignty, and we will continuously upgrade the South Korea–Europe route in the future." 

KREONET global network topology centered around the Daejeon–Chicago 400G international circuit, connecting with major research networks worldwide

Celebration of  the launch of the Daejeon–Chicago 400Gbps international circuit at iCAIR, Northwestern University, USA