Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network

What is KAREN?

KAREN is the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network. KAREN is a high-performance network that connects research organisations around New Zealand. Data can be transferred through KAREN at up to 10 gigabits a second - 10,000 times faster than a standard broadband connection.

A Crown-owned company, REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd), owns and operates KAREN.

Who is connected to KAREN?

KAREN's members include all NZ universities and Crown Research Institutes, as well as the National Library. Membership will grow in future to include polytechnics, museums, libraries and other research-oriented organisations.

KAREN also has international network connections from Auckland to Sydney and to Seattle. From Australia and the US, traffic is routed to further destinations including Asia and Europe.It's important to remember that KAREN is New Zealand's contribution to a global system of more than forty advanced research and education networks (ARENs) around the world. KAREN members in New Zealand are connected to member organisations of other ARENs overseas through a process called peering.

Peering can also happen locally. Work is underway on the Government Shared Network (GSN), and several school 'loops' (local optic-fibre networks) are already in place in Nelson-Marlborough, Wellington and Auckland’s North Shore. Over time, it is likely that connectivity between these different networks will be established.

Check to see if an organisation is available via KAREN

It is easy to check if an organisation in New Zealand or overseas can be accessed via KAREN. Simply type the web address into one of these services:

VUW's ITS KAREN tester [VUW staff only]

Otago University's KAREN tester [public access]

How do I "get onto KAREN"?

If you work on VUW's Kelburn, Pipitea or Te Aro campuses, then you are already connected to KAREN. You may not realise it, since as an end user there is nothing special to see: KAREN is not an additional plug to your computer, or an icon you will see on your desktop! Data is routed automatically via KAREN when the source and the destination of the data are recognised as being members.

VUW's KAREN Tester provided by ITS lets you see whether another organisation is available via the KAREN network: just type the web address of the organisation. Otago University also have a KAREN Tester available on the web.

Many existing applications like email clients and web browsers can be used to send traffic via KAREN. There are also some communication and collaboration tools that can be (relatively) easily adopted, such as the Access Grid and other videoconferencing tools.

In many cases though, applications designed for advanced networks like KAREN are very complex and specialised: often they reflect the workflows, resources and computational requirements of specific scientific and scholarly domains.

These kinds of tools may not be readily available in New Zealand: making the most of KAREN will mean identifying, adopting/adapting and deploying tools and services that have been developed overseas to support the types of work you want to do. Talking with international colleagues about what tools and services they use for collaborative research is a good starting point: the E-Research Development Coordinator can also help.

What kinds of research can KAREN support? Is it just for scientists?

KAREN will help VUW researchers to:

• participate in national and international research collaborations
• transfer large quantities of data quickly and easily - audio, video, large datasets
• analyse and process data more efficiently through sharing of resources

Scientists are often 'early adopters' of advanced networks. Researchers in the sciences often undertake large-scale data processing and data modelling and may require remote access to equipment and large datasets. Advanced networks support these kinds of activities so many overseas initiatives are in the sciences - astronomy, particle physics, bioinformatics, chemistry, epidemiology, surgical training and marine biology, just to name a few.

But KAREN is not just for scientists! Any research that requires collaboration or involves handling large quantities of data could benefit from KAREN.

Advanced networks support research and teaching in the humanities and the social sciences as well as in the sciences. Initiatives in sociology, health research, anthropology (including fieldwork), industrial design, politics, economics, archaeology, environmental planning, education, linguistics, music, performance and many other fields have successfully used advanced networks.

Can KAREN help my research?

If any of the following statements apply to you, then KAREN may facilitate your research:

• My research involves working with researchers from other organisations in NZ and/or overseas
• I do not collaborate with other researchers but I would like to in future
• I organise / attend meetings regularly with other researchers
• Data and/or equipment that would be useful to me is located elsewhere
• I have data and/or equipment that other researchers would like to access
• I need to send/receive large quantities of data (e.g. audio, video, datasets)
• I use software programs to analyse data - it is very complex / takes a long time
• I often email/phone colleagues elsewhere in NZ and overseas to discuss research projects and common research interests
• I am aware of international research initiatives in my area and would like to participate in them

Can KAREN help my teaching?

KAREN can also be used to enhance teaching and learning. You can use advanced network applications like the Access Grid and other videoconferencing tools to provide lectures, tutorials, virtual tours and real-time demonstrations to groups of staff and students located at different sites.