On July 13th, 1994, the establishment of the Red Universitaria Nacional was published in the Official Journal. With this publication was formally created the Corporation that on 2011 is arriving to its 17 year of work. However, the beginning of this collaborative project had already started almost a decade before when in 1986 several professionals and public institutions gather around a dream of creating a Chilean network of research and education.

As a result in the 90's this network began its march with a capacity that did not exceed the 512 Kbps and although now it seems a deficient number at that time represented a significant progress for the country and even for the continent. In 1997 REUNA became the most powerful network in Latin America. Then on 2000 was the first Latin American network connected to Internet 2, its equivalent in the United States, and then to GEANT, the trans European network, as part of RedCLARA, the Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks that also helped to create.

In recent years REUNA focused on consolidating and improving its network infrastructure and the services developed and offered to its members. This new anniversary arrives precisely when has just been taken a technological move in connectivity, as the network capacity was expanded to eight times. This update means that the capacity moved to ranges of 2.5 Gbps to 1 Gbps between Antofagasta and Osorno and 155 Mbps between Arica and Antofagasta. The improvement makes REUNA to be part of the academic networks that have capabilities of giga bit (1000 megabits) per second.

The enlargement of the Arica-Antofagasta section will be operational during the second half of 2011. Until that happens, the institutions located on this area also benefited by the improvement of the network, because they do not have to compete for capacity with other institutions outside of the area, as they have almost 155 Mbps for exclusive use.

But the challenges for the Corporation do not end there, since technology advances ever faster there is a commitment to grow according to the needs of academics from Chilean universities and the great astronomical centers located in the country.

Studies predict that by 2020 Chile will be the region with the largest number of observatories in the world and REUNA is working to face the challenges of connectivity and services that astronomy will pose in the coming years.

If you want to learn more about REUNA services, click here.

To meet the team of Red Universitaria Nacional, click here.