The Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES) is a public institute that provides network services to research, educational and cultural organizations, and enables them to establish connections and cooperation with each other and with related organizations abroad.
ARNES builds, maintains and manages infrastructure linking universities, institutes, research laboratories, museums, schools, databases and digital libraries. It offers users the same services as national academic networks in other countries; it cooperates with these networks in European Commission projects to test, develop and introduce new Internet protocols and services. It also provides services that are not offered by commercial organizations but which are essential to the operation of the Internet in Slovenia.
Due to continual technological change, ARNES continuously adapts to the needs of its users. In the long term, it aims to provide users with equal opportunities for cooperation in the unified European area. This requires closely connected network infrastructure with uniform technical and safety standards, and services established and maintained by national educational and research networks across the whole of Europe.
The ARNES network links over 1500 Slovenian organizations and makes ARNES’ services available to nearly 250,000 people. International connections with educational and research networks in other countries are provided through the multi-gigabit GÉANT network co-financed by the European Commission. Users can therefore participate in international projects requiring fast and reliable information-communications connections, stable videoconference transmission and the transmission of large amounts of data.
With regards to the strategic development of the Slovenian educational and research network, ARNES cooperates professionally and on a project basis with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the Ministry of Public Administration. In introducing new technologies and services, it cooperates operationally and on a project basis with other institutions involved in various areas of network use, and on various expert committees for national programmes and projects. It also plays an active role in the European Commission projects SAFE-SI and Spletno oko, under the European Safer Internet action plan.
On the international level, ARNES is professionally involved in working groups and projects in the area of computer networks and the information society, in conjunction with educational and research networks from other countries. It is also a member of the following international organizations: GÉANT, RIPE, CENTR, EURid, FIRST, and Euro-IX. It is also a co-founder of GÉANT and a member of NREN PC. ARNES has representatives on the boards of the international organizations GÉANT, EURid and ENISA, and has a consultant in the GAC.
The ARNES Board of Directors is appointed by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The Board of Directors adopts the Operating Plan and the Final Accounts, while the Technical Board deals with programme and development issues.
