TENET [/tɛnɛt/] is a non-profit company that was set up specifically for the benefit of South African universities and associated research institutions. We are committed to delivering exceptional Internet and Information Technology services that are strongly aligned and consistent with the organisational requirements of our user community.
What makes us unique?
TENET is the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa. Because of our long-standing and in-depth understanding of the education space, our services are unique, and our entire portfolio is geared towards meeting the specific needs of research and higher education. We are both focussed on the needs of our members in higher education, and we are fully accountable to them. TENET’s approach is highly responsive, and we work with our members to ensure solutions that meet their particular needs.
What drives us?
Our vision is to keep South African research and education at the leading edge of this space in Africa and globally. We believe that South Africa produces world-leading research, and we are proud to serve the research community in enabling and furthering this valuable and innovative work.
At TENET, we believe that education is a fundamentally important element in society. We strive to emulate best practice in this space globally and guide our member institutions towards these practices. We are passionate about delivering services that empower our universities to compete on the global stage.
Part of our vision is to develop appropriate solutions for South Africa’s unique context. This spans a wide range of offerings, from bridging the digital divide to conducting world research with leading experts in their fields. We also support the urgent need to grow education in South Africa, and our services are designed to meet the requirements of our beneficiaries’ transformation agendas.
Our Purpose and Constitution
TENET, the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa NPC, was created in August 2000 by the public universities of South Africa as the organisational home of, and vehicle for, collaborative inter-networking by universities, science councils and associated support institutions. Our leadership comprises experts in their field, and our employees are highly skilled. We are agile in terms of our team structure, and responsive in our ability to grow.
We work in all sectors that involve moving and exchanging large amounts of data. Currently, our beneficiaries in higher education and research actively contribute in many fields including radio astronomy, bioinformatics, computational physics, the health sciences and the humanities.
Over the years, research has become multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional, with an increasing need to collaborate nationally and internationally. We take pride in facilitating efficient collaboration and enabling trust relationships so that our users can focus on their research and teaching with complete peace of mind.
A National and International Network
TENET operates the SANReN network providing the South African higher education and research community with Internet connectivity and value-added services. This national network connects over 350 sites – campuses and offices – across all nine provinces at an aggregate bandwidth in excess of one terabit per second (Tbps).
TENET operates the SANReN MPLS network under the terms of a Collaboration Agreement with the SANReN Competency Area at the CSIR (SCA). The network comprises national and international points of presence, connected using a combination of dark and managed fibre links at speeds of up to 100Gbps. Dark fibre metro rings are deployed in most major cities in South Africa. Several international high-capacity submarine links connect South Africa to Europe (via both the East & West coasts of Africa) and South America. Peering is available at all major national peering points (NAPAfrica, CINX, JINX, DINX) and internationally at LINX and AMS-IX. Transit services are provided via Liquid Telecom in Cape Town and Johannesburg and via Cogent, NTT and GÉANT in London and Amsterdam. Major deployments of Google and Akamai caches and peering complete the national picture.
TENET, along with the SCA, also participates in the Global Network Architecture (GNA), which is defining a blueprint for interconnecting international research and education networks on a global scale, opening up opportunities for these communities to become more prominent actors in their relevant domains.
TENET operated the UbuntuNet Alliance’s gateways and other infrastructure in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Mtunzini, London and Amsterdam for several years before the Alliance developed sufficient capacity to take over its own network operations.