ARNES

ARNES is the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia, a public institution headquartered in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Established in 1992, ARNES provides national research and education network infrastructure, internet connectivity, hosting, digital identity, email, storage, supercomputing access, and related online services for Slovenia’s education, research, cultural, and other eligible public-interest institutions. ARNES states that it connects more than 1,700 organizations and serves more than 300,000 users, while also operating core national internet infrastructure in Slovenia such as SIX.SI, the .si domain registry, a root DNS server, and SI-CERT.

⚙️ Facility Highlights

Data Center Footprint:

ARNES currently states that it operates two system spaces in Ljubljana that house the central node of the ARNES network and the computing equipment used to deliver its services. These are located at Ljubljana Technology Park and at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana.

ARNES is also building a new Arnes Data Centre in Maribor. ARNES says this project is intended to support the long-term preservation of open research data, enable open science infrastructure, and provide colocation for ICT equipment of public research organizations. The project page states a target completion date of 31 August 2026 and a repository capacity of 30 PB.

In May 2025, the Slovenian government announced that construction had begun in Maribor and described it as set to become the biggest data centre in Slovenia. The government also said the facility will house a supercomputer for the Slovenian AI factory and will be directly connected to the Mariborski otok hydroelectric power plant.

Facility Design & Infrastructure:

For current operations, ARNES says its two Ljubljana system spaces provide the secure environment needed for network devices and servers, including stable power and appropriate climate conditions, and that these spaces are interconnected via powerful physically separated links over leased optics.

ARNES’s backbone modernization project states that all network hubs are now connected in optic loops, improving resilience against individual long-distance link interruptions. ARNES also says the upgraded backbone supports speeds from 100 Gb/s to 400 Gb/s, with readiness for 800 Gb/s and 1.6 Tb/s technologies.

For the new Maribor site, ARNES says the facility will support long-term research data preservation, repository services, supercomputing analysis, controlled data access, metadata management, and colocation for public research organizations’ ICT equipment.

Service Portfolio Overview:

1. Connection to the Internet, including secure and reliable institutional access to the ARNES network for eligible organizations. ARNES also manages router settings and security functions for connected organizations.
2. Virtual server hosting, where ARNES offers hosted virtual servers for member organizations, with published baseline allocations including processor, disk, RAM, and 1 Gb/s internet connectivity.
3. Disk space hosting / Arnes Storage, where ARNES provides storage recommended for secondary backup, accessible via the S3 protocol, with 1 TB standard allocation and expansion up to 10 TB if needed.
4. Supercomputing cluster access, delivered as part of Slovenia’s national supercomputing infrastructure for demanding research and computational workloads.
5. Email hosting, where organizations can arrange hosted email on ARNES mail servers located in Slovenia.
6. Digital certificates and time services, including NTP and server certificates for eligible network users.
7. Future research-data repository and colocation capability in Maribor, intended for open-science storage and public research ICT equipment hosting.

🔐 Security & Compliance

Infrastructure Resilience:

ARNES says its infrastructure is based on powerful and redundant interconnections between nodes, with optical-loop topology designed so that connectivity is maintained even if one optical link in a loop fails.

ARNES also states that the modernization of its backbone has improved the stability of long-distance optical connections and increased operational reliability across public research and education organizations in Slovenia.

For research-data preservation, the Maribor data center project is explicitly designed around secure, reliable, and efficient storage, long-term preservation, integrity, access control, and traceability of research data.

Physical & Logical Security:

ARNES describes its infrastructure hosting as running on fast, reliable, and safe servers, and its organization services emphasize secure internet access, secure wireless access through eduroam, safe email, and hosted services managed by ARNES experts.

For the Maribor project, ARNES says one of the key objectives is the security of research data, including measures to prevent unauthorized access, loss, damage, or misuse, together with integrity preservation and controlled access for authorized users.

At the national level, ARNES also operates SI-CERT, which it describes as part of its role in safeguarding the cybersecurity of Slovenia.

Compliance & Standards:

The reviewed official ARNES pages focus on network infrastructure, public digital services, research-data preservation, and open-science infrastructure. I did not find an official ARNES page in the reviewed material listing public ISO or SOC certifications for ARNES itself.

🌐 Connectivity & Carrier Access

Carrier Neutrality:

The reviewed ARNES materials describe ARNES as a national research and education network operator and public infrastructure institution. I did not find an official statement marketing ARNES as a commercial carrier-neutral colocation operator.

Network Capabilities:

ARNES says its upgraded backbone supports connections of 100 Gb/s to 400 Gb/s and is ready for future technologies at 800 Gb/s and 1.6 Tb/s.

For eligible organizations, ARNES offers guaranteed-bandwidth virtual private connections below 1 Gb/s and light paths from 1 Gb/s up to 10 Gb/s for more demanding collaborative projects.

ARNES states that its backbone is primarily based on the Ethernet protocol, supports both IPv4 and IPv6, and connects Slovenia’s eligible institutions to the pan-European GÉANT network.

ARNES also operates SIX.SI, the Slovenian internet exchange, and says members can connect at two Ljubljana locations supporting connection speeds in multiples of 100 Gb/s.

Connectivity Use Cases:

1. Educational, research, cultural, and eligible public-interest institutions needing institutional internet access and managed network connectivity.
2. Research collaborations requiring guaranteed-bandwidth virtual private connectivity or light paths up to 10 Gb/s.
3. Slovenian institutions that need access to GÉANT, supercomputing, and related national research infrastructure.
4. Future public research organizations needing colocation in the Maribor data center for ICT equipment supporting open science and research data services.

💼 Who It Serves

1. Educational institutions, including schools, universities, and faculties.
2. Research organizations, including institutes, laboratories, and health institutes with research activities.
3. Cultural institutions, including libraries and museums.
4. Other organizations in Slovenia that meet the eligibility criteria set by the government for participation in the ARNES network.