CUHK has a total of three International connection paths to the global Internet. The primary Internet link is via the connection to the Hong Kong Academic & Research Network (HARNET). HARNET is the high-speed wide-area-network backbone which links up the campus networks of the local government-funded tertiary institutions. It provides an international Internet gateway for connecting to overseas academic and research networks. At present, there are a total of eight HARNET member institutions:

• The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• The University of Hong Kong
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• City University of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Baptist University
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Lingnan University
• The Hong Kong Institute of Education

HARNET currently operates a 560Mbps international Internet link, 155Mbps link to CERNET (China Education and Research Network), 100Mbps to TANET (Taiwan Academics Network) and 1000Mbps to HKIX (Hong Kong Internet eXchange) for shared access by member institutes. Each HARNET member has a Metro-Ethernet connection to HARNET, with bandwidth range from 100Mbps to 300Mbps (i.e. CUHK) for Internet access as well as Intra-institution activities such as video conference.

Click here for more about the HARNET and CUHK network connectivity updates.

Besides the HARNET shared pipe, CUHK also has other Internet links for Internet access:

• An International Internet link with bandwidth 30Mbps via separate ISPs. This link is shared by other projects in CUHK such as Internet services for CUHK Alumni and Hong Kong SchoolNet.
• Two direct 1000Mbps connections to HKIX which interconnects most of the local ISPs (Internet Services Provider) in Hong Kong. HKIX was setup and is operated by ITSC of CUHK.

In addition, ITSC had been working with the JUCC (Joint Universities Computer Centre) to establish a 45 Mbps Internet2 connection through HARNET to the United States. The link was put into production in 21st Oct 2002 and is shared by all the 8 JUCC member institutions.

With these high speed Internet links, our university probably has the best Internet connectivity among the Hong Kong tertiary institutions, so our users can continue to enjoy excellent Internet access to facilitate their teaching, research and study.