Deutsches Forschungsnetz ("German Research Network"), usually abbreviated to DFN, is the German national research and education network (NREN) used for academic and research purposes. It is managed by the scientific community organized in the voluntary association "Verein zur Förderung eines Deutschen Forschungsnetzes e.V." which was founded in 1984 by universities, non-university research institutions and research-oriented companies to stimulate computerized communication in Germany.
DFN's "super core" backbone X-WiN network points of presence are based in Erlangen, Frankfurt, Hannover and Potsdam. These sites run Cisco CRS-1 routers and are interconnected with each other by two 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections.
All upstream connections (to networks such as GÉANT2 (in Frankfurt[1]), DECIX) are 10G-based and are implemented at the super core. All other routers on the network are Cisco 7609-based and always linked to two other network routers.
WiN is short for Wissenschaftsnetz ("science network").
