ORXNet
Computer Networking - , ,
ORXNet Employees
ORXNet Details
ORXNet has derived from an initiative among several computer hobbyists in the ORKZ who wanted to explore the possibilities of a data sharing network. It is situated in a former hospital in Groningen, with 250 apartments. We started the initial BNC network (partially donated by the local University) in spring 1998. The network slowly grew larger, and now consists of more than 550 devices. As soon as ADSL was made possible in our neighborhood (late 2001) a pilot was started to share this connection with the network members.Technical policies developt and the "networkers", as they called themselves, decided to choose solely Open Source software for all server computers. After the initial Internet connection (the KPN-Nokia pilot) became a reliable one (thanks to our ISP, Xs4all) the network grew fast. Since 2010 we are connected with a 100 Mbit glass fiber line. In December 2007 we realized a full scale WiFi network with Access Points located throughout the building and a freeRadius server for authentication.Our future projects include VOIP, and VPN connectivity with business or peer LANs.The network has grown from a test site of 5 computers to the equivalent of a medium sized business network. We founded our organization as an official association (in Dutch: "Vereniging ORXNet") to decentralize legal responsibilities. ORXNet today has a setup that includes: bandwidth control, backup servers, a DMZ, an in-house webserver, an accounting application, local (v)LANs, several wiki / discussion forums, a central documentation platform and a Diaspora* Social Network server for anyone to join.
