A national research and education network (NREN) is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country. It is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backbone network, often offering dedicated channels for individual research projects. In recent years NRENs have developed many 'above the net' services. List of NRENs by geographic area East and Southern Africa UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking - the Alliance of NRENs of East and Southern Africa Eb@le - DRC NREN EthERNet - Ethiopian NREN iRENALA - Malagasy NREN KENET - Kenyan NREN MAREN - Malawian NREN MoRENet - Mozambican NREN RENU - Ugandan NREN RwEdNet - Rwanda NREN SomaliREN - Somali NREN SudREN - Sudanese NREN TENET/SANReN - South African NREN TERNET - Tanzanian NREN Xnet - Namibian NREN ZAMREN - Zambian NREN North Africa ASREN - Arab States Research and Education Network TUREN - Tunisian NREN MARWAN - Moroccan NREN ENREN - Egyptian NREN ARN (Algeria) - Algerian NREN SudREN - Sudanese NREN SomaliREN - Somali NREN West and Central Africa WACREN - West and Central African Research and Education Network GARNET - Ghanaian NREN TogoRER - Togolese NREN GhREN - Ghanaian NREN MaliREN - Mali NREN Niger-REN - Nigerien NREN RITER - Côte d'Ivoire NREN SnRER - Senegalese NREN NgREN - Nigerian NREN Eko-Konnect Research and Education Network - Nigerian NREN LRREN - Liberia Research and Education Network Asia Pacific APAN - Asia-Pacific Advanced Network AARNet - Australian NREN AfgREN - Afghanistan NREN BDREN - Bangladeshi NREN CSTNET - China Science and Technology Network CERNET - China Education and Research Network ERNET - Indian NREN HARNET - Hong Kong NREN KOREN - Korean NREN KREONET- Korean NREN IDREN - Indonesian NREN LEARN - Sri Lankan NREN SINET - Japanese NREN MYREN - Malaysian NREN NKN - Indian NREN NREN - Nepal NREN NREN - Islamic Republic of Iran NREN REANNZ - New Zealand NREN PERN - Pakistani NREN PREGINET - Philippine NREN SingAREN - Singaporean NREN TWAREN - Taiwanese NREN UniNet - Thai NREN VinaRen - Vietnamese NREN CamREN- Cambodia NREN TEIN - Trans Eurasia Information Network North America United States – although advocated since the 1980s, the U.S. does not have one single NREN. {| class="wikitable" |- ! Name !! Type |- | Internet2 || national |- | National LambdaRail || national [closed] |- | vBNS || national [closed]