ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, is upgrading its core, access, wired and wireless, and wide-area network infrastructure to support LOFAR 2.0. Juniper’s 8 January 2025 announcement names the equipment and says ASTRON is responsible for executing and developing the project; it does not establish that Juniper supplied or funded every component.
What the ASTRON network upgrade covers
The project spans several layers of ASTRON’s network rather than a single connection. Juniper describes it as an upgrade to core, access, WLAN and WAN infrastructure supporting the upgraded LOFAR 2.0 radio telescope. The equipment named in the announcement is:
| Network role | Named equipment |
|---|---|
| Core | Juniper PTX10004 and PTX10002 packet-transport routers |
| Observatory stations | Juniper ACX7024 routers |
| Data centre | Juniper QFX-series switches in a spine-and-leaf design |
| Campus access | Juniper EX4100-24P and EX4100-48P switches |
| Wireless access | Juniper AP32 access points |
Juniper says LOFAR ERIC provided the PTX10004 and ACX7024, while ASTRON is responsible for project execution and development. The announcement does not identify a complete funding or supplier breakdown for all components. Juniper describes the EX4100 line as offering streaming telemetry and Mist AI integration, and the AP32 as integrated with Mist AI and the Marvis virtual network assistant; those are vendor descriptions, not independent performance findings. The ACX7024’s 360 Gbps throughput is likewise a Juniper specification, not an independently measured result. Juniper’s project announcement.
How the upgrade relates to LOFAR 2.0’s data needs
LOFAR 2.0’s station-hardware upgrade enables antennas to operate simultaneously and observe in both low and high frequency ranges, increasing the amount of data the system produces. ASTRON describes the related LENSS effort as addressing the network and processing capacity needed to handle that increased flow. LENSS is a separate project, with its own funding and schedule, rather than a result or component established by Juniper’s network announcement.
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ASTRON says LENSS received an NWO award of more than €4.6 million, with €1.6 million in eligible consortium contributions. Its target is to observe four times more sky simultaneously, with full operation expected by 2029. These are LENSS funding and goals, not demonstrated outcomes of the network upgrade. ASTRON’s LENSS announcement describes the project and its relationship to LOFAR 2.0. The institute’s Science Data Centre provides broader context: ASTRON is developing access to data from LOFAR, Westerbork and the Square Kilometre Array, including connections to international high-performance computing systems and research data centres.
The separate SURF 400G connection
In a distinct project, ASTRON and Dutch research and education network SURF upgraded the direct research-data connection between ASTRON facilities in Groningen and Dwingeloo. ASTRON reported on 20 February 2025 that the link rose from 10 to 400 Gbps using OpenZR+ and 400G-ZR optics. According to ASTRON, the approach reduces the need for extra components and power and lets researchers register for multicast streams from LOFAR stations. The 10-to-400 Gbps figure describes this SURF connection, not the capacity change of the Juniper-led infrastructure upgrade. ASTRON’s account of the SURF connection.
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What capacity figures have been reported
Juniper’s 2025 case-study search excerpt says the upgrade quadruples network capacity, with a 400G core and 100G distribution network connecting 54 antenna stations. It also attributes to ASTRON system and network engineer Julian Kootstra a change from three older, energy-consuming core routers to one PTX router. The full case-study page was not accessible, so these remain Juniper-reported claims from an excerpt, not independently verified measurements. They should not be conflated with ASTRON’s separately reported SURF link. The excerpt is associated with Juniper’s ASTRON case study.
The available announcements do not establish independently verified before-and-after latency, availability, cost or energy measurements for the Juniper project. The capacity figures above should therefore be read with their stated source and scope, not as a full independent evaluation of network performance.
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