Europe’s largest computer-based research and education network G?ANT links 30 million researchers in over 3500 universities and research centres as well as 34 national research networks. The pan-European network will now expand to a global scale as it is connected with its equivalents in other regions of the world. The European Commission’s current contribution to G?ANT amounts to €93 million over 58 months. Now the Commission has announced that up to 2012, further €90 million will be invested in the upgraded global network. The project is co-financed by the participating countries. As we previously reported in the ACA Newsletter - Education Europe February 2008, the European Commission recently announced €12 million of funding for TEIN3, a large-scale Asia-Pacific network. GÉANT will now be linked with the regional research networks in the Balkans, Black Sea, Caucasus and Mediterranean regions as well as Latin America and Southern Africa. In Europe, the high-speed private network connection has enabled ground-breaking research collaboration such as EXPReS, an EU radio astronomy project. This links the world's largest radio telescopes in China, Europe, South Africa and Chile to a supercomputer in the Netherlands which produces real-time imaging. The GÉANT network is a unique opportunity for Europe to become a leader in global research collaboration and creative application of modern information technology. Press release