Lanka Education and Research Network

The Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN), formerly the Lanka Experimental Academic and Research Network, is a specialized internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within Sri Lanka. The history of the internet in Sri Lanka began with the initial proposal of the 'Lankan Experimental Academic and Research Network' (LEARN) to Sri Lankan government in 1989[3][4] by Prof. Abhaya Induruwa. In 1990 the LEARNmail was initiated and the first message was sent over LEARN was from the University of Moratuwa to the University of Colombo. In 1994, wireless links were used to create first Internet Protocol / Wide area network (IP/WAN) in Sri Lanka between University of Colombo, University of Moratuwa and Open University of Sri Lanka. Based on a proposal submitted in 1992 to Sri Lankan government,[5] LEARN connected to the internet in 1995 opening doors to the Internet era in Sri Lanka[3][6]

Lanka Education and Research Network-LEARN

Abbreviation	LEARN
Predecessor	Sri Lanka Inter-University Committee on Computing (SLIUCC)
Formation	1989
Founder	Professor Abhaya Induruwa
Founded at	University of Moratuwa
Type	Governmental organization-Academic computer network organisation
Legal status	company
Purpose	Education and Research networking
Headquarters	Information Technology Center, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka
Membership	23 Education Institute 6 Research Institutes
Chairman	Prof. P. S. M. Gunaratne [1]
Consultant	Dr. Roshan G. Ragel [2]
Affiliations	University Grants Commission
Website	www.ac.lk
Formerly called	Lanka Experimental Academic and Research Network

Today LEARN as the National Research and Education Network in Sri Lanka, connects all of the UGC funded Sri Lankan national universities, a number of public universities, higher education institutes under other ministries, the University Grants Commission, the Ministry of Higher Education, and six national research institutions.[7] It is a private company, owned by fourteen national universities including the UGC since 2009. According to University Grants Commission, its international connectivity include a 7Gbps bandwidth to the commodity internet and a 2.5Gbps link to LEARN point of presence in Singapore. It also connects the academic, world research internet through the TEIN4 network, SingAREN, NKN, LGN, Internet2 and Google. LEARN as the NREN forms the Sri Lankan component of the global advanced Research and Education Internet network.[8]