Main results of the first stages of the project for the development of national research computer network

The paper is devoted to the discussion of the issues of the accelerated development of the new generation National Research Computer Network (NIKS) as a single industry information and telecommunications network in the sphere of science and higher education of the country. The developed set of organizational and technical measures for the development of NIKS is being implemented as part of the national project “Science and Universities” for 2021–2024. The paper collects and systematizes key information on the progress in the fulfillment of the NIKS development project, presents and discusses the main activities implemented during the first two years of work on the national project (2021–2022), as well as plans for 2023–2024. The main attention is paid to the aspects of expanding the territorial accessibility and increasing the throughput of the backbone infrastructure, methods of selecting and connecting leading research and educational organizations of higher education to NIKS, the dynamics of the growth in the number of users is indicated, the map of the territorial coverage of the network is given and commented on in the context of subjects.