AS4538 ERX-CERNET-BKB China Education and Research Network Center

ERX-CERNET-BKB — the backbone AS of the **China Education and Research Network

Center**, operator of CERNET, China's national academic and research network.

What it's used for

• Carrying traffic for Chinese universities, colleges, and research institutes: CERNET connects campuses nationwide and provides their route to the wider internet.
• One of the largest ASNs in the world by address count, announcing roughly 16 million IPv4 addresses on behalf of the institutions it serves.

Notable

• This is the CERNET backbone, run by the CERNET Center under China's Ministry of Education. It is a national research and education network (NREN), not a commercial carrier and not an eyeball ISP — though its campus user population is enormous.
• Distinct from the CERNET2/CNGI next-generation IPv6 network, which is operated as a separate ASN. Don't conflate the two, or CERNET with the commercial Chinese carriers.

Interesting

• Scale like this behind a research-and-education network is unusual: most NRENs are a rounding error next to national carriers, but China's higher-education system gives CERNET carrier-sized address holdings.