2017
30 years SWITCH
Key Note „Opportunities and challenges – the next 10 years in technology ad humanity“, Gerd Leonhard, Futurist
In September 2017 we celebrated 30 years on the internet pulse of Switzerland together with our community. The main topic of the event was the "Digital Transformation".
30 years of .ch, Europe’s safest address
SWITCH has achieved a lot in the past 30 years, not only establishing the Swiss Internet, but making .ch the safest address in Europe as well.
Combating e-commerce crime on the Internet
Together with the Swiss authorities, SWITCH is taking measures to fight the e-commerce crime and has reported its first successes.
SWITCH-CERT celebrates 20 years
SWITCH-CERT organised a celebration and symposium on 21 September to mark 20 years since it was formed. The theme was “The history and future of incident response”.
SWITCH wins tender process for .ch
Winning the tender for the registry vindicates SWITCH’s many years of hard work in ensuring the security and stability of .ch and .li. More Info
All stakeholders represented on Foundation Council
SWITCH is adapting its structures in line with new legislation and increasing the size of its Foundation Council. The universities of applied sciences and teacher education have up to now been underrepresented. More Info
Joining forces against cybercrime
The Domain pulse conference brought together Internet experts and opinion leaders to discuss the topics of online surveillance, security and governance. Switzerland is playing a pioneering role with its secure .ch domain and legislation on dealing with malware. A particular highlight was the keynote speech by IT security expert Mikko Hyppönen.
More Info
Community Work
One thing that sets SWITCH apart from most companies is the way we work in very close partnership with our customers. They play a key role in helping to design and optimise our services as part of the SWITCH community. The community is organised into various working groups, expert groups and advisory committees for every field in which SWITCH operates. More Info
2015
Handover of direct sales of domain names
The SWITCH foundation will stop selling .ch domain names as of the beginning of January 2015 and successively hand over the related client support to its business partners, the registrars. The basis for this change is the new Ordinance on Internet Domains (ODI). More Info
SWITCH edu-ID goes live
The pilot of the academic identity SWITCH edu-ID begins. It is a significant evolution of the successful authentication and authorisation infrastructure SWITCHaai. More Info
Cloud services launched
The cloud services SWITCHengines and SWITCHdrive make life easier for universities by offering flexible computing power and storage space. SWITCHengines comprises virtual machines with capacity that can be scaled at the touch of a button. SWITCHdrive allows users to synchronise and share documents. All files are stored securely on SWITCH servers in Switzerland. More Info
SWITCH wins Security Award for .ch
SWITCH and its counterparts in Austria (nic.at) and Germany (denic) are rewarded for their joint efforts to protect the Domain Name System. They win the Security Award from the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (CENTR). More Info
2014
100 gigabits per second
With the upgrade of the fibre-optics infrastructure throughout Switzerland, the new SWITCHlan backbone can transport up to 100 gigabits per second and has ample bandwidth in reserve. More Info
Swiss Internet Security Alliance formed
CERN joins AAI-Federation
Critical infrastructure
All users take it for granted that the Internet is stable and never breaks down. If it were to break down, many areas of day-to-day life would come to a standstill. The Federal Council acknowledges this fact and declares the Internet a critical infrastructure. SWITCH is tested to verify that it can guarantee security and stability in the operation of a critical infrastructure for Switzerland, and it passes with flying colours. This is hardly surprising as security and stability are in its DNA. More Info
2013
SWITCH receives Best of Swiss Web Honorary Award
For the first time ever, the Best of Swiss Web Association presents its Honorary Award not to an individual but to an organisation: SWITCH. One reason the jury cites is the fact that SWITCH has been a dependable centre of IT expertise for more than 25 years, serving the entire national Internet industry as well as the academic community.
Parliamentary Services places trust in SWITCH-CERT’s know-how
Parliamentary Services ensures that both chambers of the Swiss parliament – the 200-member National Council and the 46-member Council of States – can rely on secure and stable IT systems. It is expertly advised on security aspects by SWITCH.
2012
Agreement with Principality of Liechtenstein for .li
Many years of successful cooperation between the Principality of Liechtenstein and SWITCH lead to a new agreement under which SWITCH acts as the registry for the top-level domain .li.
New centre of expertise for IT procurement
With SWITCHprocure, the new centre of expertise for IT procurement, universities benefit from improved pricing, standardised contractual terms, a central point of contact and coordination as well as complete transparency. More Info
2011
SWITCHaai: international pioneer
SWITCHaai attracts a great deal of interest internationally. More and more countries around the globe are constructing and developing similar infrastructures. SWITCH participates in eduGAIN to create a worldwide academic passport.
2010
Combating domain abuse
The malware process is enshrined in law by the Ordinance on Addressing Resources in the Telecommunications Sector, since replaced by the Ordinance on Internet Domains (OID). It allows SWITCH to deactivate infected .ch websites quickly. The first of its kind, it is instrumental in making .ch one of the most secure top-level domains in the world.
Radio Zürisee talks to Serge Droz, Head of Security at SWITCH, about the change in the law.
2009
switchplus formed
SWITCH sets up a subsidiary, switchplus AG, to offer customers additional domains besides .ch as well as web hosting and e-mail services.
Website switchplus
2007
Fostering skills among the next generation
Some 2,000 schoolchildren from more than 100 classes all over Switzerland compete for the first ever SWITCH Junior Web Award. The website competition encourages them to learn web design and other skills.
2002
Regulating .ch
The Ordinance on Addressing Resources in the Telecommunications Sector regulates the registration and administration of .ch domain names. As of April, this is the responsibility of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), which appoints SWITCH as registry for a further five years.
2001
Gigabits for universities
Dark fibre comes to the Swiss universities as the 2.5-Gbit/s fibre-optic data highway for the academic community enters operation. SWITCHlan links CERN, the universities of Lausanne, Bern and Basel and ETH Zurich with cables laid along the motorway network.
2000
Extending SWITCH’s services to the universities of applied sciences and the universities of teacher education means that all tertiary education institutions in Switzerland are connected to the SWITCHlan academic network.
1996
SWITCH-CERT operational
The first computer emergency response team in Switzerland, SWITCH-CERT, commenced operating activities.
1990
SWITCH becomes the first Internet service provider in Switzerland and the registry for .ch.
With the Swiss Internet still in its infancy, the number of requests for domain names can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So far, only the Swiss universities and a few large companies have Internet access. Each company is allocated just one domain name, and the global rules do not even provide for private individuals to hold domain names of their own.
The first three .ch domain names:
- cern.ch
- switch.ch
- ethz.ch
1989
Launch of SWITCHlan
The SWITCHlan academic network is created with a maximum bandwidth of 128 Kbit/s, bringing the Internet to Switzerland.
1987
SWITCH foundation formed
On 22 October, representatives of the Swiss Confederation and the eight cantons that have universities (Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Vaud and Zurich) sign the Foundation Deed for “SWITCH – teleinformatics services for teaching and research”.
Switzerland receives its own top-level domain: .ch
Professor Bernhard Plattner is the "father" of the Swiss domain. He submits a request to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) on 20 May 1987 to have .ch entered in the Domain Name System.
Shortly after this, Plattner is appointed Managing Director of SWITCH and hands .ch over to the foundation. Ever since, SWITCH has been responsible for both constructing the academic network and administering the .ch domain.
