The contribution of ESLEA to the development of e-VLBI

e-VLBI the use of the Internet in real time VLBI high resolution observations in radio astronomy has become a routinely available technique in this last year. ESLEA has contributed significantly to its development, by improving our understanding of data transmission networks, the limitations of transport protocols and end hosts, and communication of this knowledge to radio astronomers in Europe. A series of tests, organised by JIVE in the Netherlands and ESLEA has gradually led to open call science runs, now considered as a regular part of European VLBI Operations. A major upgrade project EXPReS is now underway to equip more European observatories with e-VLBI capability. This paper outlines the work done in ESLEA on e-VLBI and illustrates its success by showing recently obtained astronomical results.