The organisation is based in Cambridge, United Kingdom and was formed in 1993 as a limited liability company owned by Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne (RARE).

[1] The first few years were dominated by the Co-operation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe (COSINE) project (1985-1993).

[4] After a comparison of alternatives it was decided to found the Operational Unit as a company limited by shares under English law with its headquarters in Cambridge.

[10][11] The original eleven shareholders were Ariadnet (Greece), ARNES (Slovenia), INFN (Italy), DFN (Germany), FCCN (Portugal), HEFCE (United Kingdom), HUNGARNET (Hungary), NORDUnet (Nordic countries), RedIRIS (Spain), SURFnet (Netherlands) and SWITCH (Switzerland).

Other NRENs were given the opportunity to buy shares later; this offer was taken up by RENATER (France) and CESNET (Czech Republic) in 1999, by HEAnet (Ireland) in 2000 and by RESTENA (Luxembourg) in 2002, bringing the total number of shareholders to fifteen.

Together GÉANT and the NRENs connect 40 million researchers and students across Europe, facilitating collaborative research in a diverse range of disciplines, including high-energy physics, radio astronomy, bio-medicine, climate change, earth observation, and arts and culture.

In addition, DANTE is involved in a number of EU-funded projects to provide connectivity between GÉANT and research networks in other world regions.