News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

INTERNET PERFORMANCE RECORDS TOPPED
Teams set new performance thresholds in two Internet2 Land Speed Record
Categories 

ANN ARBOR, MI - January 11, 2005 - Internet2(R) today announced that two
separate international teams have each set new Internet2 Land Speed Records
(I2-LSR). As an open and ongoing competition for the highest-bandwidth,
end-to-end networks, Internet2 LSR marks represent the rate at which data is
transferred multiplied by the distance traveled. The two most recent record
setters each demonstrated the ability to send more than 6 gigabits of data
per second (Gbps) across distances spanning half the circumference of the
Earth. Because of delays due to the speed of light and other factors, data
transfer over the Internet becomes more challenging as speed, or distance,
or both increase.  

In the IPv4 multi-stream category, a team from the California Institute of
Technology (Caltech), The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN),
and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC)
successfully transferred 2881 gigabytes of data in approximately 60 minutes
across 26,950 kilometers of network at a rate of 6.86 gigabits per second -
6000 times faster than a typical home broadband connection. The
record-setting data transfer traversed the Internet2 Abilene, National
LambdaRail (NLR), CENIC, LHCNet, and SCinet networks. The LHCNet link
between the Starlight in Chicago and CERN in Geneva was used in both
directions simultaneously during the record trial. 

"This record represents a major step in our development of networks and Grid
systems capable of supporting the needs of the high energy physics
experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, and other major scientific
programs that need to access, distribute and analyze petabyte-scale data,"
said Harvey Newman, professor of physics and leader of the Caltech team.
"One of the key issues is the ability to efficiently utilize and fairly
share networks encompassing many national and intercontinental 10 Gbps
links, in a scalable manner under realistic conditions involving production
networks."

The team utilized Caltech's new FAST TCP, a congestion control algorithm
that improves TCP performance in high speed networks, to effectively perform
the data transfer. With a mark of 184,877 terabit-meters per second
(Tb-m/s), this record exceeds the previous record holders mark by nearly 50
percent.  

The record was made possible with the help of network engineering teams from
Abilene, NLR, and CENIC and with the support of the U.S. Department of
Energy, The U.S. National Science Foundation, the European Union, Cisco
Systems, and S2io. 

For more information about this record-setting attempt, see:
http://dnae.home.cern.ch/dnae/lsr4-nov04/

In the IPv4 Single-Stream category, a team from the University of Tokyo,
Fujitsu Computer Technologies, the WIDE Project, and Chelsio Communications
worked together to successfully transfer data at a rate of 7.21 Gbps over a
distance of 20,645 kilometers traversing the WIDE, APAN, JGN2, IEEAF,
CANARIE, SURFnet, and Abilene networks. CERN and The Universiteit van
Amsterdam were used as switching points. Achieving a mark of 148,850
terabit-meters per second (Tb-m/s), the team surpassed the existing record
by nearly 20 percent.

The team utilized an "Inter-layer coordinating optimization" technology
developed by the Data Reservoir project at the University of Tokyo and used
10 Gbps Ethernet adapters with TCP offloading capabilities by Chelsio
Communications.

"The record our team achieved is particularly significant because it
demonstrates that the data transfer bottleneck is no longer at the network
layer but rather limited by I/O buses of the computer system. We simply used
the standard 1500-byte Ethernet frame and conventional TCP protocol
configured appropriately for long distance communication. As the processor
I/O technology evolves, the data transfer possibilities may be endless,"
said Kei Hiraki, project leader of Data Reservoir project and professor of
the University of Tokyo.

For more information about this record-setting attempt, see:
http://data-reservoir.adm.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/lsr

"The Internet2 Land Speed Record competition has provided a creative venue
for leading research institutions in collaboration with network providers to
push the limits of IP networking," said Rich Carlson, chair of the Internet2
Land Speed Record Judging Panel. "With these records, these two teams have
established new data transfer benchmarks using the same IPv4 protocols
deployed on today's commercial Internet, demonstrating once again that the
research community continues to expand the potential of Internet
technologies."

Details of past winning entries, complete rules, submission guidelines, and
additional details are available at: http://lsr.internet2.edu/


About Internet2(R)
Led by more than 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government,
Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and
technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of
tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia,
industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy.
For more information, visit: www.internet2.edu.


Contact:
Lauren Kallens
Internet2

+1-202-331-5345