News for and about the Internet2 community

[Lauren Rotman <>]

Networking Leaders Announce Initiative to Develop 100 GbE Services

Internet2, ESnet, Infinera, Juniper Networks and Level 3  
Communications Part of Groundbreaking 100 GbE Initiative to Address  
Vast Bandwidth Needs of Scientific Research and Other Advanced  
Applications

AUSTIN, Texas - November 18, 2008 - Internet2, ESnet, Infinera,  
Juniper Networks and Level 3 Communications today at the annual SC08  
conference announced they have agreed to work together to aggressively  
develop and test emerging 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) technologies. The  
initiative will build on fresh-from-the-laboratory technologies to  
create a 100 GbE testbed on the Internet2 and ESnet networks with an  
operational network capability soon thereafter.

This joint development effort brings together the technical leadership  
of Level 3 Communications, Infinera, and Juniper Networks, as well as  
ESnet and Internet2's unmatched experience supporting research  
communities with the most demanding networking requirements. The  
initiative highlights the leadership of these organizations in  
ensuring the research and education community has the networking  
capacity and speed they need to drive advancements in fields such as  
high-energy physics, telemedicine and climate research.

"Today, researchers have shifted from working in local laboratories to  
collaborating on a global scale. Massive data streams generated by  
this new environment are driving exponential growth in the networking  
needs of our community that could require 100 GbE services by as early  
as 2010," said Rob Vietzke, Internet2 executive director of network  
services. "Together with our collaborators we are working to make 100  
GbE a reality so researchers will never be bound by their geographic  
location or bandwidth requirements."

In 2006, Internet2 announced an agreement with Level 3 Communications  
to deploy a new nationwide network, designed to seamlessly add  
capacity as Internet2 members' needs evolve. Internet2 and the  
Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) also announced  
a partnership to build the next-generation of ESnet on the shared  
Internet2 infrastructure. Both networks have already experienced rapid  
growth and as global collaborations continue to expand to nearly every  
research discipline the path towards 100 GbE is a natural next step.

"Scientific discovery today is highly dependent upon the ease of  
access to data. Current usage trends in areas like high-energy physics  
and climate change research indicate that researchers will soon begin  
to saturate the dedicated 10 Gigabit per second links deployed today.  
This important effort ensures our scientists will have the most  
advanced network capabilities in the next few years to make new  
breakthroughs that were previously unimaginable," said Steve Cotter,  
department head, ESnet.

Jack Waters, chief technology officer of Level 3 added, "The research  
and education community continues to push the boundaries of  
networking. We are pleased to be supporting this exciting project,  
which leads the industry in 100 GbE technology development. Level 3's  
continued commitment to network investment provides a highly reliable  
and scalable infrastructure, which will be integral in testing and  
developing a viable 100 GbE services platform."

In support of the development, Juniper Networks plans to leverage its  
industry-leading T1600 core router. As the only 100 Gbps-ready core  
router available today, the T1600 provides unparalleled investment  
protection and a seamless migration path to 100 Gbps. With 100 Gbps of  
capacity per slot, the T1600 ensures Internet2 and ESnet could quickly  
and easily deploy 100 Gbps interfaces.

"As our research and education customers require increasingly more  
network capacity to support their research projects, technologies such  
as 100 GbE can help them scale their networks quickly and  
efficiently," said Opher Kahane, senior vice president and general  
manager of the High End Systems Business Unit at Juniper Networks. "We  
are pleased to be part of this groundbreaking initiative to develop  
100 GbE technologies leveraging our T1600 core router."

Infinera plans to develop the 100 GbE interfaces for the existing  
Internet2 and ESnet optical networks. Infinera has been a leader in  
100 GbE technology for several years. Two years ago, at SC06, Infinera  
collaborated with Level 3 to demonstrate the first pre-standards  
implementation of 100 GbE services over a live network and continues  
to demonstrate the capability in a variety of forums.

"Infinera optical systems lead the industry in bandwidth and  
scalability, and we are very excited to support Internet2, ESnet, and  
Level 3 as they move aggressively towards making 100 GbE a fully  
operational reality," said Infinera chief technology officer Drew  
Perkins.

The Move to Standards
The development of standards for 100 GbE is a key part of the process  
to support widespread cost-effective deployment of 100 GbE technology.  
The IEEE is currently targeting mid-2010 for industry agreement on a  
100 GbE standard. The parties will support the effort to create a  
standard and look forward to implementing that standard.

For more information, visit:
Internet2: http://www.internet2.edu, SC08 booth 943
ESnet: http://www.es.net, SC08 booth 540
Infinera: http://www.infinera.com, SC08 booth 1253
Juniper Networks: http://www.juniper.net, SC08 booth 843
Level 3 Communications: http://www.level3.com

Juniper Networks, JUNOS and the Juniper Networks logo are registered  
trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other  
countries. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks,  
or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Internet2

Lauren Rotman

(202) 331-5345




ESnet

Jon Bashor

(510) 486-5849




Infinera:

Jeff Ferry

(408) 572-5213




Juniper Networks

Brendan Hayes

(978) 589-0230




Level 3 Communications:

Jennifer Daumler

(720) 888-3356