News for and about the Internet2 community

[Todd Sedmak <>]

High Performance Research Projects Advance Through New Interoperable 
Transatlantic Network Services

Technical and strategic collaboration between GÉANT, ESnet, Internet2 and 
other partners to help underpin data-intensive projects such as Large Hadron 
Collider

Seattle--(November 15, 2011)--Transatlantic research projects that rely on 
high performance computing will benefit from seamless, end-to-end network 
services. Some of these capabilities are being demonstrated this week at 
SC11, the international conference for high performance, computing, 
networking, storage and analysis, by research networks GÉANT, ESnet and 
Internet2.  The presentation in Internet2’s booth (#1327 – see times below) 
will illustrate Layer2 Transatlantic data traffic flow in support of the 
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project.

When the services are officially launched in the coming months, users 
involved in data-intensive projects such as high energy physics, radio 
astronomy and fusion research will be able to access interoperable, 
dynamically provisioned on-demand network links and multi-domain monitoring 
on both sides of the Atlantic for the first time. This seamless approach 
makes it simpler to collaborate on large-scale projects, speeding up research 
and adding flexibility to high performance computing.

A longstanding collaboration has existed between leading research networks 
GÉANT (operated by DANTE), the Department of Energy’s ESnet, Internet2, 
Canadian research network CANARIE, Indiana University GlobalNOC and US 
LHCnet. From which, many of the partners have now co-operated to create a 
fully interoperable, extensible end-to-end service portfolio that will enable 
users to quickly establish and configure on-demand end-to-end high capacity 
links, across multiple networks, safe in the knowledge that they are 
completely interoperable. Projects will benefit further from a higher quality 
of service through perfSONAR multi-domain monitoring that keeps a constant 
watch over the end-to-end network performance, enabling a faster 
troubleshooting response. The partners expect to extend this framework to 
regional and international peers around the globe.

One of the first users of the collaboration’s fruits will be CERN’s Large 
Hadron Collider (LHC), which generates 15 petabytes of data per year. The LHC 
Open Network Environment (LHCONE) network is using both bandwidth on demand 
and network monitoring to transfer this data between scientists and 
researchers in Europe and the US and to assess network performance. A 
demonstration at the Internet2 booth at SC11 (#1327) will illustrate Layer 2 
transatlantic data traffic flow in support of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) 
project. Data movement will be shown across transatlantic links as well as 
participating end sites in the US and Europe. This innovative work provides 
dedicated network overlays for the particle physics community.

Given the increasingly global nature of research, the interoperability 
standards developed by the collaboration have potential to contribute to the 
development of a global standard. The collaborators are working together with 
other networking organisations on the Network Services Interface (NSI) 
protocol, which is being developed within the Open Grid Forum (OGF), to 
ensure the seamless delivery of dynamic circuit provisioning around the world.

“The rapidly increasing number of data intensive research projects rely on 
high performance computing to transmit, process and analyse massive volumes 
of information,” said Niels Hersoug, Joint General Manager, DANTE, the 
organisation which on behalf of Europe’s National Research and Education 
Networks (NRENs) has built and operates the GÉANT network. “In a global 
research economy ensuring this data quickly reaches users across the world is 
critical to collaboration and progress. The technical partnership behind this 
innovative portfolio of services will enable the interoperability that 
researchers need to move high performance computing forward.”

“Transatlantic co-operation is at the heart of research and it is imperative 
that projects have the tools and services they need to seamlessly share 
information across multiple networks,” said Steve Cotter, head of ESnet. 
“This collaboration will deliver the flexibility and high performance that 
research projects need, building on our own services to create an end-to-end, 
multi-domain portfolio to underpin vital research.”

“Research collaboration, particularly on data-intensive projects in physics 
and radio astronomy is truly global,” said Dave Lambert, Internet2 CEO. 
“Networks therefore need to work together to deliver seamless services to 
support this. Our own collaboration is a first step towards the creation of 
open, standards-based services that can be deployed around the world in 
support of global research and have the potential to transform the practice 
of networking.”

Presentation times at the Internet2 booth (#1327): Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 11a.m. 
and 4 p.m.; Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.; and Thursday, Nov. 
17 at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.


About ESnet
ESnet provides the high-bandwidth, reliable connections that link scientists 
at national laboratories, universities and other research institutions, 
enabling them to work together on some of the world's most important 
scientific challenges including energy, climate science, and the origins of 
the universe. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, 
and managed and operated by the ESnet team at Lawrence Berkeley National 
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), ESnet provides scientists with access to unique 
DOE research facilities and computing resources, as well as to scientific 
collaborators including research and education networks around the world. For 
more information, see www.es.net

About Internet2
Internet2, whose network is owned by U.S. research universities, is one of 
the world’s most advanced networking consortium for global researchers and 
scientists who develop breakthrough Internet technologies and applications, 
and spark tomorrow’s essential innovations. Internet2 consists of more than 
450 U.S. universities; corporations; government agencies; laboratories; 
higher learning; and other major national, regional and state research and 
education networks; and organizations representing more than 50 countries. 
Internet2 is a registered trademark. To discover more about Internet2, go to 
www.internet2.edu

About GÉANT
GÉANT is the high speed European communication network dedicated to research 
and education. In combination with its NREN partners, GÉANT creates a secure, 
high-speed research infrastructure that serves 40 million users in over 8,000 
institutions across 40 European countries. Operating at speeds of up to 40 
Gbps, GÉANT is the world’s largest and most advanced multi-gigabit network 
dedicated to research and education. Building on the success of its 
predecessors, GÉANT has been created around the needs of users, providing 
flexible, end-to-end services that transform the way that researchers and 
students collaborate. GÉANT is at the heart of global research networking 
through wide ranging connections with other world regions, underpinning vital 
projects that bridge the digital divide and benefit society as a whole.

Co-funded by the European Commission under the EU’s 7th Research and 
Development Framework Programme, GÉANT is the e-Infrastructure at the heart 
of the EU’s European Research Area and contributes to the development of 
emerging Internet technologies. The project partners are 32 European National 
Research and Education Networks (NRENs), TERENA and DANTE. GÉANT is operated 
by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs. For more information, visit 
www.geant.net

Contact:
Paul Maurice
DANTE
+44 (0)1223 371 300



Todd Sedmak
Internet2
Communications Manager
202-331-5373