Special Features:
I-WIRE ACTIVATION FIRST STEP TO
NATIONAL TERAGRID NETWORK
A new network infrastructure connecting the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA) on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, the StarLight facility on Northwestern University's Chicago campus,
and Argonne National Laboratory in southwest suburban Chicago is the first
connection in what will become the TeraGrid network, the fastest dedicated
optical research network in the world.
The two 10 gigabit-per-second connections came online early this summer with
the activation of the state of Illinois' I-WIRE project. The event positions
Illinois as the leader in providing the bandwidth needed to support high-
performance information infrastructures, or grids. I-WIRE (Illinois
Wired/Wireless Infrastructure for Research and Education) is a fiber optic
data network funded by the state of Illinois that connects research
institutions in the state, including Argonne, NCSA, University of Illinois
campuses in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, the
Illinois Institute of Technology, and Northwestern University.
I-WIRE also connects to StarLight, a global experimental optical network
exchange facility, to the Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN),
and to the Illinois Century Network (ICN), which provides Internet access to
more than 5,600 Illinois schools, libraries, and other public institutions.
By late summer, the NCSA-StarLight-Argonne links will be upgraded to at least
30 gigagbits per second (Gb/s) as part of the National Science Foundation's
TeraGrid project. The TeraGrid will be the largest, most comprehensive
computing infrastructure ever created for scientific research and will link
more than 16 teraflops of computing power, more than 1,000 terabytes (1
petabyte) of storage, and advanced visualization environments, all integrated
as a grid system. TeraGrid sites include NCSA, Argonne, the San Diego
Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, the Center
for Advanced Computing Research at the California Institute of Technology, and
the recently added Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center.
Through a partnership with Qwest Communications, the TeraGrid sites will
connect to a central backbone network running at 40 Gb/s between StarLight and
the major Internet hub in Los Angeles. At 40 Gb/s, the TeraGrid network will
operate at four times the capacity of today's fastest networks for research
and education. Only a very few of these networks operate at even 10 Gb/s.
"Through I-WIRE, we have taken the first step in deploying the network that
will connect the TeraGrid sites, creating an unparalleled national capability
for computational scientists," said Charlie Catlett, a senior fellow in
Argonne's mathematics and computer science division, principal investigator
for the I-WIRE project, and executive director for the TeraGrid project. "At
the same time, I-WIRE creates opportunities for many projects, both via what
we have recently deployed and also through planned experiments with more
advanced systems capable of transmitting multiple terabits per second."
The new connections use Juniper Networks' recently released T640 high-speed
Internet routers and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical
equipment from Ciena Corporation. DWDM technology splits data carried on
optical fibers into different wavelengths, or channels, allowing the
transmission of hundreds of channels on a single fiber strand. The new NCSA-
StarLight-Argonne links have the ability to utilize 66 channels, which
translates into 660 Gb/s of network capacity. I-WIRE is now installing a
second such system in the Chicago area to connect other I-WIRE sites, using
StarLight as the hub.
"We are now well on our way to implementing the network infrastructure that
will transform the way scientists conduct research. It's a major step forward
for 21st century scientific research, and Illinois is once again a leader."
said Dan Reed, director of NCSA and principal investigator for the TeraGrid
project. "In the weeks ahead, we will establish a similar connection between
TeraGrid sites in Illinois and California. As new resources become available,
this network will be the 'superhighway' used to access them."
"The development of I-WIRE keeps Illinois at the forefront of optical
networks," said Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan. "The state's investment in this
type of high-performance computing network allows TeraGrid and other projects
to benefit not only Illinois but the world in research opportunities."
For more on I-WIRE, see
www.i-wire.org.
For more on the TeraGrid project, see
www.teragrid.org.
For more on StarLight, see
www.startap.net/starlight.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a leader in developing and deploying
cutting-edge high-performance computing, networking, and information
technologies. NCSA is a partner in the TeraGrid project, a National Science
Foundation initiative to build and deploy the world's largest, fastest, most
comprehensive, distributed infrastructure for open scientific research. NCSA
also leads the National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance), a
partnership to prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the 21st
century that includes more than 50 academic, government, and industry research
partners. The NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure
(PACI) program funds the Alliance. In addition to the NSF, NCSA receives
support from the state of Illinois, the University of Illinois, private sector
partners, and other federal agencies.
For more information, see
www.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts
basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines,
ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990,
Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies
and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and
prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is operated by the University of
Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratory system.
For more information, see
www.mcs.anl.gov.
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