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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
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Breaking News -
Networking:
ORNL To Design High-Speed,
Experimental 'UltraNet' Network
Big science requires big computers that generate vast amounts of data that
must be shared efficiently, so the Department of Energy's Office of Science
has awarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory $4.5 million to design a network up
to the task.
Raymond Orbach, director of DOE's Office of Science, said, "Advanced
computation and high-performance networks play a critical role in the science
of the 21st century because they bring the most sophisticated scientific
facilities and the power of high-performance computers literally to the
researcher's desktop. Both supercomputing and high-performance networks are
critical elements in the department's 20-year facilities plan that Secretary
of Energy Spencer Abraham announced Nov. 10."
The prototype dedicated high-speed network, called the Science UltraNet,
will
enable the development of networks that support high-performance computing and
other large facilities at DOE and universities. The Science UltraNet will
fulfill a critical need because collaborative large-scale projects typical
today make it essential for scientists to transfer large amounts of data
quickly. With today's networks, that is impossible because they do not have
adequate capacity, are shared by many users who compete for limited bandwidth,
and are based on software and protocols that were not designed for petascale
data.
"For example, with today's networks, data generated by the terascale
supernova
initiative in two days would take two years to transfer to collaborators at
Florida Atlantic University," said Nageswara Rao of ORNL's Computer Science
and Mathematics Division.
Obviously, Rao said, that isn't acceptable, and he, Bill Wing and Tom
Dunigan,
also of ORNL's Computer Science and Mathematics Division, are heading the
three-year project that could revolutionize the business of transferring large
amounts of data. Equally important, the new UltraNet will allow for remote
computational steering, distributed collaborative visualization and remote
instrument control. Remote computational steering allows scientists to control
and guide computations being run on supercomputers from their offices.
"These requirements place different types of demands on the network and
make
this task far more challenging than if we were designing a system solely for
the purpose of transferring data," Rao said. "Thus, the data transmittal
requirement plus the control requirements will demand quantum leaps in the
functionality of current network infrastructure as well as networking
technologies."
A number of disciplines, including high-energy physics, climate modeling,
nanotechnology, fusion energy, astrophysics and genomics will benefit from the
UltraNet.
ORNL's task is to take advantage of current optical networking technologies
to
build the prototype network infrastructure that enables development and
testing of the scheduling and signaling technologies that will be needed to
process requests from users and optimize the system. The UltraNet will operate
at 10 gigabits to 40 gigabits per second, which is about 200,000 to 800,000
times faster than the fastest dial-up connection of 56,000 bits per
second.
The network will support the research and development of ultra-high-speed
network technologies, high-performance components optimized for very
large-scale scientific undertakings. Researchers will develop, test and
optimize networking components and eventually make them part of Science
UltraNet.
"We're not trying to develop a new Internet," Rao said. "We're developing a
high-speed network that uses routers and switches somewhat akin to phone
companies to provide dedicated connections to accelerate scientific
discoveries. In this case, however, the people using the network will be
scientists who generate or use data or guide calculations remotely."
The plan is to set up a testbed network from ORNL to Atlanta, Chicago and
Sunnyville, Calif.
"Eventually, UltraNet could become a special-purpose network that connects
DOE
laboratories and collaborating universities and institutions around the
country," Rao said. "And this will provide them with dedicated on-demand
access to data. This has been the subject of DOE workshops and the dream of
researchers for many years."
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