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Transmode Links Univ. Of Manchester Super Computing Facilities

The University of Manchester, a leading U.K. university with ambitions to be one of the top 25 universities in the World by 2015, has chosen Transmode Systems to build a CWDM Backbone between the University and its new Reynolds House Data Centre.

Transmode deployed its System 1100 C/DWDM platform to build a highly adaptable Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) backbone linking the University of Manchester's existing 'Kilburn Building' Data Centre to its new 'Reynolds House' Data Centre at Manchester Technopark. The Reynolds House Data Centre also provides a data centre for Internet Facilitators, which is a commercial arm of the University being one of the region's largest co-location centres. The network carries multiple Gigabit Ethernet and 2Gbps Fibre Channel links between the University and the Manchester Computing Centre, one of the UK's two national super-computer facilities. It also enables mirroring of other services hosted at Reynolds House back to the Kilburn Building including MIMAS, a national data service accessible by every UK Higher and Further Education institution.

Peter Mills, managing director of Internet Facilitators, explained, "We will now operate from two major data centres, Reynolds House and Kilburn Building on Oxford Road. The two facilities will mean that if a disaster (e.g. plane crash, explosion, etc) occurs at one facility, services will continue to run at the other."

"We decided to use the Transmode solution because of the lower cost and additional flexibility which could be achieved, both in terms of a reduced requirement for fibre optic cable between the two facilities, which are 1km apart, and the fact that interconnected systems can be interfaced without expensive modifications or constraints", continued Mills.

"We are extremely pleased to have been selected to provide the backbone for one of the U.K.'s most powerful computing systems," said Sean Davies, Transmode UK account manager of enterprise sales. "The deployed network initially supports an impressive 38 x 2.5GbpS C/DWDM wavelengths, but is also highly modular ensuring the University need only add performance when they need it. It can also be upgraded to 10Gbps per channel as required."