We are proud to announce that two of ESnet’s projects have received IDEA (Internet2 Driving Exemplary Applications) awards in Internet2’s 2011 annual competition for innovative network applications that have had the most positive impact and potential for adoption within the research and education community. (see: Internet2’s press release).
Internet2 recognized OSCARS (On-Demand Secure Circuits and Advance Reservation System), developed by the ESnet team led by Chin Guok, including Evangelos Chaniotakis, Andrew Lake, Eric Pouyoul and Mary Thompson. Contributing partners also included Internet2, USC ISI and DANTE.
ESnet’s MAVEN (Monitoring and Visualization of Energy consumed by Networks) proof of concept application was also recognized with an IDEA award in the student category. MAVEN was prototyped by Baris Aksanli during his summer internship at ESnet. Baris is a Ph.D student at the University of California, San Diego conducting research at the System Energy Efficiency Lab with his thesis advisor, Dr. Tajana Rosing. Baris worked closely with his summer advisor, Inder Monga, and Jon Dugan to implement MAVEN as part of ESnet’s new Green Networking Initiative.
The idea behind OSCARS
OSCARS enables researchers to automatically schedule and guarantee end-to-end delivery of scientific data across networks and continents. For scientists, being able to count on reliable data delivery is critical as scientific collaborations become more expansive, often global. Meanwhile, in disciplines ranging from high-energy physics to climate, scientists are using powerful, geographically dispersed instruments like the Large Hadron Collider that are producing increasingly massive bursts of data, challenging the capabilities of traditional IP networks.
OSCARS virtual circuits can reliably schedule time-sensitive data flows – like those from the LHC – round the clock across networks, enabling research and education networks to seamlessly meet user needs. OSCARS code is also being deployed by R&E networks worldwide to support an ever-growing user base of researchers with data-intensive collaboration needs. Internet2, U.S. LHCnet, NORDUNet, RNP in Brazil as well as over 10 other regional and national networks have currently implemented OSCARS for virtual circuit services. Moreover, Internet2’s NSF-funded DyGIR and DYNES projects will in 2012 deploy over 60 more instances of OSCARS at university campuses and regional networks to support scientists involved in LHC, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Electronic Very-Long Baseline Interferometry (eVLBI) programs.
We are proud of the hard work and dedication the OSCARS development team has demonstrated since the start of this project. Just as importantly we are proud to see this work paying off in with new science collaboration and discoveries.
The potential of MAVEN
The Monitoring and Visualization of Energy consumed by Networks (MAVEN) project is a brand new prototype portal that will help network operators and researchers better track live network energy consumption and environmental conditions. MAVEN – implemented by Baris during his summer internship – is a first major step for ESnet in instrumenting our network with the tools to understand these operational dynamics. As networks continue to get bigger and faster, they will require more power and cooling in an era of decreased energy resources. To address this pressing challenge, ESnet is leading a new generation of research aimed at understanding how networks can operate in a more energy-efficient manner. We are grateful for Baris’ significant contributions in leading the development of MAVEN and glad to see that his talent is being recognized by the R&E networking community through this award.
Baris is now back in school at UCSD, completing his Ph.D in computer science. http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~baksanli/. Congratulations Baris!