June | 2013 | Light Bytes: Blogging for Science

At ESnet, we are striving to expand our network capabilities to new communities in different science domains, as well as assist these communities in connecting to their collaborators worldwide. To help achieve our goals, we have teamed up with four leading national research and education networks (NRENs)—Funet in Finland, Internet2 in the US, Janet in the UK and SURFnet in the Netherlands—to create a new program called Enlighten Your Research Global (EYR-Global). The idea was originally developed by SURFnet, where they have been running a similar program for a few years; however, now they are leading EYR on a global scale! As a new international partnership, the program aims to facilitate new scientific collaborations where data needs require global network resources to accelerate research.

Through this program, ESnet will help scientists benefit from using high-performance, state-of-the-art research and education (R&E) networks to send their data. The partnered NRENs will also offer consultation services to help the participants devise the best end-to-end network connectivity and system infrastructure required to assist in their research needs.

If you are a researcher and doing data-intensive science, please join us and submit a very short proposal (only 2 paragraphs)! The deadline for submitting short draft proposals is Monday, June 24, 2013. Following, a jury will short-list a maximum of 10 first-round applications for further development. First-round winners will be notified by Friday, August 2, 2013.

Who can apply?

Researchers who are affiliated with at least one of the organizations connected to the EYR-Global participating NRENs can apply. Researchers from any discipline and with any level of technical expertise are invited to submit a proposal. The program is open to a wide range of research teams—ranging from novice to expert in the use of information technology—to support their research projects to participate in the competition.

There is more information about EYR-Global at www.enlightenyourresearch.net.

A little more about the NRENs

ESnet provides high-speed networking to more than 40 Department of Energy research sites.

Funet is the Finnish University and Research Network.

Internet2, ESnet’s US partner, connects 220 universities with corporations and government agencies in the U.S. as well as the K-12 community.

Janet is the UK’s research and education network.

And finally, SURFnet is the Dutch National Research and Education Network.

Here’s some ground-breaking news from the TERENA Networking Conference 2013 (TNC2013) currently meeting in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The Department of Energy’s ESnet joined five of the world’s other leading research and education (R&E) networks and two commercial partners today to demonstrate for the first time a Transatlantic 100 gigabits-per-second (Gbps or one billion bits per second) transmission link for research and education between North America and Europe during the TERENA Networking Conference 2013 (TNC2013), held in Maastricht, The Netherlands. These demonstrations showcased emerging technologies and advanced applications for science, research and education.

You can see the traffic on the 100G link at: https://my.es.net/demos/tnc2013/

The 100 Gbps link, called the Advanced North Atlantic 100G Pilot project (ANA-100G) will be used for engineering and testing the new transmission link, applications, resources, monitoring techniques and advanced technologies such as software-defined networking. The testing will be between as many as four open exchange points, including MAN LAN in New York City and NetherLight in Amsterdam for at least 12 months following the conference. These efforts will determine the operational requirements needed to effectively run 100 Gbps wavelengths between North America and Europe to meet the growing demand of specialized research organizations.

“This is a historic milestone, and many ESnet staff have worked hard to achieve it,” said ESnet Director Greg Bell. “This achievement shows how much research and education networks can do together, when focused on a common goal. I’m confident that our historic project will serve as a model for even greater accomplishments in the future.”

In addition to ESnet, the R&E networks participating in the project are Internet2, NORDUnet, SURFnet, CANARIE and GÉANT. Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) is also supporting the ANA-100G pilot. Ciena is providing photonic equipment, including the recently released subsea version of the 100 Gbps WaveLogic 3 transponder. Furthermore, Juniper loaned equipment that enables some of the eye-catching demonstrations.