Science Node, a newsletter based in the U.S. and Europe that looks at the real-world impact of advanced computing and networks, just posted an interview with Larry Smarr about the importance of Science DMZs in advancing research. Developed by ESnet, the Science DMZ is a scalable network design model for optimizing science data transfers. The model has been endorsed by the National Science Foundation, which funds programs to build Science DMZs on university campuses.

Smarr, founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), a UC San Diego/UC Irvine partnership, and the Harry E. Gruber professor in Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, said in an ESnet article that ESnet  “defined the Science DMZ and took it to the DOE science community. NSF has now cloned this approach through the CC-NIE program over the past three years. It’s been built out on over 100 campuses and these Science DMZs are all based on ESnet’s approach.”

Smarr is also the PI for the Pacific Research Platform, which will the Science DMZs of most of the research universities on the West Coast (the 10 University of California campuses, San Diego State University, Caltech, USC, Stanford, University of Washington) via three advanced networks: ESnet, CENIC’s California Research & Education Network (CalREN) and Pacific Wave.