World’s first 100 Gbps research network connected

BENGALURU, INDIA: The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) has deployed the world's first 100-Gigabit per second (Gbps) Research and Education (R&E) network link between Asia and the United States, as a part of Pacific Wave.

Pacific Wave, a joint project between CENIC and Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP), is a state-of-the-art international Internet exchange facility that interconnects the research and education community of the Pacific Rim with California's research universities and 200 other research institutions across the United States.

The infrastructure:

The new network relies on the Brocade MLXe core router as the interconnection, peering, and routing exchange fabric, enabling high-performance 100 Gbps connectivity and providing a next-generation software-defined exchange (SDX) based on software-defined networking (SDN) technology. It supports a dynamic and agile network with new levels of operational efficiency and automation, enabling on-demand connectivity between the various global points of presence.

With this infrastructure, Pacific Wave intends to leverage an innovation platform that enhances connectivity to campus and wide-area Science DMZ applications. This will allow researchers to move data between labs and scientific instruments to collaborators' sites, supercomputer centers, and data repositories with zero performance degradation.

The routers will be located in primary points of presence in Sunnyvale, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Tokyo—all running 100 Gbps connections. In turn, these points of presence will provide connections between the Pacific Wave network and entities such Internet2, the United States Department of Energy's ESNet, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's N-wave, and commercial cloud providers regularly used by national and international R&E communities.

How being connected will help?

With the Pacific Wave network, a broad range of scientific research efforts—including big data and remote instrument-based projects that are currently limited by low-capability connectivity across the Pacific Ocean will be enhanced with faster and flexible interconnections among Pacific Rim and North American science resources.

The network will enable better support of big data flows, 8k and 4k video resolution, and 3D video distribution. The network will also support real-time interactive instrument control, virtual reality, and telepresence applications that will facilitate scientific collaboration.

On record:

Jason Nolet, Senior Vice President, Switching, Routing, and Analytics Products Group, Brocade, said, "In the new IP era of networking, it is especially crucial for research and education networks like CENIC to have the technology in place that will enable them to stay ahead of the curve and continue making a difference in the research and education world."

"Bringing Brocade into the CENIC network as we connect to Asia has been critical to the success of the endeavor," said Louis Fox, CEO, CENIC. "We look forward to the future of the established connection, and the research and sharing that the network will enable."