CCOONNNNEECCTTTHE MAGAZINE FROM THE GÉANT COMMUNITY | ISSUE 8 AUGUST 2012

DATA NEEDS AREGROWING EVERY DAY, EVERYWHERE. HOW IS GÉANT RESPONDING?

READ OUR FEATURES ON TERABIT NETWORKING AND GLOBAL EXPANSION

MMOORREE TTHHAANN AA NNEETTWWOORRKKGÉANT services areempowering users

WWHHAATT DDOOEESS TTHHEE HHIIGGGGSSBBOOSSOONN SSOOUUNNDD LLIIKKEE??Sonification has turned the particle into a (great) melody

CCEENNTTRRAALL TTOO EEUURROOPPEEAANN EE--IINNFFRRAASSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE Contributions from ourresearch partners

CONTENTS

TEAMWORK BREEDS GÉANT SUCCESS! 01

FEATURE: TERABIT NETWORK

GÉANT ANNOUNCES MOVE TO TERABIT NETWORK 02

Q&A – ROLLING OUT THE TERABIT NETWORK 04

GÉANT 2020 – FUTURE PROOFING EUROPEAN RESEARCH NETWORKING

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SERVICES FOCUS 08

FEATURE: GLOBAL GÉANT

CREATING THE GLOBAL RESEARCH VILLAGE 10

Q&A WITH CATHRIN STÖVER 12

FUTURE VISION FOR GLOBAL COLLABORATION 15

US AND EUROPE COLLABORATE TO DELIVER 70GBPS OFTRANSATLANTIC BANDWIDTH

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BUILDING LINKS FROM AFRICA TO GÉANT 20

INTERNATIONAL PARTNER PROFILE: CANARIE 22

INTERNATIONAL PARTNER PROFILE: SINET 23

GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY NEWS ROUND-UP 25

COMMUNITY NEWS 26

SONIFICATION ENABLES WORLD TO HEAR NEW HIGGSBOSON-LIKE PARTICLE

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GÉANT ESSENTIALS 29

01

TEAMWORK BREEDS GÉANT SUCCESS!By Milos Karapandzic, Head of GÉANT Project Management Office

Teamwork and professionalism played a large part in achieving a successful third year for GÉANT.

At the EC Year 3 Reviewmeeting, hosted by Belnet inBrussels, 19 – 21 June, thepreliminary verbal report ofthe EC’s review team was veryfavourable, but we’ll have towait for the official report tocome in until we can put it onthe record! What we can sayis that the Reviewers werevery impressed with the bodyof work the project hadachieved in the third year;and with the quality andcontent of the presentationsand in particular, the teamspirit displayed by the projectmanagement team during thethree-day meeting.

Contributing to the success, two majorchange programmes, introduced duringYear 3, are now at the heart of how theproject manages and coordinates thework. A product management structurehas been put in place, with dedicatedproduct managers trained and allocatedto the services. In addition, GÉANT hasdeveloped its own Project ManagementFramework based on establishedindustry best practises, such as Prince2and P3O, designed to balance light-touch structure and discipline withflexibility. These changes are having ahuge impact on efficiency andfacilitating the cooperation betweenActivity teams, with the ultimate goal ofcontinuing to ensure we deliver servicesand the network that the NRENs andusers need.

What the work and achievementsthroughout Year 3 have demonstrated,is that from the developments anddelivery of the network itself, to theprogress of the services andinnovations and discoveries of theresearch teams, and with two newcoordinating frameworks in place,GÉANT is even better able to plan forand provide for our user communities,by giving flexibility in the way theyachieve their networking needs, nowand into the future. You can read aboutthe plans for the terabit network, as wellas the progress of some of our keyservices, in this issue of CONNECT.

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Delivering innovation and meeting user needs have always been twoguiding principles at the heart of the GÉANT project. As part of thisinnovation in May 2012 GÉANT announced a major investment designedto support capacity of to up to 2Tbps (terabits per second) across itscore network.

Aiming to future proof the network until 2020, the migration will enablefaster collaboration on critical projects and meet the rapidly increasingdemand for data transfer from the 40 million researchers and millions of students across Europe that rely on GÉANT.

THE NEED FOR SPEEDThe creation and sharing of researchdata is increasing at an enormous rate,impacting research networks, highperformance computing (HPC) and grids – collectively known as e-infrastructures. Major projects involvingglobal partners, such as CERN’s LargeHadron Collider and the forthcomingSquare Kilometre Array, generateenormous amounts of data that needsto be distributed, analysed, stored andaccessed for research. This need forfast, stable transfer of data dependsheavily on the high speed anddedicated bandwidth offered by researchnetworks, such as GÉANT.

In the new network, 500Gbps capacitywill be available across the core fromfirst implementation, delivering circuitsacross Europe that will allow individualusers to transfer data at speeds of up to100Gbps. This will also have the addedbenefit of making it easier for users todynamically access the bandwidth theyneed, speeding up the sending of data,collaboration and consequently achieving research results.

A TESTBED FORINNOVATIONTo achieve this major step forward four-year contracts have been awarded to Infinera and Imtech, to respectivelyprovide the transmission equipment andswitching platform to comprehensivelyupgrade the 50,000km GÉANT backbone network.

GÉANT has always acted as a testbedfor the latest innovation, deployingemerging technology and new protocols(such as IPv6) ahead of commercialnetworks. GÉANT’s hybrid architectureis a good example of this as it is basedon two types of equipment – opticaltransmission and data packet switching.The procurement was therefore split intotwo groups. Infinera was selected toprovide optical transmission equipmentlighting all the dark fibre in the GÉANTbackbone network, whilst Imtech willprovide the data packet switchingplatform using Juniper equipment.

GÉANT ANNOUNCES MOVE TO TERABIT NETWORK

02

The new network migration will thereforecontinue GÉANT’s role as a testbed fornew technology, while delivering thecapacity, speed and services thatEurope needs in order to keep theregion at the forefront of world research.

When the investment was announced,Ivan Maric, chair of the GÉANTExecutive Committee commented, “e-infrastructures in Europe are vital tofoster research and innovation for thebenefit of society. I'm thrilled by thismilestone, which allows the GÉANTnetwork to continue to serve theresearch and education community, withever increasing speed and efficiency. Ithas been a pleasure to participate inthis impressive achievement, reachedby deep commitment of DANTE and allthe European NRENs. I look forward tothe full deployment of Terabitnetworking in the years to come.”

Q&AROLLING OUTTHE TERABITNETWORK XXAAVVIIEERR MMAARRTTIINNSS--RRIIVVAASS,,

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WHAT IS THE TIMESCALEFOR THE ROLLOUT OF THETERABIT NETWORK?Work begins in July 2012 and isscheduled to be completed in April2013. While ten months is not a longtime we’ve liaised closely with ourNREN partners and the equipmentsuppliers Imtech/Juniper and Infinera toput in place a structured plan that willensure all our users across Europereceive the benefit of the new networkswithin that timeframe.

CAN YOU GIVE US AN IDEAOF THE SCALE – WHATDOES THIS INVOLVE?This is an enormous project. Essentiallywe’re completely refreshing our 50,000km backbone network infrastructure –replacing all existing equipment with thelatest transmission and switchingtechnology and installing over 150 newpieces of equipment in ten months. Weneed to visit 170 sites across Europe,from Tallinn and Riga in the North andDublin in the West to Moscow in theEast and Athens in the South. And as itis a phased route by route migrationwe’ll be visiting some sites several timesif they are part of multiple routes.

We obviously don’t undertake a projectof this size lightly but this is a long terminvestment. The rollout is designed tosupport up to 2Tbps (terabits persecond) capacity across the corenetwork, meaning we are essentiallyfuture proofing GÉANT until 2020.

HOW WILL THE MIGRATIONBE CARRIED OUT?To minimise disruption we’re splitting the project, replacing our existingequipment in two phases, beginningwith switching and then transmissiontechnology. Within each phase we’ll berolling out the migration in geographicalstages to further lessen any downtime.In each case members of our networkengineering team will visit the Point ofPresence in order to manage theupgrade at first hand and deal with any unexpected issues.

ARE THERE ANY NEWROUTES?Yes, as part of the new topology we’ll beintroducing two new routes, from Milanto Marseille and Marseille to Geneva.This route allows us to increase theroute diversity outside of Geneva, andgive us a presence in Marseille wheremany undersea cables land.Additionally we’re creating five parallelroutes alongside existing links toincrease capacity on key backboneroutes, solely during the migrationphase. These will cover London-Paris,London-Brussels-Amsterdam,Amsterdam-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Genevaand Milan-Finkenstein-Vienna.

HOW WILL GÉANTGUARANTEE CONTINUEDSERVICE DURING THE ROLLOUT?We’ve planned very closely to ensurethat service disruptions will beminimised. As well as rolling out the newequipment in phases the majority ofupgrades will occur out of peak hours toensure minimal impact on services andusers. In some cases we’re installing ona parallel route, which means that wecan test the new equipment and linkbefore switchover, which will minimisedowntime. Wherever possible roll backscenarios are in place to make sure thatany service interruptions are minimised,even in the case of dramatic events.

WHICH ROUTES WILL BEUPGRADED FIRST?As I mentioned the migration will be intwo phases, the first for the Juniperswitching equipment and the second for the Infinera optical transmissiontechnology. Stage one of the Junipermigration will cover our routes in theBaltic States and Poland and will befollowed by South East Europe, with oursites in Prague, Vienna, Bratislava,Budapest, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Athensand Milan then upgraded. Stage threewill cover the Western area, includingLondon, Dublin, Paris, Madrid andGeneva. Finally the remaining sites – from Brussels and Amsterdam east to Moscow will be migrated.

The Infinera installation will follow aslightly different four stage rolloutpattern – starting in central Europe,which will be followed by Southernroutes then the North and finally theWest end of the GÉANT backbone.

The new GÉANT terabit network is a major investment and rollingit out is a large scale project. Xavier Martins-Rivas, IP Manager,heads the team responsible for building the new network andexplains how it will be done.

GÉANT 2020 – THE VISION

The vision outlined in the report seesGÉANT 2020 as the Europeancommunications commons, enablingtalented people to collaborate with theirpeers around the world and to haveinstantaneous and unlimited access toany resource for knowledge creation,innovation and learning, unconstrainedby the barriers of the pre-digital world.

Specifically, the goals that fulfil theGÉANT 2020 vision are:

• Support knowledge communities by providing world-class connectivity and services.

• Support the growth of these communities, in both breadth and depth within Europe, and opening up to talent beyond Europe’s borders

• Push the state-of-the-art of the communications commons by constant innovation and by translating this innovation into a competitive Europe

• Reorganise to cope with the constantly changing environment.

DELIVERING THE NETWORKFOR GÉANT 2020

The migration of GÉANT to a terabitnetwork provides a vital first step to achieving the vision set out in the report. It will deliver world-class, high capacity connectivity thatprovides individual connections at up to100Gbps, future proofing research byproviding the bandwidth needed for eventhe most data-intensive projects.

The network will underpin a range ofend-to-end services, such as eduroam, that allow researchers to work fully wherever they are locatedwithin the GÉANT Service Area,accessing the same information andtools as if they were at their homeinstitution. This supports ever moremobile researchers who are no longertied to physical locations in order tocarry out their work.

Innovation and flexibility are at the heart of the new terabitinfrastructure – providing a platform for closer collaboration by usercommunities across Europe and linkingthem to the world through a future-proofed network that will evolve to meettheir changing needs. The updatedGÉANT network is therefore a crucialmove towards achieving the goals ofEurope 2020 and the GEG report.the goals of Europe 2020 and the GEG report.

Research networking is a central factor in a creating and sustaining a strong, collaborative,cross-border research community, providing the tools and connectivity needed for Europeto remain a world-leader. GÉANT is seen as a key part of the Digital Agenda for Europe,one of the EC’s flagship initiatives driving Europe 2020.

To ensure European research networking continues to innovate and support thecommunity’s needs, the EC commissioned a major report to provide a vision and actionplan for how European research networks should look in 2020. Written by the GÉANTExpert Group (GEG), an independent group of experts, it was delivered in October 2011.

The report outlined the fundamental changes occurring across the research world, as workbecomes ever more data intensive and multi-disciplinary. This will drive a ‘data deluge’ with enormous volumes of information being shared and accessed across researchnetworks, by users who demand the ability to work anywhere, rather than needing to cluster around specific locations or physical centres.

GÉANT 2020 – FUTURE PROOFING EUROPEAN RESEARCH NETWORKINGThe vital importance of research to Europeancompetitiveness and innovation is well-recognised by governments across the region and the European Commission itself.

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SERVICES FOCUSSince the last issue of CONNECT there have been major updatesacross the entire GÉANT services portfolio, including user expansionin Europe and across the world and the launch of new services to the wider community. Here’s a round-up of recent activity:

BANDWIDTH ON DEMAND LAUNCHED ASPRODUCTION SERVICEAfter an extensive pan-European pilot,GÉANT Bandwidth on Demand (BoD)was launched as a production serviceat the Terena Networking Conference(TNC) in May 2012.

The service enables NRENs to delivercustomised connectivity to campus andinternational user projects in minutesthrough dynamic bandwidthprovisioning.

Until now projects that needed toreliably transfer large amounts of databetween two end points for shortperiods had to rely on staticinternational connections. These couldtake weeks to create and consequentlycould only reasonably be available on along term basis. BoD removes thedrawbacks of static circuits, reducingadministration and setup by allowingNRENs to quickly and cost-effectivelyprovide guaranteed bandwidth to theirusers, exactly when they need it.

The production service will initially beoffered to campus and internationaluser projects by CARNet,Forskningsnettet, GRNet, HEAnet,PIONIER and SURFnet, workingcollaboratively with the GÉANTbackbone. Further NRENs are expectedto join over the course of 2012.

To find out more read the full release here.

PERFSONAR MDMWith an ever growing number ofmonitoring points perfSONAR MDM ishelping more and more networkengineers to work together to ensurehigh performance on multi-domainnetworks.

One of the most advanced of these isSpanish NREN RedIRIS, which hasdeployed perfSONAR monitoring pointsacross its backbone network and isusing the tool as its main monitoringplatform. From ensuring high capacitydata flows to and from CERN andSpanish sites involved in the LargeHadron Collider project to linkingdancers in Barcelona with theircounterparts in Brazil to allow real-timeperformances, RedIRIS relies onperfSONAR MDM to deliver the highestlevels of service to users. To find outmore about how RedIRIS is benefiting,read the full case study in English hereand in Spanish here.

eduGAINThe eduGAIN ‘digital passport’ servicehas been rapidly expanding, and nowcovers 14 countries in three continents.In June Canadian NREN CANARIEbecame the latest network to joineduGAIN, meaning that collaborationbetween students and researchers inCanada and Europe will be simpler, withseamless, secure access to resourcesat institutions on both sides of theAtlantic.

eduGAIN enables users to access vitalresources such as research databasesand tools at institutions in participatingcountries, without needing to re-registeror apply for additional permission. Byremoving geographical and technicalbarriers to sharing information,eduGAIN makes it as simple to accessremote resources as if they were in auser’s home institution.

Find out more about eduGAIN’s growth here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO eduroam®!The eduroam secure roaming connectivity service recently celebrated a major milestone, having now been in operation for more than a decade. It has now spread to over 50 countries globally, with more than 5,000 locations in Europe alonewhere researchers, students and teachers with eduroam credentials can securely access the internet while away from their home institution.

Today’s research and education community is increasingly mobile, and depends on technology and the internet tocollaborate and communicate. eduroam was created to meet these needs. Without the need to register for guest accounts or remember extra passwords, users can simply open their laptops or activate their mobile devices, and eduroamautomatically authenticates them with their home institution and handles authorisation via the institution they are visiting. This not only benefits researchers, teachers and students, but reduces the support burden for institutions themselves, making it simple to provide access for visiting users without adding to their administrative workload.

eduroam’s first ten years was marked by celebrations at this year’s TNC, including special recognition for Klaas Wierenga,who had the original idea for the service when working at Dutch NREN SURFnet. Read more on eduroam here.

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CREATING THE GLOBAL RESEARCH VILLAGEThe recent announcement that the Square Kilometre Array(SKA) telescope will be co-located in Australia and South Africamoves forward another exciting international ‘big science’initiative. The SKA is a ground breaking !1.5 billion project thataims to transform our view of the universe. The world’s largestand most sensitive radio telescope, it will enable astronomersto glimpse the formation and evolution of the very first stars andgalaxies after the Big Bang, investigate the nature of gravity,and possibly even discover life beyond Earth.

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It achieves this level of detail by combining thesignals from 3,000 separate dish antennas, alongwith other radio wave receptors. The antennas will be arranged in five spiral arms extending todistances of at least 3,000 km from the centre ofthe array. This gives a total collecting area of onesquare kilometre – the size of 200 football pitches.

Once operational in 2020 the SKA will generateenough raw data to fill 15 million 64 Gb iPods every day. This will be transmitted using opticalfibre networks to a central super computer capableof performin 1018 operations per second. It isexpected that data rates will be multiple petabitsper second – representing over 100 times current global internet traffic.

GROWING NEED FOR CONNECTIVITYThe SKA is a further demonstration ofthe exponentially growing need forconnectivity between researchers inEurope and their colleagues across theworld, both through large scale projectsand a myriad of smaller, but no less vitalcollaborations. As well as the heavyinvestment in GÉANT’s new, terabit pan-European network, parallel work iscontinuing to expand the bandwidthbetween GÉANT and partner networksin regions across the world.

GÉANT GLOBALCONNECTIVITYDOUBLED

GÉANT’s global connectivity isgrowing rapidly – it doubled from34Gbps to 73Gbps in the twelvemonths to April 2012. What is evenmore impressive is that this growthis accelerating – in the last threemonths it has risen by a further15% to 84Gbps.

These are just some of the latestadditions to GÉANT’s global links:

• North America: IP capacity has more than doubled, increasing from 25Gbps to 55Gbps

• Latin America: A four fold increase in IP capacity from 622Mbps to 2.5Gbps to

• Caribbean: A completely new link of 155Mbps to the recently established C@ribNET

• Sub-Saharan Africa: Anincreasefrom 1Gbps IP to 10Gbps IP, along with an additional 10Gbps point-to-point circuit

• South Caucasus: New 45Mbps links to both Azerbaijan and Armenia).

• CAREN: A high speed 155Mbpslink to Kazakhstan

• Asia-Pacific: A new 10Gbps IP link to ASGC, the Taiwanese NREN

By increasing the range andcapacity of GÉANT’s links to otherworld regions, the aim is to createa global research village thatbrings together scientists,researchers and students toenable the free flow of informationand faster collaboration, benefitingnot just education projects, but people across the world.

Without these high speed links,researchers simply won’t be able towork together, meaning that the benefitsof global projects such as the SKA andthe Large Hadron Collider would not befully delivered. High bandwidth, robustconnections between GÉANT and otherworld regions have multiple benefits –not just allowing researchers to worktogether, but enabling vital projects thatspan e-learning, telemedicine anddisaster warning systems that directlyhelp populations across the globe. Byallowing researchers to remain in theirhome country high speed networks helpreverse the brain drain and enable localacademic institutions to develop,creating knowledge economies thatimprove the lives of millions.

34GBPS

84GBPS

APRIL 2011

TODAY

WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU SEEN OVER THE LASTYEAR IN GLOBAL R&ECONNECTIVITY?We’ve seen an unprecedented increasein demand for bandwidth betweenGÉANT and other world regions, asresearchers and students across theworld want to collaborate and shareever greater volumes of data. InsideGÉANT this is obviously one of the keydrivers behind moving to our newterabit network, but this massiveincrease in data volumes is replicated globally.

HOW ARE YOU MEETINGTHESE CHALLENGES?We’re working closely with researchnetworks across the world to ensure ourlinks deliver a seamless end-to-enduser experience. This means upgradingand adding connections in line withpredicted traffic increases. Working withthe America Connects to Europe (ACE)project we have doubled the capacity oflinks between Europe and the UnitedStates, bringing it up to 70Gbps, withplans to further upgrade at the rate of atleast 10Gbps per year. Additionally wehave just launched a tender toquadruple bandwidth between GÉANTand China, potentially increasing it to10Gbps. Looking at new regions,GÉANT has also just connected to theCaribbean network C@ribnet, making itour newest global peering partner.

ARE THERE PARTICULARWORLD REGIONS WHERETHE INCREASE IN DEMANDIS MOST VISIBLE?From an R&E networking point of view,the African continent is very interestingthese days. Here, the new underseacable systems both to the East andWest of the African continent haveopened the doors to increasedterrestrial capacity across sub SaharanAfrica. As a result, the AfricanUbuntuNet Alliance now has more than20Gbps capacity to the GÉANT PoP inLondon. The AfricaConnect project islooking to provide an inter-African R&Ebackbone, keeping local African trafficlocal. Considering that until veryrecently a lot of African connectivity wasvery limited and satellite provided, suchdevelopments can only be explained byan enormous amount of latent demandand the fact that today research andscience is truly a global activity. Forexample, we have also nowimplemented the first P2P link betweenEurope and Africa, linking GÉANT andUbuntuNet. This high speed 15,000 kmdedicated connection will allow Africanradio astronomers at theHartebeesthoek Radio AstronomyObservatory (HartRAO) in South Africato stream observational data to the JointInstitute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) in theNetherlands for processing andcorrelation, as part of joint observationsinvolving telescopes across the world.

ARE THERE ANY HURDLES TO MEETINGTHESE CONNECTIVITYNEEDS?With more operators having built highspeed networks, generally the price ofbandwidth has been falling and in someworld regions keeps falling significantly.However in some markets where thereare still monopoly suppliers in place anda lack of deregulation this hasn’thappened yet to the same extent. Inthese cases it can impact our ability todeliver cost-effective high speedconnections, ultimately increasing thedigital divide. We are working with ourglobal partners to ensure that R&Enetworks help opening markets.

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Cathrin Stöver is Chief International Relations and CommunicationsOfficer in DANTE, responsible for the management of relationships withNREN organisations and regional bodies in other world regions.

As part of her role within the GÉANT project, Cathrin is responsible forthe Activity on liaison and support covering international and internalrelations. Additionally she is project manager of the AfricaConnectproject working towards the creation of an R&E networking infrastructure in sub Saharan Africa.

Connect caught up with Cathrin to discuss what is driving theincreasingly worldwide demand for greater research network capacity.

Q&AWITH CATHRINSTÖVER

CATHRIN STÖVER, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSAND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER,DANTE

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FUTURE VISION FOR GLOBAL COLLABORATIONGlobal research is changing rapidly, driven by increasing digitisationand information sharing between users located around the world. To meet these evolving needs the structures of international researchnetworks themselves are changing rapidly, becoming morecollaborative and seamless.

To understand the future of global research networks, DeCLARA, the RedCLARA newsletter recently ran an extensive Q&A with theleaders of 11 major research networks from around the world. The full article can be accessed here, whilst overleaf the interview with GÉANT’s Project Managers has been reproduced

NEWSIPV6 MOVES INTOCENTRAL ASIAKazakh NREN KazRENA hasbecome the first Central Asianresearch network to announceIPv6 compliance, deploying thenew protocol that safeguards thefuture of the internet by providingaccess to a vastly greater pool ofIP addresses. Announced onWorld IPv6 Day in June, KazRENAwill act as a catalyst for IPv6deployments in other CentralAsian countries that are served byCAREN, the region’s highperformance network for researchand education. CAREN facilitatescommunication, informationexchange and collaborationbetween universities and researchcentres within Central Asia andprovides access to the Europeanand global research community.Read more atcaren.dante.net/server/show/ConWebDoc.3416

TEIN3 EXCEEDS 50M USER MARKReaching a major milestone,TEIN3, the Asia-Pacific researchnetwork now connects over 50million users across the region.Originally set up in 2006, the highspeed network has expandeddramatically and now links 16countries, with Cambodia thelatest to join China, India,Indonesia, Japan, Korea,Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, thePhilippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka,Thailand, Vietnam, Australia andBangladesh. TEIN3 now servescountries representing over 60%of the world’s population,delivering the ability forresearchers and students tocollaborate with their colleaguesinside the region and also, throughlinks to networks such as GÉANT,to work globally. Read the full story at www.tein3.net/server/show/ConWebDoc.3415

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFICDISCIPLINES THAT AREDRIVING THE NEED FORINCREASED BANDWIDTH?It is happening across the board asresearch of all types generates moreand more digital data. Obviously bigscience projects such as the LargeHadron Collider and the forthcomingSquare Kilometre Array createpetabytes of data that needs to beshared globally, however the way thatresearch is carried out is fundamentallychanging. Rather than store informationat their home institutions, researchersnow access specialist data storesacross the globe, combining informationto aid their research projects and usinggrid computing infrastructures to bringtogether the necessary processingpower to undertake complexcalculations. Arts projects, such asinteractive dance performances andconcerts equally require stable, highbandwidth networks to enable aseamless, real-time experience, even ifperformers are separated by thousandsof miles.

Alongside these applications, improvedconnectivity can have a major positivesocietal impact. Global researchnetworks really can help bridge thedigital divide in vital areas such ashealth, education and disaster warning.For example telemedicine applicationsallow specialist doctors to collaboratewith local medical staff and treatpatients using high quality videoconferencing, helping to save lives. Inregions such as Latin America e-learning applications mean that childrencan receive high quality teaching, nomatter where they are located, meaningthey don’t have to migrate to cities toreceive an education.

OBVIOUSLY HIGH SPEEDCONNECTIVITY IS VITAL FORCOLLABORATION, BUTUSERS INCREASINGLYREQUIRE END-TO-ENDSERVICES THAT ARETAILORED TO THEIR NEEDS.HOW IS GÉANT WORKINGWITH OTHER NETWORKS TODELIVER THIS? From the outset the services that havebeen developed within the GÉANTproject have been designed to be openand easy to deploy with those used byother networks. For example, the overall

architecture of the perfSONARmonitoring tool was developed jointly byGÉANT, ESNet and Internet2 in the USAand RNP, the Brazilian NREN. Theseservices are increasingly going global –another example is the Canadian NRENCANARIE becoming the latestorganisation to sign up to the eduGAIN‘digital passport’ service, allowinginstant, secure access to resources onboth sides of the Atlantic, while secureroaming service eduroam is nowavailable in over 50 countries across the world.

In Latin America the ELCIRA Project runby RedCLARA aims to coordinate aseries of collaboration tools andservices that are being developed inEurope and Latin America in order toprovide an interoperability frameworkthat facilitates the work of European-Latin American research teams and tofoster collaboration in joint researchprojects. The future aim is that servicessuch as eduGAIN and eduroam willbecome available across theRedCLARA network.

WHAT NEW WORLDREGIONS DO YOU SEEEMERGING IN THE NEXTFIVE YEARS FOR RESEARCHCONNECTIVITY?Around the world, there’s an increasedrealisation of the benefits being part ofthe global research community brings.This is leading to a great deal of positiveactivity around the world to progressnational, regional and internationalresearch networks. DANTE is involvedin the CAREN project in central Asia,bringing high speed networks toKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. TheAfricaConnect project will bring inter-African connectivity to Southern andEastern sub Saharan Africa and we areclosely working with WACREN in WestAfrica to ensure that GÉANT will also beable to connect to the West AfricanNRENs in the very near future.

WHAT COMES TO YOURMIND WHEN YOU HEARTHAT A RESEARCHER ISTALKING ABOUTCOLLABORATION?Niels Hersoug: It is a major strengththat there is a shared willingness amongresearchers around the world to worktogether for the benefit of mankind. Theability to collaborate is dependent onhaving the correct infrastructure inplace, and it is out of a desire to helpcollaborative work around the globe thatmany of us are here at DANTE.RedCLARA is another good example ofhow well things can work when thatdrive to support collaboration is there.

Matthew Scott: Collaboration createsgeneral benefits for society at manylevels. It brings people with similar skillstogether to work towards a commongoal, creating what we call the researchvillage, that is to say the idea that nomatter how geographically far apartpeople are, they can work closelytogether.

WHAT WOULD YOUIDENTIFY AS THE MAINIMPORTANCE OF RESEARCHAND EDUCATIONNETWORKS?NH: In addition to the support R&Enetworks give to research, we must alsoremember the important role offacilitating education. It is also essentialthat we continue to work to break downthe digital divide, a topic which is verydear to the European Commission incontrast to commercial providers.

MS: Absolutely, it is crucial that wecreate equality of opportunity for peopleall around the world to access theirpeers and partners in the research andeducation community both locally andglobally.ntially future proofing GÉANTuntil 2020.

HOW WOULD YOUDESCRIBE THE ROLE OFYOUR NETWORK AT BOTH A REGIONAL AND AGLOBAL LEVEL?MS: Within Europe, GÉANT acts as thecommon community for Europeanresearchers and also as a society ofEuropean NRENs in which they cancollaborate on new services. Globallywe see GÉANT very much as being atthe heart of the Research andEducation Village. An example of this isthe fact that GÉANT enables theexchange of connectivity between otherworld regions.

NH: DANTE has nearly 20 years’experience of establishing regionalresearch and education networks. Thisexperience is something we haveshared and continue to do so with otherworld regions.

MS: In addition to providingconnectivity, GÉANT also providesservices to meet user needs withinEurope. This is again something that wecan share with other world regions. TheELCIRA project led by RedCLARA, andwhich DANTE and GÉANT are closelyinvolved in, is an example of how wecan share experiences of services andwork to create inter-regional serviceswhich benefit global collaborations.

HOW IMPORTANT FORYOUR NETWORK ISCOLLABORATION WITHOTHER REGIONALNETWORKS AND IN WHATWAYS DO YOUCOLLABORATE AT AGLOBAL LEVEL?NH: International collaboration is key forus. DANTE has put a lot of effort intosupporting other regional networks overthe years, with the support of EuropeanCommission (EC) funding, meaning thatconnectivity costs between regionshave always been shared. We have alsohelped other networks justify to theirlocal funding bodies the importance ofResearch and Education Networks.

MS: For the EC-funded regionalprojects, DANTE has acted as theconduit between the EuropeanCommission and the regions. This hashelped to create very powerful linksbetween the regions and Europe. But asorganisations such as RedCLARA inLatin America and the TEINCooperation Centre in the Asia-Pacificregion adopt the role of managing theEC-funded projects, DANTE continuesto work closely with them to supportthem in their work.

HOW DO YOU THINKGLOBAL COLLABORATIONAMONG REGIONALNETWORKS WILL CHANGEIN THE COMING YEARS?NH: We will see a change in thedifference in the capacities provided bysmaller networks and the larger ones.Gradually, connectivity will grow to thepoint where there is greater equality inbandwidth across world regions.

MS: Providing sufficient bandwidthbetween regions will continue to be animportant part of global collaboration,but the major focus will be on theprovision of inter-regional serviceswhich facilitate global collaboration.

COULD YOU DESCRIBEYOUR VISION OF R&ENETWORKS IN THEFUTURE?MS: For big projects the issue willcontinue to be about providingunconstrained bandwidth whichcommercial providers are not interestedin providing, given the bursting natureof research networking. More and more,we will be working together to servelarge science projects which aredistributed around the globe, workwhich would be impossible without highbandwidth. Research projects whichdepend on data from the EuropeanSouthern Observatory in Chile and thePierre Auger Observatory in Argentinaare good examples of this.

Beyond the issue of bandwidth, thequality of the services provided on R&Enetworks will be very important, be theyfor network monitoring, bandwidth-on-demand connectivity, eduroam, globalaccess to services via federations,collaboration tools, etc.

NH: It is vital that we keep significantlyahead of the commercial providers andtry out things which are notcommercially attractive. We have todeliver the unthinkable.

On behalf of GÉANT, DANTE general managers Niels Hersoug andMatthew Scott outlinedtheir vision for the future of collaboration and research networks.

NEWSMAPPING THELANDSCAPE,MANAGING THEFUTURE WITHEUMEDCONNECT3Moroccan and French researchersare using EUMEDCONNECT3 tocombine their expertise inGeographic Information Systems(GIS) and remote sensing toproduce new maps of thevulnerable Agadir region inMorocco. The area requires closecare and monitoring as it bothvitally important to the Moroccaneconomy and is also a protectedUNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Theresulting thematic maps improvepolicy-makers’ knowledge ofAgadir to help them take decisionson how to manage the territorysustainably. Download the fullcase study atwww.eumedconnect3.net/upload/pdf/Agadir_FINAL.pdf

TEIN3 WORKSHOPSHELP NRENDEVELOPMENTAs part of an awareness-raisingcampaign for research andeducation networking amongst theSouth East Asian countries not yetconnected to TEIN3, a verysuccessful series of workshopshas just been completed inCambodia, Myanmar and Laos.For each workshop the projectbrought in experts from Asianpartners and other regions toboost local efforts alreadyunderway to set up NRENs andpave the way for getting thesecountries connected to TEIN3/4.Over 120+ stakeholders attendedeach workshop, ranging fromministers, government officials,researchers and academics toNREN and prospective NRENrepresentatives. Find out more atwww.tein3.net/server/show/ConWebDoc.3424

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US AND EUROPE COLLABORATE TO DELIVER70GBPS OF TRANSATLANTICBANDWIDTHBy James G. Williams, Indiana University/ACE project and Cathrin Stöver, DANTE

INTRODUCTION

Over the last 18 months the America Connects toEurope (ACE) project andDANTE have togetherinstalled 70Gbps ofintegrated network capacitybetween Europe and the US.

It is the first time that themajor US researchnetworks and GÉANT inEurope have come togetherto benefit from fullytransparent, organised andoperationally integratedtransatlantic circuitprocurement andimplementation. This hasenormous advantages forcollaboration between theEuropean and US research and educationcommunities.

The partnership has manyaspects, including the jointcircuit planning, “otherparty aware” tendering,joint delivery of servicesand diverse physical circuitrouting. The partners havealso had joint servicediscussions with anemphasis on interoperablemulti-domain bandwidth ondemand and monitoringservices, as well as onsecurity, OpenFlowdeployment and other,bilateral servicediscussions.

DEVELOPING THEPARTNERSHIPARCHITECTUREThe five year ACE Project was officiallyfunded by the US National ScienceFoundation in June 2010 and aims toprovide US scientists with the networkconnectivity and services above thenetwork (such as end-to-endmeasurement and file transfer support)that they need to develop and enhancetheir global collaboration efforts.

NETWORKENGINEERING As of 1st July 2012 the bandwidthsupplied by the ACE-DANTEpartnership is:

• AMS-NYC - 3x10Gbps bonded, flow-based circuit. One 10Gbps supplied by ACE and two by GÉANT.

• FFT-DC-WIX – 2x10Gbps bonded, flow-based circuit. One 10Gbps supplied by ACE and one by GÉANT.

• AMS-CHI – 1x10Gbps circuit used for point-to-point applications. Supplied by ACE

• PAR-NYC – 1x 10Gbps circuit used for point-to-point applications. Supplied by GÉANT

Based on the balanced partnershipunderstanding for circuit deployment,the ACE project (US side) will deploythe next 10Gbps circuit. Exactorigination and landing sites are yet to be determined.

SERVICES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC The partnership, via work done in theDICE Collaboration, has deployed themulti-domain perfSONAR measurementframework through the network. It alsohas deployed software developed withinthe DICE collaboration to provide amultidomain dynamic circuit capabilitybetween the US (the Internet2 IONinfrastructure) and Europe (the GÉANTBandwidth on Demand Service).

BROADENING THEPARTNERSHIPOne of the difficult challenges inoperating a research and educationnetwork is balancing the demands forproduction quality services and thenecessity of developing/permittinginnovative services and opportunities.The partnership understands thesechallenges and seeks to find the correctbalance. It is also collaborating activelywithin the OGF towards thedevelopment of the NSI protocol and closely tracking the work of the GLIF group.

To serve global science effectively,networks must communicate closelyand offer deep operational integration.This has commenced with short termstaff exchanges which help the partnersunderstand more clearly the operationalcharacter of both networks and thepotential areas for in-depthcollaboration such as tool development.These operational exchanges will thenbe broadened to include developmentactivities in select areas.

FUTURE PLANSOver the course of the next 30 monthsthe collaboration expects to:1. Incrementally expand bandwidth of

the bonded circuits in 2012 and 2013, at a rate of 10Gbps per year based on expected demand.

2. Investigate the use of 100Gbps bonded circuits in 2014 based on demand and also cost of 100G transatlantic capacity services.

3. Be well-positioned to support Big Data and new science demands such as a more powerful LHC in 2014, the development of the SKA and ITER projects and the expected significant increase in genomics related data flows.

Much has been achieved in the past 2 years due to the close partnershipbetween ACE and DANTE. As thispartnership deepens new services andlinks will be deployed, ensuring thatresearchers in Europe and the US have the vital capacity and tools thatthey need to collaborate effectivelyacross the Atlantic.

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BUILDING LINKS FROMAFRICA TO GÉANT

By Rose Chisowa, Communication andDissemination Intern, UbuntuNet Alliance

Research in Africa is being boosted by two highspeed networking initiatives – AfricaConnect andnew point-to-point (P2P) links between GÉANT and the UbuntuNet Alliance.

AFRICACONNECTMOVES FORWARD

The AfricaConnect project,which began in May 2011is now entering itsprocurement phase. The four year project hasreceived !14.75M from theEuropean Commission tocreate a high capacitynetwork for research andeducation in sub-SaharanAfrica.

The project will be stronglycollaborative, so whilst DANTE iscoordinating AfricaConnect, it partnerswith regional counterpart organisations UbuntuNet Alliance covering Easternand Southern Africa WACREN coveringWestern and Central Africa –Association of African Universities Existing National Research andEducation Networks (NRENs) in Africa The European NRENs of Germany,Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK

Researchers in Africa are increasinglylooking to collaborate with theircolleagues both across the region andglobally. Through its high speed linksacross the continent AfricaConnect willsupport data-intensive, time-criticalprojects involving African researchers,helping to further develop researchcapabilities in local institutions,assisting the region’s entire economy.Millions of students and researchersserved by NRENs across Africa willbenefit from fast access to conventionalweb-based resources from all over theSouthern and Eastern African regionand beyond.

Additionally, AfricaConnect will provide agateway for global collaboration, enablingusers at research centres and universitiesto participate in joint projects with theirpeers in Europe and other parts of theworld. This will not only help bridge thedigital divide but will allow collaborativeprojects in areas such as health,education and climate research thatdirectly benefit African citizens.

SEEING FURTHER INTO SPACE

Thanks to a new 15,000 kmdedicated P2P link Africanradio astronomers are nowable to collaborate andshare data with colleaguesin Europe and around the world.

A high speed 2Gbps circuit will enableastronomers at the HartebeesthoekRadio Astronomy Observatory(HartRAO) in South Africa to streamobservational data to the Joint Institutefor VLBI in Europe (JIVE) in theNetherlands for processing andcorrelation, as part of joint observationsinvolving telescopes across the world.

HartRAO, located in a valley in theMagaliesberg hills, 50 km west ofJohannesburg, is the only major radioastronomy observatory in Africa.Through the technique of Very LongBaseline Interferometry (VLBI), itcollaborates with radio telescopes onother continents to form a virtualtelescope the size of the Earth. Bycombining telescopes researchersreceive more detailed observations ofdistant astronomical objects than withany other technique.

The first P2P circuit between GÉANTand UbuntuNet, the link will deliver theguaranteed capacity needed to transmitthe enormous volumes of datagenerated by VLBI radio astronomy inreal-time. This enables observations oftransient phenomena such assupernovae, using the highestresolution astronomical techniquepossible.

Research data gathered at HartRAO, amember institution of the South Africannational research and educationnetwork (NREN), TENET, flows insuccession across the networks ofTENET, UbuntuNet, GÉANT and DutchNREN SURFnet.

Taken together these two projectsdemonstrate the accelerating pace ofAfrican research networking and thebenefits that it is bringing to scientists,astronomers, students and the generalpopulation, both within the continentand across the globe.

Photo: Thomas Abbott

INTERNATIONAL PARTNER PROFILE: CANARIE

BY KATHRYN ANTHONISEN,VICE PRESIDENT,MARKETING, CANARIE

CANARIE INC. IS CANADA’SADVANCED RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION NETWORK Established in 1993, CANARIE managesan ultra-high-speed network thatsupports leading-edge research and bigscience across Canada and around theworld. One million researchers, scientistsand students at over 1,100 Canadianinstitutions, including universities,colleges, research institutes, hospitals,and government laboratories haveaccess to the CANARIE Network.Together with 12 provincial and territorialadvanced network partners, CANARIEenables researchers to share andanalyze massive amounts of data, likeclimate models, satellite images, andDNA sequences that can lead togroundbreaking scientific discoveries. CANARIE is a non-profit corporationsupported by membership fees, with themajor investment in its programs andactivities provided by the Government of Canada.

ABOUT THE CANARIE NETWORKThe CANARIE Network is among theworld’s most advanced nationalresearch and education networks.CANARIE is a high performance hybridnetwork, equipped with leading-edgeoptical and routing equipment, thatenables CANARIE to offer traditional IPnetwork services and Lightpath services(dedicated end-to-end connections)while continuing to develop newnetwork service offerings. Together withtwelve provincial and territorial partners,CANARIE supports research, education

and innovation in Canada. In December 2011, CANARIEdemonstrated full 100 Gb/s capacityusing current technical infrastructure."Data was moved back and forth at acombined rate of 186Gbps (gigabitsper second), fast enough to transfer twomillion gigabytes of data or 100,000 fullBlu-ray discs in one day. It could pavethe way for networks with standardtransfer rates of 100Gbps. That wouldspeed up the sharing of scientificresearch, such as that at the LargeHadron Collider." “Scientists break worldrecord for data transfer speeds,” BBC News | Technology

SERVICESCANARIE continues to expand itssupport for research, education andindustry by offering innovative services, such as:

• Canadian Access Federation (CAF) – enables collaboration among academic and research organizations across Canada and around the world. This

member-based service includes support for eduroam, Shibboleth, and edugain.

• Content Delivery Service (CDS) – provides faster and less expensive access to Internet content around the world for connected institutions through content peering.

• Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR) – an advanced R&D environment for product design, prototyping, validation and demonstration.

CONTACTPhysical address: 45 O'Connor St., Suite 500, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1P 1A4.Phone: (613) 943-5454e-mail: info@canarie.ca

You may also follow CANARIE throughsocial media. Find us on Facebookand LinkedIn by searching forCANARIE Inc. On Twitter, search for CANARIE_Inc.

INTERNATIONAL PARTNER PROFILE: SINET

BY SHIGEO URUSHIDANI,PROFESOR, NATIONALINSTITUTE OF INFORMATICS (NII)

OVERVIEWThe Science Information Network(SINET) is a Japanese academicbackbone network for more than 700universities and research institutions. Itconnects many research facilities insuch fields as seismology, spacescience, high-energy physics, nuclearfusion, computing science, and so on. Itis now being used by over 2 millionusers and supports internationalresearch collaboration throughinternational lines. The National Instituteof Informatics (NII) has operated SINETsince 1992, and the current version isSINET4 launched in 2011.

NETWORKSINET4 positions all nodes inearthquake-resistant data centers (42edge node and 8 core nodes) andconnects them with high-speedduplexed lines of a maximum of 40Gbps. It also has redundant routesbetween core nodes along with reroutefunctions for all transfer layer services.This design for high-availability workedeffectively even for the Great EastJapan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

INTERNATIONALCOLLABORATIONSINET4 currently has three internationallines and will upgrade them to four 10-Gbps lines in April 2013 in order tostrengthen international researchcollaboration: lines to Singapore, LosAngles, New York, and Washington D.C.It is connected to GÉANT and Europeanacademic networks via Singapore(TEIN3/4), New York (MANLAN), andWashington D.C. (WIX). Examples ofcollaborative research projects betweenEuropean countries and Japan areATLAS at LHC, eVLBI, ITER, GRID5000,SHV transmission, and so on.

SERVICESSINET4 provides a variety of multi-layernetwork services:

• Internet Access• IPv6 with multicast capabilities• L3VPN with QoS control• L2VPN/ VPLS with QoS control • L2VPN/VPLS on demand• Layer-1 on demand (Bandwidth

on demand)• Private Cloud support• Performance measurement• Traffic measurement• Secondary DNS

USE CASESFor details of use cases of SINET,please visit the following website.http://www.sinet.ad.jp/case-examples

FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE:http://www.sinet.ad.jp/index_en.html?lang=english

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Research today is a global activity and GÉANT continues to extendits worldwide connectivity for the benefit of the entire European researchcommunity. In this section Connect takes a closer look at some of thosenetworks, with further information available on page 27.

THE CARIBBEANCONNECTS TOGÉANT

The Caribbeanbecomes the newestworld region to join theglobal R&E networkingcommunity

In May this year the CaribbeanKnowledge and Learning Network(CKLN) completed the first phase of itsproject to implement and operate theCaribbean Research and EducationNetwork, C@ribNET. With EC fundingmade available to CKLN via the WorldBank, C@ribNET today interconnects atotal of 13 Caribbean countries to eachother and to the European R&Ecommunity with a 155-Mbps linkbetween Santo Domingo and Paris. TheCaribbean is also connected toRedCLARA in Latin America at 45 Mbpsand to the research and educationcommunity in North America at 300Mbps. A second implementation phasewill see a further eight Caribbeancountries being connected toC@ribNET. For more information, visit:www.ckln.org/home/content/cribnet

May 2012

GÉANT and sister networks enabling user collaboration across the globe

At the Heart of Global Research Networking

GÉANT is co-funded by the European Commission within its 7th R&D Framework Programme.This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of DANTE

and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

GÉANT CoverageALICE2-RedCLARA NetworkEUMEDCONNECT3 NetworkTEIN3 NetworkHP-SEE ProjectAfricaConnect - UbuntuNet AllianceCAREN NetworkSILK-AfghanistanSARInet Network

Dark Shading: Connected to regional networkLight Shading: Eligible to connect

GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY NEWS ROUND-UP

REDCLARA ANDGÉANT TOESTABLISHINTERREGIONALEND USER SERVICES

EC-funded ELCIRAproject will createtransatlantic end user services EC-funded ELCIRA project will createtransatlantic end user services Europe-Latin America research andeducation collaborations will soonbenefit from interregional end userservices thanks to the EC-fundedELCIRA (Europe Latin AmericaCollaborative e-Infrastructure forResearch Activities) project. Led by theLatin American R&E networkingorganisation, RedCLARA, andpartnered by DANTE, TERENA, GARR,RedIRIS in Europe and RNP (Brazil) andRENATA (Colombia) in Latin America,ELCIRA will drive the uptake of eduroamand eduGAIN by Latin AmericanNRENs, and will work to establish a highquality videoconferencing serviceacross the two regions. The two-yearproject will also identify new usergroups across the two regions with theaim of supporting them with a variety ofend user collaboration tools madeavailable via a single sign-on portal.Following the start of the project, theproject partners met on 4th-5th Julyduring the summer 2012 RedCLARAmeetings in Lima, Peru, to get theproject underway and begin thecollaborative work which will seesignificant benefits created forcollaborations across the two regions.

GÉANT GLOBALCONNECTIVITYOVERVIEWAVAILABLE TODOWNLOAD

GÉANT publishes asummary of GlobalConnectivity here. An overview of GÉANT’s global links hasbeen made available from the GÉANTGlobal Connectivity website:http://global.geant.net. The summaryis provided in pdf format and includesinformation on global links (both IP andpoint-to-point) by region, and includes alist of the NRENs connected by each ofthe regional networks. The documentwill be updated whenever there arechanges to GÉANT’s global connectivityand/or the NRENs connected to theregional networks and so provides for areliable source of the latest globalconnectivity information.

The overview can be downloadeddirectly here.

A version of the overview is alsoavailable in PowerPoint so that theinformation can be used inpresentations. To receive a copy of thepptx version, please contact:irc@dante.net

General information about GÉANT’sglobal connectivity and our regionalpartners is also available from theGlobal Connectivity website at:http://global.geant.net.

24 25

By Tom Fryer, International Relations Officer, DANTE

CANARIECanada’s advancedresearch andinnovation network www.canarie.ca

ESnetThe Energy Sciences Network www.es.net

ORIENT plusLinking European andChinese Infrastructuresand Communities http://www.orientplus.eu

CARENCentral Asian Researchand Education Networkwww.caren.dante.net

HP-SEEHigh-PerformanceComputing Infrastructurefor South East Europe’sResearch Communitieswww.hp-see.eu

EUMEDCONNECT3Southern and EasternMediterranean researchnetworking www.eumedconnect3.net

Internet2®RReesseeaarrcchh aannddeedduuccaattiioonnccoonnnneeccttiivviittyy ffoorr UUSSuunniivveerrssiittiieesswww.internet2.edu

RedCLARA TThhee LLaattiinn AAmmeerriiccaannRReesseeaarrcchh aannddEEdduuccaattiioonn NNeettwwoorrkkwww.redclara.net

C@ribNETTThhee CCaarriibbbbeeaannRReesseeaarrcchh aannddEEdduuccaattiioonn NNeettwwoorrkkwww.ckln.org

WACRENWest and CentralAfrican Research andEducation Networkwww.wacren.net

UbuntuNet AllianceRegional Researchand EducationNetwork for Easternand Southern Africawww.ubuntunet.net

TEIN3The Trans-EurasiaInformation Network www.tein3.net

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THE EUROPEAN E!INFRASTRUCTURESOBSERVATORY STARTS SERVING THEE!INFRASTRUCTURES COMMUNITYBy Jorge-A. Sanchez-P., e.nventory

E-OBSERVATORY UNVEILEDDURING THE COPENHAGEN E-IRG WORKSHOP

The European eInfrastructuresObservatory (www.e-observatory.eu)was officially unveiled during the e-IRGWorkshop organised under the DanishEU Presidency on June 11, 2012, inCopenhagen, in front of a wideaudience that included e-IRG membersand other key eInfrastructuresstakeholders.

The European eInfrastructuresObservatory is an on-line platform,offering interactive and user-drivenvisualisation tools and an extensive setof benchmarking indicators to facilitatemultidimensional and polymorphicmonitoring and analysis, support fact-based policy and learning anddisseminate achievements of electronicinfrastructures in Europe and beyond.Currently, the European eInfrastructuresObservatory offers 7 intuitive, interactiveand user-friendly visualisation toolsbased on best practices in visualisationand representation techniques, featuresa core set of 45 benchmarkingindicators that are the baseline formonitoring eInfrastructuresdevelopment progress, usage, impactand investments drawn, and providesaccess to more than 10.000 individualfigures and other related data andbenchmarks.

Following the public launch of theEuropean eInfrastructures Observatory,Dr. René Belsø, e-IRG co-chair andDeIC CTO, stated that “Europeancountries invest heavily in e-Infrastructures; the Europeancommunity supplements further, sincewe all believe in the strategic rationalebehind e-Infrastructures. Yet, we knowonly little about the actual impact ofthese investments on European R&D.We desperately need a better overviewand namely we need investment, costand impact indicators. The EuropeaneInfrastructures Observatory is a niceinitial attempt to provide such anoverview and these indicators; at thevery least it will stir up a needed debateon how one might get a better and moresustainable indicators production; at thevery best, it will pave the way towards asustainable structure offering theeInfrastructures community theequivalent of WorldBank, OECD-likeindicators…”.

Prof. Heinz-Gerd Hegering stated “TheEuropean Commission and theEuropean Countries have started a lot ofinitiatives to improve IT-relatedinfrastructures in the areas ofnetworking, databases andsupercomputing, among others. Inorder to gain maximum benefit out ofalready existing e-infrastructures as auser as well as to learn from oneanother as a developer or provider, anintegrated and comprehensive overviewof such infrastructures has beenmissing so far. The EuropeaneInfrastructures Observatory fills thisgap in an excellent way. The system notonly provides many useful informationbut also allows to build individualprofiles and presentations in a veryflexible way.”

Dr. Robin G. Arak, an independentconsultant and EC project reviewer alsostated "The enventory project hasdeveloped an easy to use web basedvisualization tool which allows anyoneinterested in e-Infrastructures to gain aninsight into the historical and currentdevelopments and parameters ofimportant e-Infrastructures whichsupport leading edge researchthroughout Europe. This will enable e-Infrastructures to be critically assessed,reviewed and planned for the future sothat they can continue to improve theirservices and support for research andeducation.”

The eObservatory coordinator, Dr.Jorge-A. Sanchez-P., noted: “We arevery excited with the official launch ofthe Observatory and we are keen tofollow up to any feedback from thee!Infrastructures stakeholders that willhelp improve it further towards a value-added tool that will serve their needsand expectations in the best mannerpossible!”

The eObservatory has been developedby the enventory project, co-financedby EU’s 7th Framework Programmeunder Grant Agreement no RI-261554.The enventory project acknowledgesthe invaluable support and contributionof European flagship e!Infrastructuresinitiatives and coordinatingorganisations: GÉANT, DANTE,TERENA, EGI.eu, PRACE and itsAdvisory Boardwww.enventory.eu/advisoryboard.html

WORLD-CLASS SYSTEMS FOR TOP-LEVEL SCIENCEBy Marjolein Oorsprong, Communications Officer, PRACE

The Partnershipfor AdvancedComputing inEurope (PRACE)providespersistent world-class HighPerformance Computing (HPC) services forresearchers from academia and industry.PRACE currently has 24 member countriesand provides access to 5 Tier-0 systems(June 2012).

The mission of PRACE is to enable highimpact European scientific discovery,engineering and R&D across all scientificdisciplines to enhance Europeancompetitiveness for the benefit of society.PRACE seeks to realise this mission throughworld class computing resources andservices open to scientists from around theworld through a peer review process.GÉANT’s high speed connections underpinPRACE’s HPC services, with the two projectsworking closely together to benefit users.

PRACE is established as an internationalnon-profit association (aisbl) with its seat in

Brussels. Concretely, PRACE aisbl has thefollowing purposes:

• The development and provision of an Infrastructure at European level which allows the scientific communities, including those within industry, to access European large-scale computing and storage systems

• The management of the coordination between Tier-0, Tier-1 and Tier-2 resources operated and/or coordinated by the PRACE research infrastructure to deliver world-class services to the European Research Community with large-scale computing and storage resource, support and training needs

• The provision and rationalisation of access to the Infrastructure by qualified European and international scientific communities, either academic or industrial, whose projects can be evaluated for such purpose

PRACE offers two different forms of access toits resources: Project Access (2 calls peryear) and Preparatory Access (open calls).

• One-Year Project Access is the standard form of access for individual researchers and research groups. It is open to researchers and their collaborators from recognised academic institutions and industry for projects deemed to have significant European and international impact.

• Multi-Year Project Access is available to major European projects that can benefit from PRACE resources and for which morethan a single year of access is needed.

• Preparatory Access is a simplified form of access to limited resources for the preparation of requests in response to Project Access Calls for Proposals.

The PRACE Scientific Annual Report 2012 is available at:http://www.prace-ri.eu/PRACE-Scientific-Annual-Report

Do you want more information?Please visit the PRACE website:http://www.prace-ri.euOr contact Marjolein Oorsprong,Communications Officer:Telephone: +32 2 613 09 27 E-mail: M.Oorsprong(at)staff.prace-ri.eu

STORIES FROM THE EUROPEAN GRIDBy Neasan O’Neill, NGI Communications Coordinator

The European GridInfrastructure (EGI)has just launched thelatest instalment in the'Stories from the grid'series of onlinevideos. Previous episodes have highlighted work done bymembers of the DANTE team on in recreatingthe sounds of long-lost instruments, as wellas the success structural biologists haveachieved using grid technology. using highspeed research networks such as GÉANT.The third episode looks at the research thatuses the world’s largest machine, the LargeHadron Collider (LHC), which would beimpossible without the grid and the researchnetworks that support it..

The LHC is an engineering and scientificmarvel. Buried 100m below the Swiss/Frenchborder it accelerates protons around a 27kmring at close to the speed of light and thensmashes them together. The result of aglobal collaboration of thousands, thisbehemoth is investigating the rules thatunderpin our universe by recreating theconditions present just after the Big Bang.Sharing and analysing the massive amounts

of experimental data produced by the LHC’sexperiments relies on a high performancetechnology infrastructure comprising gridsand research networks including GÉANT.

In the video, researchers from NIKHEF, theDutch National Institute for SubatomicPhysics, explain their work and how the gridis key to analysing and managing themassive sets of data. The star of this 'Storiesfrom the grid' video, though, is the top quark

Discussions of the LHC are usuallydominated by talk of the Higgs boson, themysterious piece required to complete thejigsaw that is particle physics, but there is somuch more going on at the LHC. The topquark is one of the other puzzles beingstudied. As one of the fundamental buildingblocks of the world around us, the top quarkopens a window to the differences betweentheory and experimental results, while alsopotentially explaining dark matter or theexistence of extra dimensions. Without theresources provided by the grid it would beimpossible to pick out the results that couldhold the clues to top quark behaviour.

“High energy physics is one of our biggestuser communities, and we have always

worked very closely with them,” says StevenNewhouse, director of EGI. “I’m glad that wehave been able to include their story in ourvideo series as it complements the otherresearch we have already showcased. Thevideos are a perfect introduction to EGI as acornerstone of the European Research Area”.

Stories from the grid, Episode 3: the Top Quark can be seen on YouTube athttp://go.egi.eu/topquark

Previous episodes can also be seen on YouTube:Episode 1: The cone snail and the search forpowerful new anaesthetics -http://go.egi.eu/concoEpisode 2: Reviving the lost sounds of theepigonion -http://go.egi.eu/epigonion

GÉANT is a vital part of the European research e-infrastructure,which includes such areas as high performance networking,distributed computing infrastructures, supercomputing and datastorage. In this section, we welcome our many partners in this area to shed further light on their activities.

28

SONIFICATION ENABLESWORLD TO HEAR NEW HIGGSBOSON-LIKE PARTICLE

Building on the discoveryof the Higgs-like particle,the same researchnetworks have now beena central part of turningthe scientific findings intomusic using datasonification. Working fromresults supplied by theAtlas experiment at theLarge Hadron Collider(LHC), researchers havecreated melodies that make the results easier to understand.

Sonification requires enormous amountsof networking and processing power toproduce results. Creating the Higgsmelody consequently relied on high-speed research networks including thepan-European GÉANT network, whichoperates at speed of up to 10Gbps andthe EGI grid computing infrastructure.Grid computing works by linkingtogether multiple computers in differentlocations via high speed networks,combining their processing power todeliver faster results when analysingenormous volumes of data.

The project was coordinated byDomenico Vicinanza of DANTE, incollaboration with Mariapaola Sorrentinoof ASTRA Project, Cambridge, whocontributed to the sonification processand Giuseppe La Rocca from INFNCatania, responsible for the computingframework.

In the music the peak of high notes inthe second bar is the appearance of theHiggs-like particle (about 3.5 secondsinto the recording). The researcherscreated two versions, one as a pianosolo, and the second with added bass,percussion, marimba and xylophone.

“The discovery of the Higgs-like particleis a major step forward in ourknowledge of the world around us,” saidDomenico Vicinanza, DANTE. “By usingsonification we are able to make thisbreakthrough easier to understand bythe general public, highlighting thedepth and breadth of the enormous

research efforts by the thousands ofscientists around the world involved withthe Large Hadron Collider. Neither thediscovery of the particle or thissonification process would have beenpossible without the high speedresearch networks that connectscientists across the world, enablingthem to collaborate, analyse data andshare their results.”

Previous sonification projects from theteam include the creation of music fromvolcanic activity around the world,making it easier to spot potentialeruptions by listening to changes inmusical pitch.

Click on the links below to listen to theHiggs Boson-like particle:

Piano solo

Piano, bass, percussion, marimbaand xylophone

The data on which the sonification isbased

The score of the sonification (PDF)

For more information, see: Research networks help LHC unlockthe mysteries of the universe

By Paul Maurice, Senior Communications Officer, DANTE

Through a combination of high speed research networks,advanced sonification techniques and grid computing the worldcan now ‘hear’ the newly discovered Higgs Boson-like particle.

LATEST CASE STUDIES

DDOOMMEENNIICCOO VVIICCIINNAANNZZAA,, PPRROODDUUCCTT MMAANNAAGGEERR,, DDAANNTTEE

www.geant.net

www.twitter.com/GEANTnews

www.facebook.com/GEANTnetwork

www.youtube.com/GEANTtv

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Backbone topology as at March 20Backbone topology as at March 2012. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’12. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’12. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.s NRENs.Backbone topology as at March 20

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Backbone topology as at March 2012. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’12. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’12. GÉANT is operated by DANTE on behalf of Europe’s NRENs.s NRENs.

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ACOnetwww.aco.net

Belnetwww.belnet.be

BRENwww.bren.bg

CARNetwww.carnet.hr

CyNETwww.cynet.ac.cy

CESNETwww.ces.net

EENetwww.eenet.ee

RENATERwww.renater.fr

DFNwww.dfn.de

GRNETwww.grnet.gr

NIIFwww.niif.hu

HEAnetwww.heanet.ie

perfSONAR MDM– delivering end-to-end monitoring for RedIRIS

GÉANT and the GreenStar Network– harnessing green power to lower ICT energy consumption

UPCOMING EVENTSNORDUnet Conference, 18-20 September, Oslo

4th GÉANT Project Symposium, 15-19 October, Vienna

SDN & Openflow World Congress,22-24 October, Frankfurt

GÉANT is the pan-European research and educationnetwork that interconnects Europe’s National Researchand Education Networks (NRENs). Together weconnect over 40 million researchers and studentsacross Europe, facilitating collaborative research in adiverse range of disciplines, including high-energyphysics, radio astronomy, bio-medicine, climatechange, earth observation and arts & culture.

GÉANT PartnersIUCCwww.iucc.ac.il

GARRwww.garr.net

SigmaNetwww.sigmanet.lv

LITNETwww.litnet.lt

RESTENAwww.restena.lu

MARNetdns.marnet.net.mk

University of Maltawww.um.edu.mt

MRENwww.mren.ac.me

SURFnetwww.surfnet.nl

NORDUnetwww.nordu.net

PSNCwww.man.poznan.pl

FCCNwww.fccn.pt

AARNIEC/RoEduNetwww.nren.ro

AMRESwww.amres.ac.rs

SANETwww.sanet.sk

ARNESwww.arnes.si

RedIRISwww.rediris.es

SWITCHwww.switch.ch

ULAKBIMwww.ulakbim.gov.tr

JANETwww.ja.net

DANTEwww.dante.net

TERENAwww.terena.org

BASNET www.bas-net.by

JSCCwww.jscc.ru

Associate NRENsRENAMwww.renam.md

URANwww.uran.net.ua

VIEW ALL VIEW ALL

www.geant.net

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of DANTE and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. CONNECT/0812