Academic Networking in the Southeast: Some Observations

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Academic Networking in the Southeast Some
Observations

• Dan Updegrove
• VP for IT, UT Austin
• Feb 11, 2004

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Overview

• Recent history of academic networking
• Interne2 Abilene
• TeraGrid ETF
• NLR National Lambda Rail
• SURA ATT partnership
• Texas LEARN
• A regional strategy?

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Recent History

• 1996 Internet2 consortium formed
• 1996 CENIC formed in California
• 1999 Abilene backbone in production
• 2001 SURA Crossroads Initiative
• 2001 NSF funds first 4 TeraGrid sites
• 2002 National LambdaRail launched
• 2003 SURA ATT fiber partnership

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Internet2

• Internet2 More than the Abilene network a
  consortium of 206 universities, plus corp
  partners, affiliates
• K20 initiative SEGP 32 states (see map)
• Middleware, security, intl, more
• Keepers of the vision!

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Abilene Backbone
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TeraGrid / ETF
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TeraGrid/ETF

• NSF-funded, multi-year effort to build deploy
  world's largest, most comprehensive, distributed
  infrastructure for open scientific research
• 2001, Original sites 3 x 10 Gbps
• San Diego Supercomputer Center _at_ UCSD
• Ctr for Advanced Computing Research _at_ CalTech
• Argonne National Lab (ANL), Illinois
• Natl Ctr for Supercomputing Applications _at_ UIUC
• Backbone, LAChi 4x10 Gbps lambdas

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TeraGrid/ETF (2)

• 2002, Pgh Supercomp Ctr (PSC) 3 x 10 Gbps
• 2003, 3 sites funded 1 x 10 Gbps lambda
• Texas Advanced Computing Ctr _at_ UT Austin
• Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), Tennessee
• Indiana U/Purdue U
• UT, ORNL to connect at new node in Atlanta 2 x
  10 Gbps lambdas to Chicago

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TeraGrid Phase 3
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National Lambda Rail Initial Footprint

Note California (Sacramento-San Diego) routes
shown are part of CalREN NLR is adding waves to
CalREN systems
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NLR The Vision

• Provide national scale infra for research
  experimentation in networking technologies
  applications.
• Catalyze innovative RD into next generation
  network technologies, protocols, services,
  applications.
• Put the control, power and promise of
  experimental network infra in the hands of our
  nations scientists and researchers.

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NLR The Strategy

• Create a sparse national backbone from discounted
  dark fiber equipment
• Initially 4x10 Gbps lambdas (DWDM)
• Promote regional high-perf networks
• Interconnect with intl next-gen nets
• Support TeraGrid, other gov nets
• Consider partnership w SURA/ATT

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NLR Funding

• 80M est cost for capital 5-yr OM
• 55M in hand CENIC, PNWGP, CIC (Big 10),
  PSC/CMU, VaTech, Duke, GaTech, Florida, Texas,
  Internet2
• 10M anticipated Cornell, NCAR group
• Gap New England? NSF/NIH/DOE? Leased waves?
  SURA/ATT?

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SURA/ATT Partnership

• ATT has donated to SURA
• 6,000 miles dark fiber, w/ favorable OM, co-lo
  fees 10-yr IRU w/ option to extend
• 2,000 miles NexGen dark fiber w/ zero OM must
  be for network research
• SURA has not clarified dist criteria
• Jax - Houston of special interest
• Potential integration w NLR

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SURA ATT Network
Seattle
Spokane
Bridgeport ,CT
Missoula
Helena
Portland
New York City
Eugene
Billings
Boston
St. Paul
Minneapolis
Philadelphia
Boise
Chicago
Des Moines
Cheyenne
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Omaha
Reno
Washington DC
Salt Lake City
San Francisco And San Jose
Sacramento
Denver
St. Louis
Kansas City
Raleigh
Tulsa
Little Rock
Oklahoma City
LA
Atlanta
Phoenix
San Diego
El Paso
Jacksonville
LA El Paso NOT COMPLETE.
Ft. Worth
Dallas
New Orleans
Orlando
San Antonio
Houston
El Paso Ft Worth NOT COMPLETE.
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Recent Texas History

• 199x Texas GigaPOP est in Houston
• 199y N. Texas GigaPOP est in Dallas
• 2001 Texas univs invited to join SURA
• 2002 Texas univs invited to join NLR
• 2003 UT Austin TeraGrid grant
• 2003 Texas commits to NLR
• 2003 LEARN consortium formed

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Texas Backbone Funding

• Although Leg has authorized 7.5M over two years
  from the Texas Enterprise Fund, funds still not
  in hand
• Related funding, 2.5M for grid computing in
  Texas, also on hold
• Dec 03, bids received for dark fiber
• Feb 04, fiber deliberations continue

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Investigations of fiber in Texas
Possible Fiber Services in Texas
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LEARN Organization

• Lonestar Education And Research Network
• 30 members, commit 20K/yr for min 2 yrs
• New officers installed, Jan 04
• Chair Dan Updegrove UT Austin
• Vice Chair Jenifer Jarriel, Baylor C of Med
• Sec M. Leatherbury, UNT
• Treas Richard Moore, UTMB, Galveston
• Search to be launched for Exec Dir
• HQ to be negotiated by Board Ex Dir

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LEARN NLR

• 5M over 5 yrs, cost to have backbone node in
  Dallas, board seat
• No requirement for LEARN members to fund NLR, but
  most have agreed to
• Univs from other states interested OU, OSU, LSU,
  perhaps others
• Need to work out the funding model

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Grid Computing in Texas

• 2.5M has been requested from the State for
  multi-university grid computing collaboration
  HiPCAT
• Budget for salaries, software assumes
  state-of-the-art network connecting universities
  to each other and to ETF
• Other Texas univs could benefit as Grid software,
  expertise are generalized

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A SE Networking Strategy?

• Legacy of SURAnet
• Abilene nodes Wash, Atlanta, Houston
• SEGP in 11 states in the region
• Teragrid node Atlanta
• NLR nodes Wash, Raleigh, Atl, Jax, Dal
• SURA Foci Biomed, coastal research, HEPhysics
  high-perfor computing
• Numerous state net initiatives
• Whole greater than sum of parts?

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Questions?

• Dan Updegrove
• d.updegrove_at_its.utexas.edu
• 512 232-9610 fax [phone]