Quilt Member News
Great Plains Network Launches Professional Development Program for Research & Education Community
Beginning in September, 2011, the Great Plains Network (GPN) will be launching a web-based Professional Development Program for faculty and staff at member institutions and GPN Network Participants. Planned topics are in areas of advanced networking, high performance computing, data life cycle management, and other aspects of advanced technology, critical to advancing the missions of the higher education community. Each program will be brief--60 to 90 minutes--and will be interactive.
StarWave: A Multi-100 Gbps Communications Exchange Facility in Chicago Showcased at SC11
SEATTLE -- November 15, 2011 -- Today at the 24th annual SC Conference (SC11), the foremost international high-performance computing conference, the U.S. Midwest’s Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN) announced the implementation of StarWave, a multi 100 Gbps exchange facility located at the StarLight International/National Communications Exchange Facility in Chicago.
At SC11, StarWave is being used to support multiple national 100 Gbps demonstrations that show how high-performance, high-capacity networks can significantly improve the way scientific research is conducted worldwide. With major funding provided by the National Science Foundation, the StarWave facility was designed by the MREN and StarLight consortia to exclusively support large-scale data-intensive scientific research.
Increasingly, scientific research requires gathering, analyzing, and transporting extremely large volumes of data among multiple locations. These data volumes far exceed the capacity of commonly implemented data networks. Beyond providing more capacity, StarWave supports dynamic and complex data flows required by a variety of scientific communities, by creating flexible dynamic lightpaths that can be created instantly for short periods or for the long term. The requirements, which cannot be met by today’s general data networks, include those that are related to high-performance, advanced programmability, dynamic provisioning, and support for specialized protocols.
In partnership with the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University and the Laboratory for Advanced Computing (LAC) at the University of Chicago, StarWave is also used to enable research in developing innovative high-performance communications architecture, technologies, capabilities, and infrastructure to meet the emerging and anticipated demands of 21st-Century e-Science. StarWave will also provide 100 Gbps gateways to national and international R&E networks.
“Data intensive scientific research requires new services and techniques for extremely high-capacity, high-performance, and flexible optical transport locally and worldwide, said Joe Mambretti, Director of iCAIR and MREN. "With our research partners, we are improving methods for data intensive scientific research by leveraging innovative transport services based on 100 Gbps technologies."
Other key enablers of future scientific research that are being developed are new techniques for investigation based on extremely large volumes of data by closely integrating dynamic high-performance networks with dynamic high-performance clouds. These techniques can accelerate scientific discovery because cloud-based networks can easily and flexibly transfer and process science data at the petascale level.
“A special focus of the StarWave facility will be the development of new capabilities for data-intensive science based on advanced cloud computing architecture,” said Bob Grossman, Director of the LAC and Co-Director of the Open Cloud Consortium.
iCAIR, Ciena, MREN, and LAC are building a long-term research partnership directed at creating next-generation services, capabilities, technologies and facilities for advanced high-performance applications. The Ciena 5400 family of reconfigurable service switches provide OTN switching and intelligent optical resource control for the StarWave facility. Additionally, StarWave's 100 Gbps network is powered by Ciena’s coherent 100G optical technologies.
"High-speed, high-capacity networks play a critical role in global Research and Education efforts, enabling organizations to collaborate on research, development and leading-edge discoveries. Ciena coherent optical transmission and OTN switching solutions provide the foundation for many of these networks, and we have a long history working with institutions like iCAIR to help transform how research and development is conducted," said Rod Wilson, Ciena’s senior director for external research. "We are proud to partner with MREN, iCAIR and LAC in showcasing these ground-breaking demonstrations, including those providing end-to-end 100 Gbps streams. that pushes beyond the limitations of today network capabilities to improve the way researchers interact and conduct complex research innovation.
About the Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN)
The Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN), an advanced research and education (R&E) network provides services among seven states in the upper Midwest, including the management of a metro-area optical networking facility located at the StarLight International/National Communications Exchange Facility. The MREN facility exclusively focuses on providing service and infrastructure support for large-scale data-intensive R&E activities, including connections to major national and international advanced networks. (www.mren,org)
About StarLight
StarLight is the world's most advanced national and international communications exchange facility. StarLight provides advanced networking services and technologies that are optimized for high-performance, large-scale metro, regional, national and global applications. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), StarLight was designed and developed by researchers, for researchers. StarLight is managed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, and Calit2 at University of California, San Diego, in partnership with Canada's CANARIE national networking organization and The Netherlands' SURFnet. (www.startap.net/starlight)
About the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University
The International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University accelerates leading-edge innovation and enhanced global communications through advanced technologies, in partnership with numerous international community, and national partners. iCAIR partners with the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and Calit2/UCSD, in collaboration with Canada's CANARIE and the Netherlands' SURFnet, to manage and grow the StarLight optical network exchange. (www.icair.org)
About the Laboratory for Advanced Computing
The Laboratory of Advanced Computing (LAC) at the University of Chicago performs research in the analysis of big data, data intensive computing, cloud computing and high performance networking. (www.labcomputing.org)
About Ciena
Ciena is the network specialist, collaborating with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they compete. With focused innovation, Ciena brings together the reliability and capacity of optical networking with the flexibility and economics of Ethernet, unified by a software suite that delivers the industry’s leading network automation. Ciena’s 5400 Family features a wide array of integrated service layer capabilities, advanced and intelligent bandwidth management functionalities and an unmatched scalability. It offers 3.6 Terabits per second (Tb/s) (5430 RSS) and 1.2 Tb/s (5410) of OTN, TDM and Packet- with intelligent switching combined with a field proven control plane for bandwidth aggregation and management. (www.ciena.com)
MOREnet Excited to Announce the Missouri Future of Learning Forum
Prototype @ the MOREnet Missouri Future of Learning Forum was an intensive, hands-on design camp immersing passionate and creative students in a collaborative environment to re-imagine the future of learning. The Forum shaped up to be an exciting event that brought together high school students, designers, pre-service teachers, education leaders, technology experts and vendors for an interactive discussion and workshop. Led by Prototype architect and designer, Jeff Sharpe, students learned how design and design-thinking can unlock real world challenges and worked with acclaimed designers and educators to craft new classroom and learning models.
Spanning three days in October, the Forum brought together 37 students from 20 Missouri high schools; large and small, rural and urban. As design participants, students were fully-immersed in a creative setting, presented with a challenge, collaborate as a team and talk with innovative designers and educationalists from around the country as they designed their prototype solutions. Student teams presented their creative ideas to the entire MOREnet Instructional Technology Conference audience during an interactive closing session on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
For more information see www.more.net/futurelearning or send e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
MCNC begins Round 2 of Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Aug. 12, 2011) - MCNC, the private, not-for-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), hosted a Statewide Virtual Groundbreaking Ceremony today in four locations throughout the state to highlight the start of construction on Round 2 of the of the Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI).
The GLRBI is funded through grants from U.S. Department of Commerce's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and significant matching funds from private donations and investments including a $24 million investment from the Golden LEAF Foundation. The GLRBI will greatly expand the reach and capacity of NCREN in northeastern, north central, western and south central North Carolina.
Chancellor Petro Annonces Creation of Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH)
The Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents (BOR) and The Ohio State University will enter into an agreement regarding the operations and management of the newly formed Ohio Technology Consortium, or OH-TECH.
By merging the Ohio Academic Resources Network, Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), Ohio Learning Network (OLN) and shifting all IT personnel from OhioLINK into a single consortium, the chancellor can leverage existing strengths for each organization and trim administrative costs, technological and management duplication and inefficiency.
OSHEAN Peer Review
OSHEAN, The Quilt's member in Rhode Island, along with many other regional research and education (R&E) networks, is using Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) grants to improve infrastructure for the institutions they currently serve and extend these networks to more community anchor institutions (CAIs) in their state. These grants provide only the capital funds to build the networks. For R&E networks, this means not only supporting a greater number of CAIs, but also ensuring these new CAIs are integrated into the community that is the hallmark of these R&E organizations.
On its own, the OSHEAN BTOP project will be a major change agent for its operations, management and governance structure. In addition to implementing its BTOP project, OSHEAN is undergoing a merger with RINET, the state's K-12 education network. The merger means that the combined organization, RINET and OSHEAN, will serve the majority of Rhode Island's educational institutions as well as state government sites. The expanded participant base that will be served by OSHEAN through the RINET merger and BTOP project requires disciplined strategic planning, the use of scalable operational processes and sophisticated management tools to improve service delivery, reporting and analytics.
As OSHEAN enters its next exciting chapter, it has sought out its peers within The Quilt for an external review for insight and recommendations for OSHEAN in these new undertakings. For the peer review, organizations were sought who had undergone similar growth and organizational transitions. The result of the external peer review will be a final set of recommendations in the form of a report for OSHEAN and the OSHEAN Board of Directors.
Quilt Members Participate in World IPv6 Day
Organized by the Internet Society, World IPv6 Day was held on June 8, 2011 and included nearly 400 participating organizations which enabled IPv6 on their main services for 24 hours. By providing a coordinated 24-hour "test flight", the event helped demonstrate that major websites around the world are well-positioned for the move to a global IPv6-enabled Internet, enabling its continued exponential growth. Given the diversity of technology that powers the Internet, the global nature of the trial was crucial to identify unforeseen problems.
February 2011 marked the expiration of available IPv4 addresses necessitating the Internet industry to act quickly to accelerate full IPv6 adoption. World IPv6 Day participants came together to help motivate organizations across the industry—Internet service providers, hardware manufacturers, operating system vendors and other web companies-to prepare their services for the transition.
Among the participants in World IPv6 Day were Quilt members KanREN, the Kansas Research and Education Network, and the Great Plains Network.
Kansas Research and Education Network Celebrates World IPv6 Day With Free Services and Community Outreach.
April 28, 2011
The Kansas Research and Education Network, KanREN, Inc., announced free events and services in celebration of World IPv6 Day. The free events and services were offered to all businesses, state agencies, and community anchor institutions within the state of Kansas as part of a worldwide effort to encourage adoption of the next generation of Internet protocol. Full Article.
Great Plains Network Consortium Members Gearing up for World IPv6 Day on June 8
June 7, 2011
As Internet providers like Google prepare for a one-day test of the new Internet Protocol, version 6, on World IPv6 Day on June 8, members of the Great Plains Network, a consortium of leading universities in the Midwest, believe that the inevitable may finally happen. Their support for pervasive and advanced networking in all areas of research, education, health care and learning depends on the successful deployment of this new technology. Full Article.
Merit Network to Host Internet2 IPv6 Workshop, August 2-3
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Merit Network Inc. announced today that it will host the Internet2 IPv6 workshop, a special learning opportunity for network professionals. The two-day workshop is provided through Merit's Professional Learning program and will take place on August 2-3, 2011 at Merit's offices in Ann Arbor.
http://www.merit.edu/news/newsarchive/article.php?article=20110714_I2_IPv6
MCNC Plans Video Upgrade on Statewide Education Network
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—June 23, 2011
MCNC announced today that the video services infrastructure on the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) is scheduled to be upgraded on July 1.
MCNC has entered the final testing phases of Cisco TelePresence interoperability with H.323 point-to-point (standard on most desktops) and multipoint video services, and TelePresence Management System (TMS) scheduling. Also, a select pilot group is testing centrally-managed soft client licenses for additional devices including laptop and desktop computers and tablets. New services are scheduled to be widely available to NCREN users during the fall semester of the 2011-2012 school year.
Full Article
https://www.mcnc.org/news/mcnc-plans-video-upgrade-on-statewide-education-network
NYSERNet Hosts Network Security Summit
June 23, 2011
What are the best practices and tools for incident response? And what about DNSSEC? With engineers and security officers from member institutions increasingly concerned over threats to their networks, and even universities with dedicated network security organizations expressing need to improve tracking of emerging malicious technologies, implement compliance standards, and deploy campus specific security policies—all within budget—by summer 2010 NYSERNet realized that network security education required more than just a session or two at a general conference; only a concentrated agenda wholly dedicated to security issues would permit members the immersion with peers required.
Full Article:
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