Networking Leaders Announce Initiative to Develop 100 GbE Services
Internet2, ESnet, Infinera, Juniper Networks and Level 3 Communications Part of Groundbreaking 100 GbE Initiative to Address Vast Bandwidth Needs of Scientific Research and Other Advanced Applications
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet2, ESnet, Infinera
(Nasdaq: INFN), Juniper Networks and Level 3 Communications today at the
annual SC08 conference announced they have agreed to work together to
aggressively develop and test emerging 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
technologies. The initiative will build on fresh-from-the-laboratory
technologies to create a 100GbE testbed on the Internet2 and ESnet networks
with an operational network capability soon thereafter.
This joint development effort brings together the technical leadership of
Level 3 Communications, Infinera, and Juniper Networks, as well as ESnet and
Internet2's unmatched experience supporting research communities with the most
demanding networking requirements. The initiative highlights the leadership of
these organizations in ensuring the research and education community has the
networking capacity and speed they need to drive advancements in fields such
as high-energy physics, telemedicine and climate research.
"Today, researchers have shifted from working in local laboratories to
collaborating on a global scale. Massive data streams generated by this new
environment are driving exponential growth in the networking needs of our
community that could require 100 GbE services by as early as 2010," said Rob
Vietzke, Internet2 executive director of network services. "Together with our
collaborators we are working to make 100 GbE a reality so researchers will
never be bound by their geographic location or bandwidth requirements."
In 2006, Internet2 announced an agreement with Level 3 Communications to
deploy a new nationwide network, designed to seamlessly add capacity as
Internet2 members' needs evolve. Internet2 and the Department of Energy's
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) also announced a partnership to build the
next-generation of ESnet on the shared Internet2 infrastructure. Both networks
have already experienced rapid growth and as global collaborations continue to
expand to nearly every research discipline, the path towards 100 GbE is a
natural next step.
"Scientific discovery today is highly dependent upon the ease of access to
data. Current usage trends in areas like high-energy physics and climate
change research indicate that researchers will soon begin to saturate the
dedicated 10 Gigabit per second links deployed today. This important effort
ensures our scientists will have the most advanced network capabilities in the
next few years to make new breakthroughs that were previously unimaginable,"
said Steve Cotter, department head, ESnet.
Jack Waters, chief technology officer of Level 3 added, "The research and
education community continues to push the boundaries of networking. We are
pleased to be supporting this exciting project, which leads the industry in
100 GbE technology development. Level 3's continued commitment to network
investment provides a highly reliable and scalable infrastructure, which will
be integral in testing and developing a viable 100 GbE services platform."
In support of the development, Juniper Networks plans to leverage its
industry-leading T1600 core router. As the only 100 Gbps-ready core router
available today, the T1600 provides unparalleled investment protection and a
seamless migration path to 100 Gbps. With 100 Gbps of capacity per slot, the
T1600 ensures Internet2 and ESnet could quickly and easily deploy 100 Gbps
interfaces.
"As our research and education customers require increasingly more network
capacity to support their research projects, technologies such as 100 GbE can
help them scale their networks quickly and efficiently," said Opher Kahane,
senior vice president and general manager of the High End Systems Business
Unit at Juniper Networks. "We are pleased to be part of this groundbreaking
initiative to develop 100 GbE technologies leveraging our T1600 core router."
Infinera plans to develop the 100 GbE interfaces for the existing
Internet2 and ESnet optical networks. Infinera has been a leader in 100 GbE
technology for several years. Two years ago, at SC06, Infinera collaborated
with Level 3 to demonstrate the first pre-standards implementation of 100 GbE
services over a live network and continues to demonstrate the capability in a
variety of forums.
"Infinera optical systems lead the industry in bandwidth and scalability,
and we are very excited to support Internet2, ESnet, and Level 3 as they move
aggressively towards making 100 GbE a fully operational reality," said
Infinera chief technology officer Drew Perkins.
The Move to Standards
The development of standards for 100 GbE is a key part of the process to
support widespread cost-effective deployment of 100 GbE technology. The IEEE
is currently targeting mid-2010 for industry agreement on a 100 GbE standard.
The parties will support the effort to create a standard and look forward to
implementing that standard.
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