HPC 2014-15 | International cooperation


Barcelona Supercomputer, for example, then this will allow the two to talk,’ Chevers said. A second tool to aid international access


to research networks, funded by the Géant project, is eduroam (education roaming) which allows students, researchers, and staff from participating institutions to obtain internet connectivity across campus and when visiting other participating institutions by simply opening their laptop. Te eduroam system is based on the principle that the user’s authentication is done within the user’s home institution, while the authorisation decision to allow access to the network resources is controlled by the visited network. ‘You don’t need a separate password for each location you visit, but your details are still secure – your credentials are recognised around the world.’ Dante and Géant therefore are ‘not just


about the network – big fat pipes – but we are looking at every technology that facilitates research and the transfer of data,’ according to Chevers. Te Géant model is successful, he believes. ‘It’s been adopted in other regions of the world – a successful European export!’ As one example, he cited RedCLARA – Cooperación Latino Americana de Redes


Avanzadas (Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks) – which develops and operates the only Latin-American network for regional interconnection intended to foster collaboration in research, innovation and education across Latin America by means of advanced telecommunications networks. It is part of Dante’s role, not only to manage research and education networking projects


“Te life sciences have become a very significant user of the ORIENTplus network with massive amounts of genomic data going back and forth”


serving Europe, but also to consult and assist networks in the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, and central Asia regions. Dante has helped with the Central Asia Research and Education Network (CAREN) which has been operational since July 2010, and links scientists and students in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan with Uzbekistan, a candidate country.


It also coordinates the ORIENTplus project


that connects the Chinese NRENs CERNET (China Education and Research Network) and CSTNET (China Science and Technology Network) with the 50 million users of the Géant network, via super-fast connectivity between Beijing and London. In January 2013, the link capacity quadrupled to 10Gbps to meet traffic growth. One critical point about this link is that it goes via Siberia whereas virtually all commercial links go via the USA – about double the distance. It is, in Chevers’ view, another example of how Dante can provide a service that is of higher quality than that offered by commercial providers. Te life sciences have become a very


significant user of the ORIENTplus network with massive amounts of genomic data going back and forth between the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) at Hinxton not far from Cambridge and the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI). But it remains the case that Cern’s LHC is


the biggest user and the main driver for network development. Chevers pointed out that when the LHC is switched on again aſter its current outage, it will generate two and a half times as much data as before: ‘And we’re ready for that.’l


18


Anton Balazh/Shutterstock.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40