IU, Internet2 celebrate 15-year partnership for advanced research and education networks

  • Sept. 10, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDIANAPOLIS -- For 15 years, the nation’s most advanced research and education networks have operated from Indiana, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between Indiana University and Internet2 that founded the Global Research Network Operations Center (GlobalNOC) at IU. Internet2 is the advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading universities.

Today, Indiana University will honor the GlobalNOC’s past and future at a 15th anniversary celebration in the Informatics & Communications Technology Complex on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and chief information officer, will lead the celebration, and IU President Michael A. McRobbie and Internet2 Vice President Rob Vietzke will offer additional remarks.

"The Global NOC has been at the heart of Indiana University's leadership in the operation and management of high-speed national and international research and education networks for the past 15 years. It has now grown into the pre-eminent network operations center of its type anywhere in the world. Its continued growth and success are further confirmation of IU's position as a world leader in the uses and applications of information technology and in computer networking in particular," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. "Nearly every discipline from anthropology to zoology is today truly global. And high speed research and education networks play an essential part in binding these disciplines together and making this possible. The international networks supported by the Global NOC enable a level of collaboration among researchers at the world's universities and other institutions that could not even have been imagined just 20 years ago."

"On a personal note, I am honored to have played a role in establishing the NOC and I want to commend all those who have played a role and who continue to play a role, in the extraordinary success the Global NOC has enjoyed over the last 15 years. I especially want to acknowledge the roles of the late Jacob Levanon under whose leadership the GlobalNOC was brought into existence, and Dave Jent, who has overseen such spectacular growth in the NOC."

IU formed the GlobalNOC in 1998 to provide 24-hour network operations services for Internet2's first national network, and Internet2 again used GlobalNOC services to complete its new 100 gigabits per second national network. Today, Internet2 operates the nation's fastest, coast-to-coast research and education network. GlobalNOC's Service Desk, Network Engineering, and Software and Systems teams support the new network, and these teams ensure the reliability, performance and advanced capabilities for Internet2 and more than 20 advanced network projects.

Indiana University was the first university to connect to the new Internet2 high-speed network that enables IU researchers to push the frontiers of big data, grid computing and even technical innovation in the network itself. GlobalNOC also manages networks to Asia and Europe -- as well as a direct link to China -- to enable researchers at U.S. universities and around the world to collaborate at the frontiers of human discovery. Human genomics sequencing in Asia, massive physics data from the Large Hadron Collider in Europe and astrological images from Australia and South America move across these networks.

For the state of Indiana, the GlobalNOC is a true success story -- creating jobs, attracting talented people and bringing more than $20 million dollars in research funding to the state. Since 1998, it has grown from three to 80 highly skilled, full-time employees, providing career options for Indiana college graduates and recruiting talent to the state. The GlobalNOC has also attracted new IU faculty who study network performance, win federal research grants and attract highly talented students.

"GlobalNOC has been a triple success for IU's service to the state, the nation and the world," said Wheeler. "The university and the state have the service of some of the nation's most advanced network engineers via the I-Light network, and the GlobalNOC has helped stem and reverse the state's so-called 'brain drain' by creating jobs and recruiting staff and their families to Indiana. IU's networks team has earned the respect of networking teams around the country and brought in numerous federal projects and public sector work from other states."

"When 36 of the world's best research institutions created Internet2 in 1996, the mission was to remain steps ahead of all other internet networks and to provide more advanced capabilities to support America's researchers, while maintaining superior execution," said H. David Lambert, president and chief executive officer of Internet2. "With support that extended to Indiana's legislature, Indiana University put forth a proposal in 1998 to become a critical partner to the Internet2 community's vision for advanced networking. Today, the continued success of that commitment is realized in Indiana through the continued growth of the GlobalNOC. Our partnership and wise investment to implement the Internet2 vision are benefitting Indiana and enabling the U.S. research and education community to stay out in front."

GlobalNOC's current partners and projects include:

  • Internet2: GlobalNOC supports Internet2's national 100 gigabit Ethernet backbone for innovative network, cloud and trust applications that empower new research and education applications throughout the US.
  • TransPAC3: A 10 gigabits per second network directly connecting U.S. researchers with their colleagues in Asia, TransPAC3 provided the first US-China connection specifically dedicated to academic scientific research. TransPAC3 is funded by IU with National Science Foundation support, and in cooperation with partners Internet2 and the CNGI initiative in China.
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration N-Wave: As NOAA's science network, N-Wave leverages the national Internet2 backbone to connect researchers from a variety of fields (oceanography, chemistry, biology, meteorology, mathematics, physics, computer sciences and engineering) to the data and resources they need to advance environmental science.
  • America Connects to Europe: This network connects U.S. scientists and researchers to their counterparts in the European Union. ACE played a key role in last year's discovery of the Higgs boson -- by using the high-speed ACE network, scientists could easily move huge amounts of data from Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider to the U.S., speeding collaboration and discovery.
  • Pennsylvania Research and Education Network: This is a statewide, fiber-optic cable network that extends over 1,600 miles and reaches 50 Pennsylvania counties -- connecting higher education institutions, pre-K-12 programs, health care entities, libraries and not-for-profits for the first time.
  • Monon 100: In 2012, Indiana became the first state to launch a high-speed 100-gigabits per second network link dedicated to research and education. Named the Monon100, it lets scientists and medical researchers rapidly share the massive amounts of data created by modern digital instruments like gene sequencers, powerful microscopes and the Large Hadron Collider.
  • I-Light: As Indiana's high-speed fiber optic network for the research and education community, I-Light connects all of the state's colleges and universities. The network supports education and collaboration through high-quality video connections, the exchange of large data files, access to supercomputers and scientific data storage facilities and more.

For more information about the GlobalNOC, see the virtual press kit here.

About the Global Research Network Operations Center
The Global Research Network Operations Center at Indiana University is the premier operations and engineering organization supporting advanced international, national, regional and local high-performance research and education networks.

GlobalNOC plays a major role in transforming the face of digital science, research and education in Indiana, the U.S., and the world by providing unparalleled network operations and engineering needed for reliable and cost-effective access to specialized facilities for research and education. For more about GlobalNOC, visit here.

About Internet2
Internet2 is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges, and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research and community service missions.

Internet2 consists of more than 245 U.S. universities, 60 leading corporations, 70 government agencies, 38 regional and state education networks and more than 100 national research and education networking partners representing more than 50 countries. Internet2 offices are located in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Emeryville, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit here or follow @Internet2 on Twitter.

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IU President Michael A. McRobbie

IU President Michael A. McRobbie | Photo by Indiana University

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Indiana University

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