ESnet, NERSC deploy 400-Gbps superchannel connection

The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) say they have deployed a 400-Gbps superchannel connection in California. The superchannel, dubbed BayExpress, connects NERSC's current facility in Oakland to the main campus of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley. NERSC staffers in Oakland will move to the NBNL facility over the next year, and the superchannel fiber-optic network connection will maintain support for them during the transition.

The two DOE Office of Science User Facilities worked with Ciena Corp (NYSE:CIEN) and network services provider Level 3 Communications on the project, which also includes creation of a testbed to further investigate 400-Gbps optical communications. ESnet currently operates a 100-Gbps backbone and is interested in investigating a jump to higher optical transmission rates.

The 11-km BayExpress uses Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform transmitting 400 Gbps via a pair of 200-Gbps wavelengths as dual subcarriers. The testbed will use the 6500 as well as dark fiber Level 3 will provide for six months to test gridless superchannel operation. The ESnet/NERSC team expects to begin field trials on the testbed within the next two months. One test project will see the use of spooled fiber to extend the 11-km link to 91 km.

"We had two goals for this project," said Chris Tracy, co-leader of the project and a member of ESnet's Network Engineering team, via ESnet's account of the story. "We wanted to demonstrate a real-world production deployment of 400-Gbps optical connection linking two distinct, large-scale data centers and to integrate scientific workflows, which will make efficient use of this bandwidth. We also wanted to conduct research in the areas of fiber-optic signal transport, data movement, and management techniques to support the execution of those workflows, which are important for DOE's research mission."

Ciena has supplied ESnet with technology for some time (see "Internet2, ESnet take 100-Gbps coast to coast"), including support of research into high-speed optical networks (see "R&E networks demonstrate 100-Gbps transatlantic connections at TERENA Networking Conference").

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