University of Tennessee deploys Force10 C-Series

JUNE 18, 2007 -- Force10 Networks (search for Force10 Networks) says that the University of Tennessee physics department has deployed the C300 resilient switch to analyze data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator that will collide beams of protons and gather data that is produced during the collisions.

"To analyze the data from CERN's collider in a meaningful way, we knew that we would need a supercomputer that was both scalable and demonstrated predictable performance under all situations," said John Lankford, senior infrastructure architect at the University of Tennessee. "The Force10 C300 brings us the reliable high performance we need to study the LHC data and the seamless interoperability between our high energy physics cluster and the Force10 E-Series switch/routers in StarLight through which we gain access to that data."

The recently introduced Force10 C300 delivers the reliability, network control, and scalability the university requires to process the large volume of data from the LHC, Force10 says. Aggregating and interconnecting more than 150 nodes, the C300 anchors the university's new high-energy physics cluster, allowing researchers to analyze the data that is captured upon collision.

With support for 384 line-rate Gigabit Ethernet ports, the Force10 C300 provides the scalability the University of Tennessee requires to connect to its servers, the systems house adds. The university also leverages the line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet density of the C300 to connect the physics cluster to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory via StarLight, one of the largest research and education access points in the world. Fermi Lab, a tier one center for the LHC project, is connected to CERN and will act as a distributor of the data to the university as well as other research and education organizations.

"The University of Tennessee is at the forefront of investigative physics and is among the country's pioneers in leveraging the network for the advancement of science," said Stephen Garrison, vice president of marketing at Force10 Networks. "The C300 delivers the high performance and software sophistication of the E-Series in a cost-effective platform that allows the university to conduct leading edge science on a reliable, scalable network."

CERN has deployed the Force10 TeraScale E-Series to power the four networks that are collecting data from the LHC particle collisions. Additionally, CERN has built a 40-Gbit/sec campus network with the TeraScale E-Series. CERN is sharing the data it collects with research organizations around the world via a 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN link from its campus in Geneva to StarLight in Chicago, the largest research exchange in the world.

Visit Force10 Networks