OCTOBER 18, 2010 -- Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) and CANARIE, Canada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network, have announced a successful joint 100-Gbps demonstration running over CANARIE’s production network. The demonstration showcases two CANARIE-funded research projects that use the CANARIE network to accelerate medical discoveries and innovations in brain research, and help eliminate the challenges of geography in delivering medical education to remote and rural areas. The live demonstration will be operational throughout the month of October as part of an advanced technology event for Ciena customers.
To address the healthcare education, services and research needs of Canada, CANARIE is using its network to ensure Canadian students, researchers, and patients in remote areas have access to the same resources and care as people in the country’s large metropolitan cities. The two applications in the demonstration illustrate CANARIE’s work in this area and underscore the ways in which its 100G network may be leveraged:
- Health Service Virtual Organization (HSVO) connects healthcare practitioners and students to leading-edge medical devices, information, and expertise on demand for training, patient care, and research collaboration. It uses technology to overcome challenges in healthcare delivery by expanding the reach and accessibility of distributed medical experts and healthcare resources, thereby increasing the quality of patient care and leveraging the investment in sophisticated medical equipment and resources.
- Canadian Brain Imaging Research Network (CBRAIN) enables scientists to access, process, manipulate, and analyze 3D and 4D brain imaging and mapping data and conduct collaborative research to advance the understanding of brain development throughout life, including the physical and cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The two parties say the live demonstration illustrates that CANARIE’s network is easily upgradeable to 100 Gbps by adding 100G interfaces to its installed Ciena ActivFlex 6500 equipment without changing any network infrastructure or completely re-engineering the network.
“Our demonstration with Ciena showcases the value of our technology investments and 100G capabilities, as it proves CANARIE’s network to be a flexible platform supporting researchers, educators, and innovators across Canada working to improve our health, our economy, our environment, and our future,” said Jim Roche, president and CEO of CANARIE. “More importantly, the actual applications demonstrated over the live network help move the industry conversation beyond simply building faster networks to how that bandwidth can be utilized -- through applications in healthcare, as demonstrated today, but also in applications exploring everything from carbon-free computing to new energy sources, from easing traffic congestion to better managing our ocean resources.”
Spanning Canada, CANARIE’s network connects more than 87 universities, 103 colleges, 49 CEGEPS, 84 provincial and federal government labs and research parks, 58 hospitals and health networks, 31 cultural institutions, thousands of K-12 schools, 12 provincial and territorial optical network partners, and more than 100 international peer networks in 80 countries.
Using Ciena’s ActivFlex 6500 and ActivSpan Common Photonic Layer, the demonstration originates from Chicago’s StarLight GIGApop and includes uncompressed HD video data streams from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR), and other sources, along with the CANARIE applications. Using Ciena's 40/100G Adaptive Optical Engine technology – which includes coherent optics, electronic dispersion compensation, and directionless and colorless ROADM functionality – the 100G wavelength travels 1,300 km to Ciena’s Ottawa labs for displaying the video content.
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