The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) has announced the renewal of its collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) and Internet2 to continue partnering in the development of new network capabilities. CENIC says the renewal term is 5 years, from 2017 to 2022, with the possibility of further extensions. The joint effort will provide networking capabilities throughout the West Coast of the U.S.
Using CENIC and PNWGP fiber-optic cable and Internet2's Ciena optical system, the shared infrastructure supports the West Coast portion of Internet2's nationwide backbone network. According to CENIC, it is supporting underlying infrastructure for the core of the National Science Foundation-funded Pacific Research Platform (PRP) as well. It also supports additional CENIC and PNWGP networks and network initiatives, such as the West Coast backbone of the Pacific Wave International Exchange, a joint project of the PNWGP and CENIC.
The Pacific Wave International Exchange project delivers distributed, ultra-high performance interconnection and peering fabric to connect U.S. researchers to international partners The shared infrastructure will enable further upgrades of the Pacic Wave International Exchange (see "Pacific Wave opens 100-Gbps trans-Pacific R&E fiber-optic network").
Pacific Wave links 27 networks representing more than 40 countries throughout the Pacific Rim, the Americas, and the Middle East, and has access nodes in Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, and El Paso. According to CENIC, Pacific Wave links directly to the StarLight International Exchange in Chicago, which offers connections to European R&E networks. New Pacific Wave nodes are planned for December 2017 in Texas and Oklahoma, CENIC says.
"This is a significant collaboration with Internet2, one of several, which enables network interconnection and transit capabilities for our U.S. and international research partners in order to achieve the performance and service capabilities required by researchers who depend heavily on high-speed access to large datasets, remote scientific instruments, multi-institutional collaborations, and computing resources," said Louis Fox, CENIC president and CEO.
"We have a long history of collaboration with CENIC and PNWGP and it's imperative that we continue to support the big data requirements of some of the world's most extraordinary research projects," added Howard Pfeffer, Internet2 president and CEO. "This is exactly why this partnership is so important, because it allows us to collectively support scientific research and discovery for research and education communities in the U.S. and beyond."
Internet2 operates a high-capacity fiber-optic backbone network that connects universities and other research institutions. It consists of 220 U.S. universities, 60 major 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.
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