The news below is from UF and UF IT news on the awesomeness that is the UF research computing infrastructure.
Along the same lines, the next UF Research Computing Day will be May 2 and more information is on the UF IT site for UF Research Computing Day.
Cheers to UF for this important and major upgrade!
Cheers to all of us at UF, our collaborators, and the world, who will benefit from the research and work made possible by the new research capabilities from this upgrade!
DATE: February 7, 2013
TO: Deans, Directors, and Department Chairs
FROM: Elias G. Eldayrie, Vice President and CIO
SUBJECT: UF Significantly Upgrades Research Capabilities
On January 30, the University of Florida activated an ultra-high-speed connection to the Internet2 Innovation Platform, expanding computing power 10-fold and offering a computing network found in only three other places in the United States.
UF is one of the pilot sites chosen to connect to Internet2, the fastest way to move data from one research laboratory to another. The 100 Gbps connection allows scientific discovery and collaboration on a scale not possible at 10 Gbps, which is the current research standard. The 100Gbps connection enables scientific contributions and increased impact of UF on the national and international research communities.
The connection of our Campus Research Network (CRN) to theFlorida LambdaRail strengthens UF’s participation in high-impact projects, such as the recently discovered Higgs boson particle, iDigBio, and the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI). These projects involve massive data storage and computational needs at the Terabyte and Petabyte levels. This investment is part of UF’s effort to provide our researchers an infrastructure that ranks among the top-10 in the nation.
More information about how the Internet2 Innovation Platform can significantly advance UF science and engineering research is available in InsideUF and UFIT News.
Additional news version from UF IT News:
The University of Florida is now part of the Internet2 Innovation Platform–one of only a few universities with its 100Gbps, ultra-high-speed access.Increasing the data capacity from 10Gbps to 100Gbps means UF researchers and their collaborators around the globe have access to transformative scientific capabilities.
“The capacity to move data at 100Gbps is a watershed moment in UF’s research computing environment,” remarked Vice President and CIO Elias Eldayrie. “This ten-fold increase enables UF to make more impactful contributions to the national and international research communities.”
Connecting the Campus Research Network (CRN) to the Florida LambdaRail strengthens UF’s participation in high-impact projects, such as the recently discovered Higgs boson particle, iDigBio, and the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI). These projects all involve massive data storage and computational needs at the Terabyte and Petabyte levels.
The CRN was rebuilt to accommodate the wider information superhighway, said network architect Chris Griffin. But the network is now ready for GatorCloud, a 200 Gbps campus computing initiative under development by Andy Li, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. UF’s computing networks also support Innovation Square and Progress Corporate Park, home to many biotechnology start-ups that originated with UF research. Griffin said he is looking forward to the reactions of scientists as they discover new ways to use the network:
“We want the scientists to get down and dirty with it,” Griffin said. “We’re ready!”