LEARN:%20Lonestar%20Education%20And%20Research%20Network

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LEARN Lonestar Education AndResearch Network

• Dan Updegrove
• VP for Information Technology
• The University of Texas at Austin
• July 8, 2004

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Academic Networking Dimensions

• Commodity Internet Bandwidth, cost, backup
• Internet2 Bandwidth, cost, backup
• TeraGrid Access for UT Austin, grid partners
• NLR Opportunity for Texas to participate in
  generalized, 3rd gen research network
• SURAs USA Waves initiative with ATT
• The need for a statewide RE backbone net
• The LEARN organization statewide collab!
• Will State government provide support?

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Commodity Internet

• All universities connected, of course
• Aggregation among campuses, ISDs, et al. has
  proven cost effective
• Many of us increasingly concerned about
• Cost for increased bandwidth
• Backup connections
• Service level agreements
• Security
• Metro/regional peering

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(No Transcript)
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Internet2/Abilene

• Abilenes regional POP is in Houston
• 16 Primary Texas members
• Baylor, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice, TAMU,
  SFASU, SMU, SWRI, TCU, TTU, UH, UTA, UT Austin,
  UTD, UTEP, UTSW, UNT
• Currently five costly links
• Austin, Dallas (2), Houston, Lubbock
• SEGP being implemented via
• Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Lubbock
• UTMDA, UTMB, UTHSC-H, UTHSC-SA, UTSA

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TeraGrid / ETF
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TeraGrid/ETF

• NSF-funded, multi-year effort to build deploy
  world's largest, most comprehensive, distributed
  infrastructure for open scientific research
• 2001, Original sites 3 x 10 Gbps
• San Diego Supercomputer Center _at_ UCSD
• Ctr for Advanced Computing Research _at_ CalTech
• Argonne National Lab (ANL), Illinois
• Natl Ctr for Supercomputing Applications _at_ UIUC
• Backbone, LA Chicago 4 x 10 Gbps lambdas
• 2002, Pgh Supercomp Ctr (PSC) 3 x 10 Gbps

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TeraGrid/ETF Texas

• 2003, 3 sites newly funded 1 x 10 Gbps lambda
• Texas Advanced Computing Ctr _at_ UT Austin
• Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), Tennessee
• Indiana U/Purdue U
• UT to connect in Chicago, ORNL to connect at new
  node in Atlanta 1 x 10 Gbps lambdas
• UTs connection to TeraGrid/ETF backbone can
  benefit other universities, especially HiPCAT
  (High Performance Computing Across Texas) members
  
• Requires high-performance state backbone network

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TACCs ETF Connection

• NLR providing 10 Gbps wave Dallas-Chicago
  Starlight via Wiltel IRU
• NLR providing interim 10 Gbps wave Austin
  Dallas, Aug 04 Jan 05
• UT acquiring dark fiber Austin Dallas, will
  light and operate by Feb 05
• This approach provides more support for state
  network vision than simple 5-year lease

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NLR National LambdaRail
Seattle
Clev
Chicago
New York
Pitts
Denver
Sunnyvale
KC
Wash DC
Raleigh
Tulsa
LA
Albuq.
Phoenix
San Diego
Atlanta
Dallas
Jacksonville
El Paso - Las Cruces
Pensacola
Baton Rouge
Houston
San Ant.
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National LambdaRail (NLR)

• National effort, led by research universities, to
  provide an enabling infrastructure for new forms
  and methods of science engineering
• High-performance computational science,
  engineering, medical research
• High-performance networking research
• Leverages historically low prices for dark fiber
  competition among equipment providers
• Bridge between Internet2 TeraGrid

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National Lambda Rail

• 80M est cost for acquisition, 5-yr O M
• Committed 5M partners CENIC (San Diego, LA,
  Sunnyvale), PNWGP (Seattle), NCAR/FRGP (Denver)
  CIC/Big10 (Chicago), PSC/CMU (Pittsbg) VaTech
  (Washington), Cornell (NYC) Duke (Raleigh), Ga
  Tech (Atlanta), FL (Jax), LA (Baton Rouge), LEARN
  (Houston), OK (Tulsa), NM (Albuq.)
• Internet2 has committed 10M for one wave to
  explore Hybrid Optical IP Networking (HOPI),
  possible successor to Qwest backbone

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NLR (Contd)

• Phase one being built on Level3 footprint using
  Cisco 15808 equipment
• Phase 2 Jax-San Diego N-S link(s) to be built
  using Cisco 15454 optronics newer, lower cost,
  more flexibility in lambda configs
• Texas will have primary POP in Houston (layers 1,
  2, 3) plus layer-1 POPs in Dallas, San Antonio,
  El Paso

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SURA Networking Initiative
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SURA USAWaves

• Identified net infra as key regional issue
• Explored dark fiber options Velocita had best
  regional footprint assets acquired by ATT
• ATT partnership, 12/03, includes
• 6,000 miles dark fiber donated ( equipment)
• 2,000 miles donated for net research / zero OM
• Point-to-point lambdas at cost (tb negotiated)
• SURA ATT seeking early wins

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SURA Texas

• MembersBaylor, Rice, UH, TAMU, UT Austin
• SURA has committed ATT fiber between Jax and
  Houston to NLR for backbone
• More ATT fiber available in Texas (map)
• SURAs research initiatives JLab, coastal
  research, HPC, grids, biomedical collaboration

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SURA ATT NexGen Network
Seattle
Spokane
Bridgeport ,CT
Missoula
Helena
Portland
New York City
Eugene
Billings
Boston
St. Paul
Minneapolis
Philadelphia
Boise
Chicago
Des Moines
Cheyenne
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Omaha
Reno
Washington DC
Salt Lake City
San Francisco And San Jose
Sacramento
Denver
St. Louis
Kansas City
Raleigh
Tulsa
Little Rock
Oklahoma City
LA
Atlanta
Phoenix
San Diego
El Paso
Jacksonville
LA El Paso NOT COMPLETE.
Ft. Worth
Dallas
New Orleans
Orlando
San Antonio
Houston
El Paso Ft Worth NOT COMPLETE.
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The LEARN Organization

• Non-profit institutional membership org (n31)
• Baylor, BCM, Lamar, NETnet, PVAMU, Rice, SHSU,
  SMU, SFASU, TACC, TAMU, TAMU Sys, TAMU-CC,
  TAMUSHSC, TCU, TSU-San Marcos, TTU, TTU Sys, UH
  Sys, UNT Sys, UTA, UT Austin, UTD, UTEP, UTHSC-H,
  UTHSC-SA, UTMDA, UTMB, UTSA, UTSW, UT System
• Each member has committed 20K x 2 years
• Focus is building operating RE backbone
• LEARN is also Texas NLR member
• Could provide leadership/svc on I1 I2
• Other roles (esp in absence of TIF)?

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LEARN (Contd)

• Full-time Exec Dir being recruited
• HQ location to be in Austin
• Board meets every 6 weeks conf calls
• Tech Advisory Group meets in parallel
• Officers
• Chair Dan Updegrove, UT Austin
• Vice chair Jenifer Jarriel, BCM
• Treasurer Richard Moore, UTMB
• Secretary Maurice Leatherbury, UNT

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Investigations of Fiber Options in Texas
Possible Fiber Services in Texas
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Texas Enterprise Fund

• 7.5 M authorized by Legislature last year for
  advanced RE backbone network
• 2.5M authorized, in parallel, for grid effort
• Gov Speaker have signed off not Lt Gov
• Lt Gov said to be skeptical of economic
  development benefit of an RE network
• How could we convince him?

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Grid Computing HiPCAT

• 2.5M has been requested from the State for
  multi-university grid computing collaboration
• HiPCAT founding members Rice, TAMU, TTU, UH, UT
  Austin other universities joining
• Budget for salaries, software assumes
  state-of-the-art network connecting universities
  to each other and to ETF
• Other Texas universities could benefit as well as
  Grid software, expertise are generalized

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Open Issues / Challenges

• Will state commit the 10M? When?
• NLR topology can affect LEARN topology
• TeraGrid link must be operational by Oct 1
• NSF role in funding beyond TeraGrid?
• LEARN Org needs staff, ongoing support
• Indiv campuses need to understand total costs
  I1, I2, local loop(s), LEARN, NLR
• Advanced networking is a moving target!

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Questions?

• Contact Dan Updegrove
• d.updegrove_at_its.utexas.edu
• 512 232-9610
• LEARN Info www.tx-learn.org

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Reference Networking Alpha-Soup
Abilene CENIC ETF / Teragrid Fiberco
HiPCAT Internet2 NLR NTGP
SURA SGA TACC LEARN
Texas SEGP UCAID USAWaves Other Resources