ESnet and LGS Deploy Alcatel-Lucent Routers for New 100G Network

LGS Innovations today announced it is teaming with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) to build a nationwide 100 Gigabit per second Ethernet (100GE) network that will accommodate ESnet's anticipated tenfold increase in science data traffic volume over the next four years and beyond. The network will support research efforts that will enable scientists to develop technologies and innovations that will address energy, climate, and other research challenges in the U.S. and abroad.

Managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and funded by the DOE Office of Science, ESnet is building a new 100GE network through its Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI). Under the agreement, LGS Innovations is providing the 7750 Service Router (SR) from its parent company, Alcatel-Lucent, for ten points of presence across ESnet's national backbone as well as directly at select laboratory sites. LGS is providing this solution through a competitively awarded subcontract with Synchronized Networking Solutions, LLC.

Steve Cotter, ESnet department head, said: "Today, researchers partner in virtual collaborations spanning continents and must be able to share terabytes of data on a regular basis. An advanced, ultra high-bandwidth network is critical in this new data-intensive science age, and 100GE will provide a key enabling technology to facilitate U.S. scientific discovery."

The new network will first be built as a prototype connecting the  DOE Office of Science's three leading computing facilities—the  National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in Berkeley, California, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility near Chicago, Illinois, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the MAN LAN international exchange point in New York. By the end of 2012, ESnet will transition the network to production, deploying 100GE connections across its entire footprint to provide these enhanced capabilities to researchers across the country.

Ronald Iverson, LGS Innovations Chief Executive Officer, said: "As a global leader in the development and use of advanced ultra high-capacity networks, our nation's scientists and research facilities must be prepared for the future demands sharing increasingly large volumes of data. Building the 100GE network will enable the U.S. to maintain a scientific competitive edge globally while fueling economic growth and job creation at home."