ESnet Releases First Annual Report

The Energy Science Network (ESnet) is proud to announce the publication of the organization’s first-ever annual report. The 2022 Annual Report showcases the year’s major milestones, operational and applied research breakthroughs, and highlights of scientific partnerships; it is intended to aggregate benchmarks from which to measure ESnet’s future growth.

The report covers the unveiling of ESNet6, the sixth iteration of this vital data circulatory system for the Department of Energy’s tens of thousands of scientific researchers, and Confab22, the inaugural gathering designed to bring ESnet’s users together to codesign a future in which computing, storage, and networking infrastructure are seamlessly integrated. The report is being distributed at Confab23 this week (October 16-18) in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

ESnet’s network traffic has grown exponentially in the past two decades. In 2022, ESnet carried more than 1.3 exabytes of data to and from the sites it connects. (An exabyte is equal to 1,000 petabytes or 1 billion gigabytes.) 

For the first time, ESnet is sharing two chord diagrams that give a glimpse into the breadth of data flowing across ESnet. The first, below, shows the traffic between the top 40 pairs of source and destination organizations: 

High-Capacity Users This chord diagram depicts the volume of data* moved across ESnet in calendar 2022 between the top 40 pairs of source and destination organizations.

Of top source Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s 199 petabytes sent, 128 PB were associated with the Large Hadron Collider project. Additionally, the 73.5 PB of data moved from University of Chicago to Indiana GigaPOP was entirely attributed to the LHC.

The second chord diagram depicts the 2022 volume of data between the top 40 pairs of national laboratories. 

Usage by National Laboratories This diagram depicts the volume of data* moved across ESnet in calendar 2022 between the top 40 pairs of national laboratories.

Argonne National Laboratory was the largest producer and consumer of inter-lab data, with a combined 34 petabytes of movement to and from other labs. Of this, 14 PB was sent to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and 7.65 PB was received from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as part of an ESGF Data Replication Effort (see page 37 of the annual report).

This torrent of data is spurring ESnet to innovate in multiple areas to continue to deliver on its mission — and enable DOE scientists to seamlessly move, store, and analyze that data without drowning in it.

Read more in the Annual Report