World Leading Research Network Proves Ability to Meet E-Science Demands
Press Release
Data Transfer Capability of Pan-European Research Network Demonstrated at European Research 2002
Brussels, 13 November 2002 - A team of researchers representing GÉANT, DataGrid and the European VLBI Radio Astronomers enacted demonstrations at the European Research 2002 exhibition in which Radio Astronomy data was transferred from Manchester in the UK to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The data transfers were achieved at average speeds of between 400 and 600 megabits per second on a sustained and repeated basis.
The team comprised representatives from DANTE, University College London (UK), Manchester University (UK), Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK), the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe (JIVE, Netherlands). The data was transferred along a path from Manchester to Amsterdam via London, using the networks of UKERNA (the UK’s National Research and Education Network), GÉANT (the pan-European multi-gigabit research network) and SURFnet (the Dutch National Research and Education Network).
Europe’s radio astronomers collect data at telescopes spread over the continent (the European VLBI Network), and combine this data at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, in Dwingeloo in the Netherlands, to create a single telescope as large as Europe. This technique, called very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), results in a requirement to transfer very large amounts of data from several points around Europe on a regular basis. GÉANT is the ideal vehicle for supporting this work, due to its high capacity pan-European infrastructure.
The transfer of very large quantities of data at high speeds is an increasingly common requirement of large research projects such as those in the High Energy Physics and Radio Astronomy fields. The successful demonstrations at European Research 2002 prove that GÉANT can meet the high demands of these e-science projects, supporting the advancement of research in Europe.
“The fact that we are able to demonstrate the transfer of these quantities of data is an excellent example of the capability of GÉANT, “ said Dai Davies, DANTE General Manager. “GÉANT was built to address this sort of challenge and this shows clearly that we are ready and able to do so. I am delighted we have been able to work together with DataGrid and the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe to achieve this.”
“It is a major step forward to be able to demonstrate that data intensive applications really can use large bandwidth easily. With the deployment of production Grids in the next few years we will see data flows at Gigabits-per-second becoming the norm”, said Peter Clarke from the DataGrid management team. “It really is excellent that our projects can collaborate so well with DANTE and National Research Network providers – this is just what we need to underpin e-Science in the next decade.”
“We are very happy to have this opportunity to transfer the data collected at the Jodrell Bank Observatory directly to the data processor in the Netherlands instead of waiting for tapes to be sent,” said Richard Schilizzi, JIVE Director. “This opens up a completely new way of operating our network of radio telescopes, and will lead to new astronomical discoveries about the universe and to a much more efficient and reliable instrument.”
European Research 2002 is a major conference organised by the European Commission to mark the launch of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for Research.
About DANTE:
DANTE, a Cambridge, England-based organisation set up to build and manage advanced network services for the European Research and Education community, is the co-ordinating partner of the GÉANT consortium and responsible for the construction of GÉANT. GÉANT, the pan-European multi-gigabit research network, enables European scientists to compete on an international stage by providing them with a world-class backbone that offers the bandwidth and the Quality of Service required for research and development activities at this level. It represents the basis for the introduction of "virtual laboratories" and "virtual institutes" in Europe. GÉANT is a project co-funded by the European Union.
About DataGrid:
DataGrid is a project funded by the European Union. The objective is to build the next generation computing infrastructure needed to provide intensive computation resources for the analysis of shared large-scale databases, from hundreds of TeraBytes to PetaBytes. The DataGrid is centred upon the challenges presented by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) programme at CERN. The LHC will produce many Petabytes of data per year which must be processed, transported and analysed by hundreds of participating institutes around the world. The DataGrid is also being built to pilot the use of Grids by Earth Observation and Biology and Medical image processing applications.
The DataGrid is a collaboration of many European institutes developing “middleware” based upon the Globus software suite, and in close collaboration with other international Grid projects.
About the European VLBI Network and JIVE:
The European Very long baseline interferometry Network (EVN) is a network of 14 nationally-funded radio telescopes in different countries that carry out VLBI observations for the astronomical community in Europe. The data from the telescopes is combined interferometrically to create an extremely sensitive radio telescope whose diameter is as large as the largest separation of telescopes - many thousands of kilometres across. This technique produces the sharpest images mankind can now make of stars and galaxies in distant parts of the universe. The combination of data takes place at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe in the Netherlands which operates the data processor for the EVN.
Contacts:
DANTE
Dale Robertson, Public Relations Manager
press@dante.org.uk
+44 1223 302992
http://www.dante.net
DataGrid
Fabrizio Gagliardi, DataGrid Project Leader
+41 22 767 2374
http://eu-datagrid.web.cern.ch/eu-datagrid/
European VLBI Network
Phil Diamond, Chairman
+44 1477572625
http://www.evlbi.org/evn.html
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
Richard Schilizzi, Director
http://www.jive.nl
