Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI)

An Urgent Need to Expand Capacity

Spurred by the growth of large international collaborations in high energy physics, climate science, and soon, genomics, the research and education community’s needs to manage and transfer large quantities of data are exploding in scope and complexity. Currently ESnet carries between 7 and 10 petabytes of data monthly (a single petabyte is equivalent to 13.3 years of HD video). The level of traffic over the ESnet network has increased an average of 10 times every 4 years, propelled by the rising tide of data produced by more powerful supercomputers, global collaborations that can involve thousands of researchers, and specialized facilities like the Large Hadron Collider and digital sky surveys. 

Enter ANI

In 2009, Berkeley Lab, where ESnet is based, received $62 million in American Research and Recovery Act (ARRA) funding from the Department of Energy Office of Science to establish the Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI), an investment in next-generation technology infrastructure to speed of scientific discovery. ANI comprises three parts:

• A prototype scientific network that can operate at blazingly fast 100-gigabit-per second (Gbps) speeds.
• A high-performance reconfigurable experimental testbed
• A dedicated network of almost 13,000 miles of dark fiber

100 Gbps Prototype Network

The ANI 100 Gbps prototype network, including hardware and dark fiber, is now live, connecting three DOE unclassified supercomputing centers: the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Berkeley Lab, Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), as well as the Manhattan Landing International Exchange Point (MANLAN). This prototype network is designed to accelerate deployment of 100 Gbps technologies in the scientific and research and education (R&E) sector. However, the network's persistent infrastructure will transition to a nationwide scientific production network in 2012 -- a key step in DOE’s vision of an eventual terabit network to link DOE experimental and production facilities. For the most current news about ANI, visit our blog.

ANI Reconfigurable Testbed

A portion of ANI funding also went to the development of a national-scale network testbed, now available to researchers and industry for experiments with new network technologies, protocols, and applications at 100 Gbps. The testbed supports research including multi-layer multi-domain hybrid networks, network protocols, component testing for future capabilities, protection and recovery, automatic classification of large bulk data flows, high-throughput middleware and applications, and as well as other innovative networking experiments. ESnet has already embarked on another round of testbed research proposals submitted by researchers. Additional calls for proposals are expected to be announced every six months. Instructions for submitting a proposal for access to the testbed are on the ANI Testbed Proposal site.

Dark Fiber Network

ESnet purchased almost 13,000 miles of dark fiber from a commercial carrier for DOE use, locking in present costs for 20 years. By creating a research testbed and lighting the dark fiber with optical gear, ESnet will enable network researchers to safely experiment with disruptive techologies that will make up the next generation Internet in a production-like environment at 100 Gbps speeds.

See the Difference that 100 Gbps Can Make

Compare the resolution of these two models of the early stages of the Universe. Approximately 13.7 billion years ago, the Universe was almost homogenous — meaning that every location in the cosmos was similar. Today, this is no longer the case. The modern Universe is rich in structures that include galaxies; clusters of gravitationally bound galaxies; galaxy super-structures called "walls" that span hundreds of millions of light-years; and the relatively empty spaces between superstructures, called voids. All the while, the Universe has been expanding, and in recent epochs the expansion rate has been accelerating. This simulation starts from a nearly homogeneous Universe and reproduces the observable properties of today’s objects. Researchers are using this data to understand how the Universe has changed over billions of years.

ESnet's new 100 Gbps network enables scientists to interactively examine large datasets at full spatial and temporal fidelity without compromising data integrity. Thanks to ANI, scientists can gain new  insights from large data volumes remotely located at DOE supercomputing facilities.

About ESnet

And, some context of how ANI reflects a quarter century of the evolution of ESnet.