Level 3 Communications and Internet2 today announced an expanded relationship to provide trans-Atlantic and U.S. network connectivity for U.S. LHCNet. The network will transport data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – a massive particle accelerator spanning the French-Swiss border – to more than 1,700 scientists at 94 institutions across the United States.

U.S. LHCNet provides dedicated, high-bandwidth connectivity between CERN [European Organization for Nuclear Research] and the two “Tier 1” U.S. sites, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Science Network (ESnet). The network also shares support in connecting the U.S. and Europe to many universities and laboratories – called Tier 2 and Tier 3 sites – where researchers will analyze LHC data. U.S. LHCNet is funded by the DOE Office of High Energy Physics and managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Under the agreement announced today, U.S. LHCNet, Internet2 and Level 3 will connect a major network hub in New York City to the LHC in Switzerland. This connection will link to the Internet2 national backbone, ESnet and many regional networks to make LHC data accessible to U.S. scientists. The Internet2 and Level 3 connections will also allow scientists around the world to access and analyze the large volumes of LHC data to be processed within the U.S.

“We are very glad to work in partnership with Internet2 and Level 3, in support of the LHC scientific program,” said Harvey Newman, professor of physics at Caltech and principal investigator of U.S. LHCNet and a member of Internet2’s Architecture and Operations Advisory Council. “Their combined expertise and cost-effective delivery are compelling. We also look forward to working with them to develop state-of-the-art networks for data intensive science, applying the methods and tools developed by our Caltech team and our collaborators for reliable, high throughput over continental and trans-oceanic routes, both for the LHC and the global scientific community.”

“Together, Level 3 and Internet2 offer LHC scientists the high-speed networking capabilities and connectivity to drive scientific collaboration across borders,” said Rob Vietzke, executive director of Network Services for Internet2. “As the research and education community continues to reach for new scientific milestones, we are pleased to partner with Level 3 to provide the critical network reliability and scalability required for scientists to participate in cutting-edge research projects.”

The LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator, built and operated by CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC is the first major global scientific research initiative to completely depend upon network connectivity and a sophisticated data distribution model to enable the worldwide collaboration of thousands of scientists. An estimated 15 million gigabytes of LHC data per year will be transported to eleven Tier 1 sites around the world via the U.S. LHCNet, together with Internet2’s national backbone, ESnet, GEANT2 Network in Europe, the U.S. regional networks, and the European national research and education networks, then processed, analyzed and distributed to several hundred Tier 2 and Tier 3 sites for further analysis.

“Level 3 continues to work with Internet2 to advance the network technology available to research and education institutions across the country,” said Andrew Crouch, president of Level 3’s Wholesale Markets Group. “Level 3 is excited to deliver trans-Atlantic connectivity to LHC and provide a vital link for American research scientists to share data and collaborate with their peers around the world.”

The LHC has been nicknamed the “Big Bang Machine” because scientists will use it to recreate the cosmic conditions one trillionth of a second after the big bang, in hopes of finding insights into the origins of matter. It consists of a 27 kilometer tunnel and cathedral-sized caverns 100 meters underground. The accelerator magnets that guide the beams on their circular orbit are super cooled to a temperature just slightly above absolute zero, which is colder than outer space. It will accelerate matter to 99.999999% of the speed of light.