SCIENCE

The Three Rivers Optical Exchange (3ROX), the high-performance Internet hub operated and managed by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), has partnered with Drexel University in Philadelphia to implement a five-fold upgrade to the Internet bandwidth of both 3ROX and Drexel at essentially no cost increase.

Prior to partnering, 3ROX and Drexel each had individual one-gigabit (a billion bits per second) connections to Internet2, a high-performance research and education network that connects universities, corporations and research agencies nationally. By partnering, they are able to take advantage of a new type of Internet2 connection. Normally, the next level of service available would be 10 gigabits, which is cost prohibitive, but the new connection makes it possible to have two connections, each with five gigabits of committed bandwidth.

“Operating in the virtual world we live in, we’re able to split the connection into two five gigabit connections at two different physical locations, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,” said John Bielec, the chief information officer at Drexel. “The newly formed connector, called 3ROX/Drexel, will benefit the many Internet partner institutions of both Drexel and 3ROX.”

“This will allow significantly better end-to-end performance,” said Wendy Huntoon, PSC director of networking, “as well as access to new Internet2-based services. We’ll each maintain a separate physical connection to Internet2, but will now collaborate on the management and strategic direction for the connection.”

The partnership consolidates Internet2 connections in Pennsylvania from the previous three — 3ROX, Drexel and MAGPI (Mid-Atlantic Gigapop in Philadelphia for Internet2) — to two: MAGPI and 3ROX/Drexel. 3ROX serves universities, research sites and K-12 schools in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and Drexel connects the Drexel campus and its related research sites with the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities. With the new connection, both 3ROX and Drexel will be able to improve the quality and quantity of services they provide.

More information about 3ROX:  http://www.psc.edu/networking