SCIENCE

Extreme Networks has announced that it is working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) at the Super Computing 2010 (SC/10) conference in New Orleans (Nov. 15–18) in evaluating high speed, standards-based 40 GbE connectivity in support of scientific research that studies the global climate.

Some of the largest data sets in existence today are related to weather research and that data is used extensively throughout the world. The ability to rapidly share data across faster networks enables advances in global climate research.

The demonstration of high performance networking, found at NASA SC/10 booth #3839, complements an ongoing and collaborative study of global climate.  The networking experiments−replicating what is also planned to be performed on site at GSFC in Maryland−enable enhanced research capabilities through dramatically improved network performance without a step-up in overall network infrastructure costs. This stride forward in price/performance is made possible through the Extreme Networks first-to-market, standards-based 40 GbEswitch, the Summit X650.

"Our High End Computer Networking (HECN) Team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is looking forward to using Extreme Networks' 40 GbE modules in our environment. We've been link aggregating multiple 10 GbEs for quite some time, and prefer to have 40 GbE, especially given Extreme Networks' announced price," said J. Patrick (Pat) Gary, project manager for GSFC's HECN Team. "The demonstrations at SC/10, involving the transfer of very large files, can help propel climate research further."

"Extreme Networks has remained at the cutting-edge of networking and this bodes well for wide-scale science being performed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and also for universities and similar research centers," said Harpreet Chadha, sr. director of product management for Extreme Networks.  "Having the first to market 40 GbE solutions delivered to NASA for this event is a true honor and we look forward to seeing the results."

Files transferred will range from 32 gigabytes to 128 gigabytes. All testing will occur on the show floor during the exhibition.  By implementing 40 GbE in the core, network operators stand to realize further reductions in cost, configuration and cabling complexity, where a 40 GbE implementations reduce core cabling and deliver aggregation options for 10 GbE.

The SC/10 demonstration connects Extreme Networks switch with Finisar's Quadwire 40G parallel active optical cables to transmit data while reducing latency, weight, density, and power consumption. Color Chip provided long haul transceiver solutions supporting distances up to 10km. Spirent provided on site test verification of Ethernet connections on the show floor. Ixia's higher speed Ethernet (HSE) solutions, that perform Layer 1-7 line-rate testing with real-world traffic emulation, also verified the performance of 40 GbE connections.