Extreme Networks has announced that the world's first long-haul network demonstration of standards based, 40 GbE switching featuring Extreme Networks, was successfully completed this week between SARA in Amsterdam and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, as part of the annual Global LambdaGrid Workshop. 

Highlighting the event, data traffic containing a computer-generated video depicting the "Big Bang" as part of the CosmoGrid astrophysics project was delivered to 15 high-definition LCD screens. This demonstration was made possible with Extreme Networks first-to-market, standards-based 40 GbE switch, which features pricing of $1,000 per port. 

"Today's successful linkup would not have been possible without Extreme Networks® Summit X650 switches," said Dr. Paul Wielinga, head of SARA's high-performance networking department. "Remote visualization of large volumes of distributed data is one of the key challenges of the current peta-scale era. This test has demonstrated for the first time that we can cost-effectively achieve 40 Gigabit speeds using standards based Ethernet switching over a long distance to carry critical data predictably; we are very excited to have been successful."

The high speed network links leveraged Extreme Networks first-to-market 40 Gigabit Ethernet VIM3 40G4X modules, found with its Summit X650 switch. The switch connected to CERN using a 40 Gbps lambda on the dark fiber connection between NetherLight in Amsterdam and CERNLight in Geneva. At the CERN site, a second Summit X650 switch transmitted the data to eight servers that in turn delivered it to a video wall of 15 high-resolution screens. Each server generated two 2 Gbps data streams to support two screens, which translates to a combined resolution of 12,800 x 4,800 pixels at a frame rate of 22 fps.

The test contained a cosmological dataset, created in the Netherlands using five supercomputers worldwide, including the Dutch National Supercomputer Huygens at SARA Computing and Networking Services, and turned into visual data using a render cluster of 16 servers. The data is currently stored on 32 SSDs attached to a single streaming server at SARA in Amsterdam.

"Extreme Networks is proud to have supplied the 40 GbE switching technology in this impressive demonstration between SARA and CERN," said Paul Hooper, Chief Marketing Officer for Extreme Networks. "With an ever increasing demand for bandwidth, Extreme Networks' solutions deliver the performance, scale and reliability expected by our customers around the globe, and this installation represents a very good example of how we meet those expectations. Whether it's images of the 'Big Bang,' X-rays of patients or technology-enabled teaching environments, we rise to and meet the challenges that others vendors find too demanding."