SCIENCE

tw telecom has announced that it is working with the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) to provide metro network resources needed to build one of the world's most powerful networks.  This network will be operational during the SC10 conference in New Orleans, November 13-19, 2010.

Called SCinet, this network will deliver over 260 Gigabits per second (Gbps) in bandwidth, which would allow the entire collection of books at the Library of Congress to be transferred in under a minute.  SCinet provides the platform SC10 exhibitors and attendees require to showcase the revolutionary high performance computing (HPC) applications and networking experiments that have become the trademark of the conference.

"The business relationship we have with tw telecom is integral to LONI's success," said Donald Vandal, executive director of LONI.  "LONI relies heavily on our communications providers to build capacity for the state's researchers. tw telecom's business Ethernet connections positively impact our state's research and academic missions."

"We are pleased to work with LONI to provide the metro-area networking resources that ensure SCinet has the capacity and connections needed to support the bandwidth intense demonstrations that are crucial to SC10 attendees and the exhibitors' experience," said Michael Nictakis, Vice President and General Manager for tw telecom in Louisiana.  "Our metro area network supports the research and education community's connectivity to national research networks like National LambdaRail and Internet2."

Key leaders from tw telecom, along with LONI and the high-performance computing staff at Louisiana State University, have been working with the conference on planning and logistics throughout the year to ensure adequate networking operations and support will be available.  LONI began planning and building the network on-site during the second quarter of 2010.  This robust infrastructure will support over 10,000 attendees expected for SC10.

tw telecom has delivered dedicated Ethernet-based Internet access to LONI since 2008 to connect Louisiana's 12 major research universities.  This enables improved collaboration on research projects and delivers results faster, with greater network performance.

tw telecom connects more commercial buildings to its fiber network throughout the country than any other competitive communications provider.  It has the third-highest market share of retail Ethernet ports in service and one of the ten most interconnected IP backbones in the world.  tw telecom has the national capability, robust product portfolio and national/local customer care teams to support mission critical enterprise applications that deliver the industry's most sought after customer experience.