Amsterdam University chooses Force10's E-Series switch/routers for 10GbE supercomputer connection to SURFnet
7 February 2003 -- The University of Amsterdam has selected California-based Force10 Networks Inc's E-Series switch/routers to provide a high-performance network infrastructure for next-generation grid computing applications.
The E-Series aggregates Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections from computer nodes of the university's DAS-II (Distributed ASCI Supercomputer II) cluster into a 10 Gigabit Ethernet upstream connection to SURFnet, which is the national research and education network in The Netherlands and connects 200 higher education and research organisations to each other as well as to other research networks in Europe and the rest of the world.
"We selected the Force10 Networks solution because it is the only next-generation switch/router with high-density Gigabit Ethernet and true, line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet," said Cees de Laat, researcher at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam and member of the Global Grid Forum Steering Group. "The Force10 E-Series delivers the performance, density, and scalability we need for building the clusters and grids of today as well as into the future."
The University of Amsterdam is a member of DataGrid, a project funded by the European Union working towards the creation of a next-generation computing infrastructure providing intensive computation and analysis of shared large-scale databases across widely distributed scientific communities. Using 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to SURFnet as part of the DataGrid Project, research teams in Amsterdam can work on solutions that will enable international scientific collaborations to share and access massive databases in fields such as particle physics, astronomy, biology, seismology.
The Advanced Internet Research group of the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Science researches new architectures and protocols for the Internet. It participates in worldwide standardisation organisations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Global Grid Forum, conducts experiments with extremely high-speed network infrastructures, and carries out research in the fields of security, authorisation, authentication and accounting for Grid environments. The Institute is developing a virtual laboratory based on Grid technology for e-science applications.
"Grid Computing is the next wave of computing and requires high-performance Ethernet switch/routers with true, line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet," said Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing at Force10.
Force10 Networks is the only provider of next-generation, high-performance Ethernet switch/routers with true 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The Force10 E-Series platforms leverage its EtherScale ASIC-based architecture and FTOS switching/routing software to deliver unmatched scalability, line-rate performance and full L2 switching and L3 routing functionality for high-performance Ethernet applications.