New Record for Moving Data Transatlantically

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS -- At the iGrid 2002 conference, a new record was set for moving information across the Atlantic over high performance networks. The record was set by using a novel technique - Photonic Data Services (PDS), which were recently developed jointly by the Laboratory for Advanced Computing/The National Center for Data Mining (LAC/NCDM) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University. The biennial iGrid (International Grid) event is dedicated to showcasing leading-edge applications enabled by global high-performance networks. iGrid presents the latest developments in these areas.

Using PDS, data was transported over 2.8 Gbps (Gigabits per second - 1000 times one million bits per second) as part of a data mining application. The goal of data mining is to find patterns in extremely large volumes of data. This demonstration was the first for PDS and shows the potential for data mining applications to drive the use of available telecommunications bandwidth.

Despite the wide availability of optical fiber --- by some estimates only 3% of the current fiber optics is currently used --- moving data effectively over long distances is still a major problem, for example, across the United States or the Atlantic. PDS was used to send data over 500x faster than conventional methods using TCP (the standard protocol used to send internet data). PDS consists of innovative integration of four separate protocols: 1) the DataSpace Transfer Protocol (DSTP), the basis for data webs, which is layered over 2) SABUL, a high bandwidth network protocol, which is layered over 3) IP, the standard Internet protocol, which is layered over 4) Photonic Path Services. With the SABUL protocol, data can be reliably sent at maximum speed - fully utilizing the network. DSTP and SABUL were developed by the Laboratory for Advanced Computing at UIC, while the Photonic Path Services were developed by iCAIR at Northwestern.

"By combining SABUL with the DSTP protocol for remote data analysis and distributed data mining and layering them over Photonic Path Services, it is now possible to analyze Gigabyte size data sets anywhere in the world," said Robert Grossman, Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Computing and National Center for Data Mining at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Photonic Path Services allow an application to create specialized, high performance network connections on demand. For the first time these types of connections will be available to large scale global applications," said Joe Mambretti, Director of iCAIR at Northwestern University.

This type of data communication service can be used by multiple types of industries including bioinformatics, financial services, geosciences, computational research and industrial design. This experiment demonstrated high performance, end-to-end, data streaming between the StarLight facility in Chicago to SARA Reken- en Netwerkdiensten, in Amsterdam, a Dutch national expertise centre in the field of High-Performance Computing and High-Performance Networking.

About the National Center for Data Mining (NCDM)
The National Center for Data Mining at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) was established in 1998 to serve as a national resource for high performance and distributed data mining. The Center sponsors research projects, standards, testbeds, and outreach. The Center is coordinating the development of the Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML), the standard for data mining models, and sponsoring the Terra Wide Data Mining Testbed, a worldwide testbed for high performance and distributed data mining.

About the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR)
Northwestern University's International Center for Advanced Internet Research, accelerates leading-edge innovation and enhanced global communications through advanced Internet technologies, in partnership with the international community, and national partners, including EVL at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Mathematics and Computer Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory, CANARIE, SURFnet, APAN, and CERN.

About iGrid 2002
iGrid 2002, the 3rd biennial International Grid applications-driven testbed event, is organized by the GigaPort Project (Netherlands), Amsterdam Science & Technology Centre, SARA Computing and Networking Services (Netherlands), Universiteit van Amsterdam's Science Faculty, Argonne National Laboratory/ Mathematics and Computer Science Division (USA), Indiana University/ Office of the Vice President for Information Technology (USA), Northwestern University/ International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) (USA), and the University of Illinois at Chicago/ Electronic Visualization Laboratory (USA), with funding from The Netherlands' National Computer Facilities (NWO/NCF) and the USA's National Science Foundation.

About StarLight
StarLight, the optical STAR TAP, is an advanced optical infrastructure and proving ground for network services optimized for high-performance applications. StarLight, funded by the National Science Foundation, is being developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, and the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, in partnership with Canada's CANARIE and Holland's SURFnet.

About SURFnet
SURFnet operates and innovates the national research network, to which two hundred institutions in higher education and research in the Netherlands are connected. To remain in the lead SURFnet puts in a sustained effort to improve the infrastructure and to develop new applications to give users faster and better access to new Internet services. For more information, see SARA.

Contact:
Shirley Connelly
National Center for Data Mining, University of Illinois at Chicago
connelly@uic.edu

Robert Grossman
National Center for Data Mining, University of Illinois at Chicago
grossman @ uic.edu

Joe Mambretti
Northwestern University/International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR)
j-mambretti @ northwestern.edu