TransLight/Pacific Wave and TransLight/StarLight directly connect through a 10Gb Ethernet lightpath between Seattle and Chicago called TransLight. The connection, donated by Cisco Systems and deployed by the National LambdaRail, creates a way for participating networks to easily configure direct connections whenever they are needed.
Major use of the TransLight/StarLight and SURFnet links takes place as part of a GLIF-supported global showcase of advanced, high performance computing applications during iGrid 2005 in San Diego, CA, and SC|05 in Seattle, WA.
Delivery of two TransLight/StarLight OC-192 circuits:
- One 10Gb link connecting Internet2/Abilene in New York City and the
pan-European GÉANT2 in Amsterdam via a routed network connection.
- One 10Gb link connecting hybrid networks, such as the U.S. National
LambdaRail, to similar European networks from StarLight in Chicago to
NetherLight in Amsterdam.
NSF funds two complementary efforts through its International
Research Network Connections (IRNC) program -TransLight/StarLight
and TransLight/Pacific Wave - to provide multi-gigabit
links and supporting infrastructure to interconnect US. European and Pacific
Rim research and education networks, as well as to supplement the available
bandwidth that is being provided by other countries.
(OCI-0441094 IRNC: TransLight/StarLight award to the University of
Illinois at Chicago, Thomas A. DeFanti, P.I.)
As more and more countries began sharing bandwidth among one another, the experimental TransLight effort that was an outgrowth of Euro-Link dissolved its Governance body in favor of having the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF), an international body, assume this role.
An OC-192 transatlantic circuit between Chicago and Amsterdam is purchased with Euro-Link funds in partnership with the Netherlands' SURFnet. This circuit provides the research and education community with both packet-switched (Layer 3) routed paths for many-to-many usage; and circuit-switched (Layer 2) lightpaths for high-speed, few-to-few usage.
TransLight is formally established as an outgrowth of Euro-Link, and becomes a two-year experiment to develop a governance model of how the U.S. and international networking collaborators would work together to provide a common infrastructure in support of scientific research. It quickly becomes a global partnership among institutions, organization, consortia and/or country National Research Networks willing to make additional capacity available for use by global teams of discipline scientists, computer scientists and engineers.
The U.S. National Science Foundation funds Euro-Link
to facilitate high-performance connections between the U.S. and Europe
in support of advanced networked scientific applications from 1999-2005.
(SCI-9730202 award to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Thomas
A. DeFanti, P.I.) UIC began Euro-Link
with four charter NRNs - the Nordic countries, Netherlands, France and
Israel - with CERN joining mid-year as the fifth member.
