CERN Builds Europe's Largest Campus Network With Force10

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and the world's largest particle physics laboratory, will deploy Force10 Networks' TeraScale E-Series switch/routers as the foundation of its new 2.4 Terabit per second (Tbps) high performance grid computing farm.


The TeraScale E-Series will connect more than 8,000 processors and storage devices and also provide the first intercontinental 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN links in a production network.


The TeraScale E-Series supports 672 line-rate Gigabit and 56 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports per system. The TeraScale E-Series uses a 3 CPU architecture to distribute switching, routing and management functionalities. It also features a 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet-ready backplane.


Beyond the high performance core, the Force10 TeraScale E-Series also will provide 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections to CERN's multiple campus-based experiments, which are similar to individual computing clusters.


The contract between CERN and a consortium of Force10 and T-Systems International, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is valid through 2010.
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