Global Crossing, SURFnet carry 19 Gbps Transatlantic Visualization Stream

Global Crossing supplied multiple 10 Gbps wavelengths to the Dutch research network operator SURFnet to set a world record in transatlantic visualization. Scientists SARA, the academic computer center in Amsterdam, displayed a visualization stream of 19.5 Gbps between NetherLight, the GLIF Open Lightpath Exchange (GOLE) in Amsterdam, and San Diego.


During the experiment, network usage peaked at 19.5 Gbps, with a sustained rate of 18 Gbps -- a world record for bandwidth usage by one single application showing actual scientific content. The experiment was conducted at the iGrid 2005 conference in San Diego where the display was located. The conference included workshops and real-time demonstrations of research innovations in LambdaGrid infrastructure in support of advanced science applications. Global Crossing is one of the major providers of lambdas to the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) community.


The high bandwidth usage was required to refresh the large "tiled" screen 20 times per second in order to achieve high levels of resolution. The output was viewed on a display of 55 screens of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory of the University of Illinois, resulting in a total resolution of 17,600 x 6,000 pixels. SARA will be taking this experiment forward in February next year when once again they will use Global Crossing as the backbone for running a high-resolution visualization and videoconferencing simultaneously.
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