New 100 Gigabit/s Ethernet Successfully Tested between JSC and KIT

The German Research Net Provider DFN, JSC, KIT at Karlsruhe and the industrial partners Cisco Systems and Huawei Technologies jointly tested newly developed 100 gigabit/sec Ethernet components in the beta state in a real-life scenario on a fibre link between JSC and KIT.

While the JSC designs and operates terabit networks as part of its supercomputer and storage cluster setup, it also acts as a leading project partner responsible for the planning, deployment and operation of demanding European-scale research networks like the DEISA network or the German part of the LOFAR network. In this role, JSC works in close cooperation with leading manufacturers as a research partner for designing and deploying new network technologies. The testbed between JSC and KIT was one of the first real-world wide-area deployments of the recently finalized IEEE802.3ba standard for 100 Gbit/s Ethernet. Based on development versions of Cisco Systems CRS-3 and Huawei DWDM equipment, the project partners evaluated the interoperability of the 100GE components in a heterogeneous environment. After several months of planning, preparation and the installation of several racks of network equipment at both sides of the testbed, the actual tests were conducted in a three-week test window. They revealed that, despite some minor interoperability issues on the optical layer, the newly built pre-production versions of 100GE network interfaces were able to offer sustainable and reliable 100 Gbit/s bandwidth to real-world IP-based applications at a distance of 447 km.

The results of these tests are important for the future development of research network infrastructures as well as for dedicated networks in the all-demanding area of supercomputers and data centres.

(Contact: Olaf Mextorf, ext. 2519)

from JSC News No. 189, October 2010