Research In Action

AtlanticWave Connects U.S. and International Research Communities

AtlanticWave has been supporting U.S. science research and education communities along the Atlantic rim since 2006. At that time, SURA’s investment in the program enabled the establishment of a 10 Gigabit Ethernet wave from Miami to New York City. Today, AtlanticWave is a distributed exchange point peering fabric that facilitates exchange and peering services between U.S. and international networks. It provides research communities with enhanced information and data exchange at exchange points in New York City; Miami, Washington, DC; Atlanta, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

SURA continues to participate on the Governance Committee of the AtlanticWave program. The Committee recently finalized an agreement to evolve and integrate AtlanticWave into the growing national cyberinfrastructure and international science and engineering research and education community.

SURA-NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) Integration Testbed

“Middleware” is the software that makes many forms of collaborative computing, including grid computing, possible. Middleware enables applications access to distributed resources and provides a robust set of advanced network services that allow scientists and researchers to collaborate with their colleagues; effectively share instruments, computing resources, laboratories and data in a networked environment.

In September 2002, SURA and seven other leading research institutions and organizations were awarded a total of $12 million over a three year period to participate in complementary NSF Cooperative Agreements spearheading the NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI). SURA managed the NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) Integration Testbed program comprised of eight institutions, deploying early releases of middleware products that provided feedback that informed the design and evolution of NMI middleware. Through the NMI, SURA members and collaborators contributed to the immediate advancement of scientific applications and the establishment of a sustainable cyberinfrastructure.

As part of the management of the NMI Integration Testbed program, SURA formalized an inter-institutional grid effort called the NMI Testbed Grid. Testbed sites explored grid computing capabilities with researchers and faculty at their institutions, investigated cross-campus authentication issues and expanded their evaluation and usage of NMI components including integrating grid authentication into the campus enterprise infrastructure. By the time the NMI Integration Testbed funding expired in 2005, the NMI Testbed Grid evolved into the SURAgrid collaboration.