When Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said the tech giant might bring 10 gigabits per second internet connections
to American homes, it seemed like science fiction. That’s about 1,000
times faster than today’s home connections. But for NASA, it’s downright
slow.
While the rest of us send data across the public internet, the space agency uses a shadow network called ESnet, short for Energy Science Network, a set of private pipes that has demonstrated cross-country data transfers of 91 gigabits per second–the fastest of its type ever reported.
NASA isn’t going bring these speeds to homes, but it is using this
super-fast networking technology to explore the next wave of computing
applications. ESnet, which is run by the U.S. Department of Energy, is
an important tool for researchers who deal in massive amounts of data
generated by projects such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Human
Genome Project. Rather sending hard disks back and forth through the
mail, they can trade data via the ultra-fast network. “Our vision for
the world is that scientific discovery shouldn’t be constrained by
geography,” says ESnet director Gregory Bell.
In making its network as fast as it can possibly be, ESnet and
researchers are organizations like NASA are field testing networking
technologies that may eventually find their way into the commercial
internet. In short, ESnet a window into what our computing world will
eventually look like.
The Other Net
The first nationwide computer research network was the Defense
Department’s ARPAnet, which evolved into the modern internet. But it
wasn’t the last network of its kind. In 1976, the Department of Energy
sponsored the creation of the Magnetic Fusion Energy Network to connect
what is today the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
with other research laboratories. Then the agency created a second
network in 1980 called the High Energy Physics Network to connect
particle physics researchers at national labs. As networking became more
important, agency chiefs realized it didn’t make sense to maintain
multiple networks and merged the two into one: ESnet.
The nature of the network changes with the times. In the early days
it ran on land lines and satellite links. Today it is uses fiber optic
lines, spanning the DOE’s 17 national laboratories and many other sites,
such as university research labs. Since 2010, ESnet and Internet2—a
non-profit international network built in 1995 for researchers after the
internet was commercialized—have been leasing “dark fiber,” the excess
network capacity built-up by commercial internet providers during the
late 1990s internet bubble.
An Internet Fast Lane
In November, using this network, NASA’s High End Computer Networking
team achieved its 91 gigabit transfer between Denver and NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It was the fastest
end-to-end data transfer ever conducted under “real world” conditions.
ESnet has long been capable of 100 gigabit transfers, at least in
theory. Network equipment companies have been offering 100 gigabit
switches since 2010. But in practice, long-distance transfers were much
slower. That’s because data doesn’t travel through the internet in a
straight line. It’s less like a super highway and more like an
interstate highway system. If you wanted to drive from San Francisco to
New York, you’d pass through multiple cities along the way as you
transferred between different stretches of highway. Likewise, to send a
file from San Francisco to New York on the internet—or over ESnet—the
data will flow through hardware housed in cities across the country.
A map of ESnet’s connected sites. Image: Courtesy of ESnet
NASA did a 98 gigabit transfer between Goddard and the University of Utah over ESnet in 2012. And Alcatel-Lucent and BT obliterated that record
earlier this year with a 1.4 terabit connection between London and
Ipswich. But in both cases, the two locations had a direct connection,
something you rarely see in real world connections.
On the internet and ESnet, every stop along the way creates the
potential for a bottleneck, and every piece of gear must be ready to
handle full 100 gigabit speeds. In November, the team finally made it
work. “This demonstration was about using commercial, off-the-shelf
technology and being able to sustain the transfer of a large data
network,” says Tony Celeste, a sales director at Brocade, the company
that manufactured the equipment used in the record-breaking test.
Experiments for the Future
Meanwhile, the network is advancing the state of the art in other
ways. Researchers have used it to explore virtual network circuits
called “OSCARS,”
which can be used to create complex networks without complex hardware
changes. And they’re working on what are known as network “DMZs,” which can achieve unusually fast speeds by handling security without traditional network firewalls.
These solutions are designed specifically for networks in which a
small number of very large transfers take place–as opposed to the
commercial internet where lots of small transfers take place. But
there’s still plenty for commercial internet companies to learn from
ESnet. Telecommunications company XO Communications already has a 100 gigabit backbone, and we can expect more companies to follow suit.
Although we won’t see 10-gigabit connections—let alone 100 gigabit
connections—at home any time soon, higher capacity internet backbones
will mean less congestion as more and more people stream high-definition
video and download ever-larger files. And ESnet isn’t stopping there.
Bell says the organization is already working on a 400 gigabit network,
and the long-term goal is a terabyte per second network, which about
100,000 times faster than today’s home connections. Now that sounds like
science fiction.
Update 13:40 EST 06/17/14: This story has been updated to make it clear that ESnet is run by the Department of Energy.
Update 4:40 PM EST 06/17/14: This story has been updated to avoid
confusion between ESnet’s production network and its more experimental
test bed network.
Ever since covering Fliike,
a beautifully-designed physical ‘Like’ counter for local businesses,
I’ve been thinking about how the idea could be extended, with a
fully-programmable, but simple, ticker-style Internet-connected display.
A few products along those lines do already exist, but I’ve yet to
find anything that quite matches what I had in mind. That is, until
recently, when I was introduced to LaMetric, a smart ticker being
developed by UK/Ukraine Internet of Things (IoT) startup Smart Atoms.
Launching
its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign today, the LaMetric is aimed at
both consumers and businesses. The idea is you may want to display
alerts, notifications and other information from your online “life” via
an elegant desktop or wall-mountable and glance-able display. Likewise,
businesses that want an Internet-connected ticker, displaying various
business information, either publicly for customers or in an office, are
also a target market.
The
device itself has a retro, 8-bit style desktop clock feel to it, thanks
to its ‘blocky’ LED light powered display, which is part of its charm.
The display can output one icon and seven numbers, and is scrollable.
But, best of all, the LaMetric is fully programmable via the
accompanying app (or “hackable”) and comes with a bunch of off-the-shelf
widgets, along with support for RSS and services like IFTTT, Smart
Things, Wig Wag, Ninja Blocks, so you can get it talking to other smart
devices or web services. Seriously, this thing goes way beyond what I
had in mind — try the simulator for yourself — and, for an IoT junkie like me, is just damn cool.
Examples of the kind of things you can track with the device include
time, weather, subject and time left till your next meeting, number of
new emails and their subject lines, CrossFit timings and fitness goals,
number of to-dos for today, stock quotes, and social network
notifications.
Or for businesses, this might include Facebook Likes, website
visitors, conversions and other metrics, app store rankings, downloads,
and revenue.
In addition to the display, the device has back and forward buttons
so you can rotate widgets (though these can be set to automatically
rotate), as well as an enter key for programmed responses, such as
accepting a calendar invitation.
There’s also a loudspeaker for audio alerts. The LaMetric is powered
by micro-USB and also comes as an optional and more expensive
battery-powered version.
Early-bird backers on Kickstarter can pick up the LaMetric for as
little as $89 (plus shipping) for the battery-less version, with
countless other options and perks, increasing in price.
The beauty of hackers, says
cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari, is that they force us to evolve and
improve. Yes, some hackers are bad guys, but many are working to fight
government corruption and advocate for our rights. By exposing
vulnerabilities, they push the Internet to become stronger and
healthier, wielding their power to create a better world.
Online artists’ community deviantART is hoping to become responsible for the new .art web domains,
and it recently sent a letter to ICANN (the organization responsible
for managing top level domains) laying out its perspective on the stakes
in the decision.
The letter also presents deviantART’s case for why it deserves a “community designation” in the application process, saying:
“We are on the cusp of an extraordinary opportunity with the simple
use of a single word: a virtual place within the Internet for the arts
and a virtual palace to the arts built site-by-site by millions of
artists and art institutions each with an individualized artistic
contribution gathered around the simple namespace of ‘.ART.’”
The letter adds that if the domain is exploited commercially, “it
will only occasionally and haphazardly designate the arts themselves. It
will not be a welcomed location for the arts.”
That may seem like an unusual argument coming from a for-profit
business, but deviantART has created a new subsidiary called Dadotart
(apparently that’s standard procedure when applying to manage a new top
level domain), and it says it would create a policy board of “artists
and art institutions” that would establish the standards for when the
.art designation can be used.
deviantART says ICANN is currently deciding whether it deserves the
community designation, which would give it priority in the application
process. The initial signs may have not been entirely positive, as the
letter states: “We believe preservation of the arts is at risk based
upon the results of the initial community evaluations made by ICANN that
clearly disfavor their approval with a resulting and evident bias
towards commercialization.”
If you aren’t familiar with deviantART, the site showcases digital
art, traditional art, photography — sometimes original and sometimes
inspired by existing media properties — and it says it has 31 million
registered users. (Software company Autodesk became an investor last year.)
e-flux, a network
of art professionals, is also applying for a community designation, and
although the applications can’t be combined, deviantART says the two
groups support each other’s applications and would be involved in policy
issues if either gets awarded the domain.
[Submitted to ICANN May 21, 2014 by deviantART on behalf of its applicant, Dadotart, Inc., for the .ART gTLD]
SAVE DOT ART
ICANN has a choice: it can promote the arts or destroy their common identity.
“.ART “ can become an authentic Internet address for the arts and
represent its community. We are on the cusp of an extraordinary
opportunity with the simple use of a single word: a virtual place within
the Internet for the arts and a virtual palace to the arts built
site-by-site by millions of artists and art institutions each with an
individualized artistic contribution gathered around the simple
namespace of “.ART.” The .ART gTLD can become a touchstone of world
culture and contribute transformative vision across all boundaries.
But left to pure commercial exploitation, .ART will stand as a
complete failure. It will only occasionally and haphazardly designate
the arts themselves. It will not be a welcomed location for the arts.
The impact of the worldwide abuse of a beloved term through disjointed,
disorganized, and random designations – - completely irrelevant to its
meaning and associations – - would be an irretrievable tragedy.
There are two applicants for .ART, which have elected community
designation, DeviantArt and e-flux who mutually support each other’s
applications. Eight other, purely commercial, entities and individuals
have chosen to oppose or stand in the way of that joint effort.
We believe preservation of the arts is at risk based upon the results
of the initial community evaluations made by ICANN that clearly
disfavor their approval with a resulting and evident bias towards
commercialization.
DeviantArt has over 31 million registered members and an audience
exceeding 60 million unique visitors a month all drawn to the arts. It
is one of the top 150 Internet sites in the world measured by traffic.
E-flux is a network of over 100,000 art institutions and professional
artists, curators, and practitioners.
DeviantArt and e-flux are committed. We stand prepared to convene a
Policy Board of the most passionate and essential artists and art
institutions to first debate and then establish standards for the use of
the .ART address. As representatives of the community of the arts, we
are prepared to initiate a gTLD for the arts, by the arts, and with the
arts.
We call upon the ICANN Board to intervene on behalf of the arts. We
ask the Board to recognize the .ART gTLD’s unique and substantial value
as a world cultural monument and to dedicate its management to trusted,
proven organizations that have introduced and guided the arts to the
World Wide Web since its inception.
We call upon ICANN to set aside its unlimited and seemingly
unrestrained commercialization of the Internet name space and embrace
the opportunity that it hardcoded into its guidebook for applicants to
self-identify as a community. ICANN must choose to promote the arts
rather than destroy their common identity.
We call upon the Government Advisory Committee to the ICANN Board to
safeguard the arts as a universal human right in its shared culture. We
call upon the GAC to insist upon the recognition of valid community
interests in the assignment of gTLDs by ICANN’s management in line with
the GAC’s own requests to ICANN at the Singapore meetings held in March
of this year.
And through DeviantART we call upon the world community of the arts
to make itself known and rise to the defense of its own integrity and
good name.