New GLIF map now available

[Kevin Meynell <meynell@xxxxxxxxxx>]

New GLIF map now available

13 May 2008 -- GLIF, the Global Lambda Integrated 
Facility, announces the availability of a new 
world map that showcases its advanced research 
and education multi-gigabit optical network 
infrastructure. The infrastructure has grown 
since the previous map was created a little more 
than two years ago, with participation from more 
National Research & Education Networks, 
countries, consortia, institutions and individual 
research initiatives, on more continents. These 
participants provide the physical lambda networks 
that are interconnected at GLIF Open Lightpath 
Exchanges, or GOLEs. GOLEs have the equipment 
necessary to interconnect and establish 
end-to-end lightpaths, which are used by 
international research teams who are working 
together to discover innovative solutions to 
complex problems of global importance -- from 
biodiversity, to global climate change, to health 
issues, to the origin of life itself.

GLIF is a virtual organization, or facility, of 
network providers, network engineers, computer 
scientists and computational scientists who are 
developing new computing paradigms and 
cyberinfrastructure, based on optical networks, 
to enable international multidisciplinary teams 
to work together. Science has no geographical 
boundaries, and GLIF's network of interconnected 
optical wavelengths (also known as lambda grids) 
is used to dynamically create powerful 
distributed systems of computers, data storage, 
visualization displays and instruments at 
collaborating sites around the globe, making it 
easier for researchers to share resources, information and knowledge.

The GLIF map does *not* represent all the world's 
Research & Education optical networks. The GLIF 
map also does not show international capacity 
that is dedicated to production usage. The GLIF 
map only illustrates *excess* capacity that its 
participants are willing to share with 
international research teams for 
applications-driven and computer-system 
experiments. GLIF's resource providers agree to 
share all or part of their lambdas, at all or 
some of the time. This is the GLIF philosophy, as 
GLIF does not provide any network services 
itself; researchers approach individual GLIF 
network resource providers to obtain lightpath services.

The GLIF Map 2008 visualization was created by 
Robert Patterson of the Advanced Visualization 
Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for 
Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
(UIUC), using an Earth image provided by NASA . 
Data was compiled by Maxine D. Brown of the 
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the 
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Funding 
was provided by GLIF and US National Science 
Foundation grants # SCI-04-38712 to NCSA/UIUC and 
# OCI-0441094 to EVL/UIC. For more information on 
GLIF, and to download the world map and several 
close-ups, in a variety of formats and resolutions, see http://www.glif.is/.

Participating Networks -- AARNet Optical Network 
(Australia), AARNet-SXTransPORT (Australia), 
ASGCNet (Taiwan), AtlanticWave (US), CANARIE 
(Canada), CATLight-i2CAT (Barcelona), CAVEwave 
(US), CENIC (US), CERN/TIFR (Geneva/Mumbai), 
CESNET (Czech Republic), CiscoWave (US), 
CSTNet-ASGCNet (China/Taiwan), CSTNet (China), 
CSTNet-NICT (China/Japan), DAS3-Grid'5000 
(Netherlands), EnLIGHTened (US), ESnet-SDN (US), 
Fermi Lightpath (US), GLORIAD (Canada, China, 
Korea, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Russia, 
US), IEEAF (US), IllinoisWave (US), Internet2-DCN 
(US), JANET Lightpath (UK), JGN2plus (Japan), 
KOREN-APII-JGN2plus (Korea/Japan), KREONet2 
(Korea), KyaTera-Fapesp (Brazil), LEAD (US), LONI 
(US), MiLR-UltraLight (US), National LambdaRail 
(US), NORDUnet (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, 
Finland), Pacific Wave (US), RNP-CPqD-GIGA 
(Brazil), RNP-Ipe (Brazil), RUNNet-RBNet 
(Russia), SLR (US), SURFnet (Netherlands), 
TaiwanLight (Taiwan), TaiwanLight-NetherLight 
(Taiwan/Netherlands), Teraflow (US), TransLight 
(US), TransLight/StarLight (US), UltraLight (US), 
UltraScience Net (US), US LHCNet (US), WHREN-LILA (US).

Participating GOLEs -- AMPATH (Miami), CERN 
(Geneva), CzechLight (Prague), HKOEP (Hong Kong), 
KRLight (Daejoen), MAN LAN (New York), 
MoscowLight (Moscow), NetherLight (Amsterdam), 
NGIX-East (Washington DC), NorthernLight 
(Copenhagen), Pacific Wave (Los Angeles, Seattle, 
and Sunnyvale), SouthernLight (São Paulo), 
StarLight (Chicago), T-LEX (Tokyo), TaiwanLight (Taipei), and UKLight (London).