Region’s First 100-Gigabit-per-Second Network Opens in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Brings New Technology to Regional Users

Monday, Dec. 2, 2013

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) has upgraded the Three Rivers Optical Exchange (3ROX) Internet2 connection to 100 gigabits per second (GE, or gigabit Ethernet). The new connection puts 3ROX at the leading edge of academically based networks, offering users speeds 10 times those of the highest-bandwidth academic and industrial connections in the region. The new connection is about 5,000 times faster than typical home broadband Internet.

 “The new 100-GE connection will be a boon to the next round of research and development by the research and academic community served by 3ROX,” says Gwendolyn Huntoon, director of advanced networking at PSC. “In particular, it will aid ‘Big Data’ projects requiring movement of vast amounts of data.”

3ROX, a regional network aggregation point (GigaPoP) provides high-speed commodity Internet and research network access to sites in western and central Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The 3ROX GigaPoP is based at Carnegie Mellon University and is operated and managed by PSC.

While the primary focus of 3ROX is to provide cost effective, high capacity, state-of-the-art network connectivity to the university community, it also provides important services to both community (K12, government) and strategic commercial entities in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. University member sites currently include: Carnegie Mellon University, the Pennsylvania State University, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University and West Virginia Network (WVNET).

The new 100-GE connection was funded via a $1.5 million Academic Research Infrastructure grant from the National Science Foundation. More information about 3ROX and membership in the GigaPoP can be found at www.3rox.net.