The TransPAC Collaboration is composed of a cooperative partnership with the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) and DANTE, and in further cooperation with Internet2 as well as numerous other research and education networks that will be connected through the project to continue and enhance the existing, highly successful previous two TransPAC projects. The TransPAC Collaboration proposes a powerful, straightforward plan to provide multi-gigabit bandwidth and services connecting researchers in the US with their counterparts in Asia. The R&E networks included in the TransPAC Collaboration cover all of Asia excluding only North Korea.
The TransPAC Collaboration will expand and enhance services in security, measurement, identity management, and operational integration. Close cooperation among the participants will maximize US-Asia connectivity, increase collaborations (particularly with respect to security), ensure deployment of accurate and useful measurement technology, deploy dynamic circuit services to meet the needs of high-bandwidth applications, and decrease costs by eliminating duplication of expensive network links.
The TransPAC Collaboration will facilitate direct US-Asia research interactions and provide greatly expanded opportunities for US research collaborations across all the regions of Asia due to the greater numbers of countries reached and the higher capacities deployed. Particularly noteworthy is the recent joint IU-APAN-DANTE cooperation in connecting Pakistan to the global R&E infrastructure.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1450904
Presentations
IRNC:ProNet – TransPAC3
In response to NSF solicitation NSF 09-564, the TransPAC3 Collaboration proposes a powerful, cross-organizational plan to provide multi-gigabit bandwidth and services connecting researchers in the US with their counterparts in Asia that will have an immediate impact on the research environment and that also anticipates future service and technology advances. Indiana University (IU) will lead the TransPAC3 Collaboration in a cooperative partnership with the Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) and DANTE, and in coordination with Internet2 and numerous other R&E networks that will be interconnected through the project. TransPAC3 will connect APAN in Asia to the US high performance infrastructure, including the Internet2 Network, National LambdaRail, and other US-based R&E networks. In Asia, the collaboration will connect to the APAN XP in Tokyo and, via that, directly to 15 countries in Asia. TransPAC3 will connect to China via Hong Kong and the CNGI Exchange Point and to the TEIN3 network via Singapore. The TEIN3 network currently provides connectivity to 12 Asian countries and Europe with 7 additional countries soon to be connected. The R&E networks included in the TransPAC3 Collaboration cover all of Asia excluding only North Korea, Brunei, Myanmar, and Mongolia.
The TransPAC3 Collaboration will immediately deploy 20Gbps of bandwidth between Asia and the US using 10G carrier service offerings. This will be expanded in Year 3 as demand and pricing evolve. With the progress of 40Gbps and 100Gbps in terrestrial networking and as 40Gbps and 100Gbps become available and affordable at transpacific distances during the period of the project, the TransPAC3 Collaboration will upgrade the capacity.
IU and its partners are eminently qualified to provide this service and have a well-known history of successful networking partnerships in the NSF-funded TransPAC and TransPAC2 programs. IU has extensive international networking experience and is the network operator for the Internet2 Network, NLR, and other US domestic and international networks. APAN has historically represented research and education interests in north and southeast Asia and in more recent years has extended its influence and now represents countries across much of Asia. DANTE is the operator of the TEIN3 network in north, southeast, and south Asia and connects almost all countries in those parts of Asia.
Intellectual merit
The TransPAC3 Collaboration will expand and enhance services in security, measurement, identity management, and operational integration. Close cooperation among the participants will maximize US-Asia connectivity, increase collaborations (particularly with respect to security), ensure deployment of accurate and useful measurement technology, deploy dynamic circuit services to meet the needs of high-bandwidth applications, and decrease costs by eliminating duplication of expensive network links.
Broader impact
The TransPAC3 Collaboration will facilitate direct US-Asia research interactions and provide greatly expanded opportunities for US research collaborations across all the regions of Asia due to the greater numbers of countries reached and the higher capacities deployed. Particularly noteworthy is recent IU-APAN-DANTE cooperation in connecting Pakistan to the global R&E infrastructure.
Integrating Research, Education and Diversity
IU will partner with the existing Gerald L. Bepko Internship Program at IU, which has as its goal “identifying, connecting and working with students in populations under-represented in information technology,” to extend educational reach and integrate diversity into the TransPAC3 program. See the accompanying letter of support.
Services
Dynamic Layer 2 & Layer 3 Capabilities
TransPAC3 will provide hybrid network services, providing both dynamic layer 2 capabilities and layer 3 routed capabilities. TransPAC2 has already implemented dynamic circuit networking support with L2VPN over its SONET circuits, but will transition to Ethernet with the new project.
At layer 3, TransPAC3 will support, from the beginning of the project, IPv4 unicast and multicast and IPv6 unicast and multicast services. These services are already supported by TransPAC2 and will continue to be supported by TransPAC3 in a production, high-performance manner.
Dynamic Circuit Networking
TransPAC3 will support dynamic circuit networking capabilities in a production manner. TransPAC2 currently supports Internet2's DCN Pilot Service to interconnect across TransPAC2 with JGN2's dynamic circuit network service. Internet2's ION service (its dynamic circuit network service) is expected to be operated in production mode by October 2009 and we expect TransPAC3 to offer production support for interconnecting ION, ESnet's SDN, and other compatible dynamic circuit network services from the beginning of TransPAC3 operation.
PerfSONAR Measurement Framework
The TransPAC3 collaborators have experience with both the development and the deployment of network measurement and monitoring tools compatible with the perfSONAR measurement framework. Via the TransPAC2 project, IU and APAN have already jointly deployed perfSONAR-PS software in Los Angeles and Tokyo to support network measurements to and from the TransPAC2 network. This existing activity will be continued and extended in the TransPAC3 project. TransPAC3 expects to utilize the perfSONAR-PS package that Internet2 proposes in its IRNC: SP IRIS proposal to customize for IRNC projects.
As additional perfSONAR implementations are being actively deployed throughout Asia, TransPAC3 will provide essential perfSONAR compatible tools and data between those deployments and those on TransPAC3 and across US R&E networks such as ESnet and Internet2.
Topology
The primary engineering goal of the project is to continue to build on a long history of technical collaboration between APAN and IU to provide next-generation, highly functional, flexible, and reliable connectivity between Asia and US research and education networks and their users in a wide range of applications with a wide range of technical and logistical requirements.
Our plan calls for an initial deployment of two 10Gbps Ethernet circuits between the US and Japan, one provided and funded by NICT-Japan and the other by this project. Both partners will operate these circuits in close cooperation, as they have done for TransPAC2. Our plan for continued growth is to implement the best option available at the 3-year mark of the project, at least a doubling of capacity or, depending on technology availability and cost, 40/100Gbps.
US Connections
In selecting landing points for a circuit to serve the R&E community, it is crucial to leverage the best R&E exchanges. On the US side, the Pacific Wave distributed R&E exchange facility is the clear leader in terms of reachability and functionality. By connecting to it at any point it is possible to reach any other Pacific Wave-connected peer. Because of this, TransPAC2 was located in Los Angeles within close reach both of carrier facilities and of Pacific Wave there, and our plan is to locate TransPAC3 there as well, depending on final selection of carrier. Through Pacific Wave, TransPAC3 can peer directly with the Internet2 Network-both the Internet2 IP and ION (dynamic circuits) services, NLR, ESnet, NISN, some university regional networks, and a number of other international networks, including, for example, redCLARA (Latin America) and CANARIE (Canada).
Asia Connections
In Asia, Japan is extremely well connected and has the greatest concentration of sea cables. Networks reachable by landing a TransPAC3 link in Tokyo at the APAN Tokyo Exchange Point (XP) include JGN2, SINET, WIDE (all in Japan), KREONET2, KOREN (Korea), TWAREN (Taiwan), PERN (Pakistan), and a number of others.
TransPAC3 is significantly strengthened by the addition of connectivity supplied by NICT-Japan. NICT will provide a second 10Gbps connection from Tokyo to Los Angeles, a 10Gbps connection to Korea, a 2.5Gbps connection to Hong Kong (with plans to upgrade to 10Gbps), and a 622Mbps connection to Thailand.
TEIN3 currently has points of presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, and Tokyo. All are well connected to Tokyo. By connecting to the TEIN3 network either in Tokyo and/or with a link directly to one of its points of presence, these additional networks will be reachable. APAN and TEIN3 connect all countries with R&E networks in the Asia region.