McMaster’s internet and research networks get speed boost

Three decades ago it started with a 2400 bits per second link between McMaster and York University; this year McMaster’s researcher computer network crossed another milestone, achieving a speed of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) for its link to other Ontario universities.

The latest speed boost from 2 Gbps to 10 Gbps was driven by the needs of McMaster researchers who were beginning to push the capacity of the University’s network. The need for speed and capacity lead University Technology Services (UTS) to upgrade McMaster’s research network this summer.

“McMaster researchers are sharing increasingly large data sets both on campus and with other universities and engaging in high-bandwidth activities, often in real-time. We invested in this network upgrade to ensure that researchers have the capacity they need to collaborate with their colleagues both on campus and at other universities,” said Richard Godsmark, Director of Technology Innovation, Partnerships and Risk Management.

While it is unlikely any single research project would use all 10 Gbps, the larger overall pool allows more projects to simultaneously use the network in demanding ways. This upgrade will benefit those researchers who need high bandwidth and “will enable a lot of cooperative and collaborative research,” said Ranil Sonnadara, Executive Director, Research and High Performance Computing Support at McMaster.

The faster network will also benefit the libraries, allowing McMaster to participate more fully in the Ontario Library Research Cloud (OLRC) which facilitates digital preservation of library materials. In essence, McMaster’s digital archive is backed up in OLRC. With the faster network connecting directly to the Mills Library data centre, librarians can now update or retrieve that backup faster and more reliably. Some collaborations with other university libraries now have minimum network speed requirements and having a 10 Gbps network opens new opportunities, said Dale Askey, Associate University Librarian.

The speed upgrade includes the connection to the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) which connects many Ontario universities and research centres. (All McMaster users have direct access to ORION through the McMaster network.) As well, McMaster’s core network and data centre were upgraded to 10 Gbps. Standard wired network ports on campus remain a mix of 100 Mbps and 1Gbps. Researchers who need bandwidth beyond what their desktop connection offers should contact Mike Diggins in UTS Network Services for assistance.

In addition to the research network, the University is also increasing its Internet bandwidth. In the next month there will be 2Gbps connections to each of two ISPs providing link redundancy and 4 Gbps total bandwidth.