DOE Science Networking Challenge: Roadmap to 2008

2003

Abstract

This report establishes a roadmap for a new approach to the DOE Science Networking and Services needed for science in the U.S. Department of Energy in the 21st century. It has become increasingly clear 2 that the network provided for DOE science in the past will not be adequate to keep that science competitive in the future. This roadmap, if implemented and followed during the next five years, will solve that problem. The past 5 years have seen a broad and general movement toward the assumption of and reliance on networked systems in all of the large new initiatives for DOE science. It is clear that the success of science depends increasingly on the ability of scientists to move large amounts of data, access computing and data resources, and collaborate in real time from multiple remote locations. It is also abundantly clear that business-as-usual in the network and information services that underpin the scientific collaborations will fall woefully short of what is needed. New capabilities such as computational and data grids, high-speed wireless networking, super-high-speed metro-scale networks, and cheap gigabit Ethernet have arrived in turn and have been enthusiastically incorporated into the arsenal of science, each permitting substantial new collaborative abilities and efficiencies. However, sophisticated structures and services using basic network connections can be used effectively only if the network infrastructure itself provides the necessary environment. Increasingly, the network must become a collaborative information exchange, with a core of higher-level services supported by network providers in addition to basic bandwidth and connectivity.

Abstract

Related Papers