CC* Networking Infrastructure: The Roadrunner High-Performance Science, Engineering, and Business DMZ

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

World-class research in cyber security, bioinformatics, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, real-time computing and other related areas requires efficient and often near-immediate access to large data sets in order to reduce the time from theory to discovery. In addition, discoveries are often interdisciplinary and multi-institutional. As a result, a critical enabling feature for impactful, collaborative research is a dedicated high-speed network that is omnipresent across a campus. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a Hispanic Serving Institution, is implementing a dedicated research network (DMZ) to facilitate data-intensive computation and research collaboration endeavors. This infrastructure fills a gap that currently exists in the "last mile" bottleneck from a research lab to the DMZ. In particular, the project calls for installation of 10 Gb/s switches across campus that, in concert with the dedicated research network, provide 5-10X faster data transfer rates. These improvements foster access by UTSA faculty and students to the campus' high-performance computing facility, high-speed data storage, and visualization laboratory as well as the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in Austin, Texas. The new network also enhances experiential learning activities such as UTSA's annual CyberPatriot competition, undergraduate research projects in cloud and high-performance computing, cloud computing ELab training for undergraduates, as well as certification programs such as the Master's level certification in cloud computing. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.