Thousands of students, faculty and staff use the SURF network every day to do their jobs and stay connected. And they are - justifiably - becoming increasingly demanding. That is why we are constantly innovating to make the network faster, safer and more reliable.
Research projects using NetherLight successfully
A remote demonstration of microscopy at FEI
In August 2010, via NetherLight, we created a EVPN connection from FEI in Eindhoven to Rio de Janeiro for a conference on microscopy. This international light path allowed microscopy equipment to be controlled and demonstrated from Rio de Janeiro, a distance of 16,000 kilometres, in Eindhoven.
Real-time data processing of telescopes with e-VLBI
e-VLBI stands for real-time electronic interferometry with very long baseline (Very Long Baseline Interferometry). It uses fibre-optic networks connecting radio telescopes to a central data processor. The central data processor is a specially constructed supercomputer that correlates data from the telescopes in real time.
When data are transferred electronically and correlated in real time, there is no need to wait weeks as with the current VLBI method. This is because in current methods, data is stored on disks and sent to the JIVE correlator for processing. Real-time processing allows researchers to exploit targets of opportunity for observations of transient events, such as supernova explosions and gamma-ray bursts.
Production of digital media with CineGrid
CineGrid aims to create an interdisciplinary community dedicated to researching, developing and demonstrating tools for networked collaboration. With these networks, very high-quality digital media can be produced, used, preserved and exchanged via photonic nets. NetherLight facilitates this initiative by providing international EVPN connections. For example, the EVPN's are used to show high-resolution 4K video images in cooperation with CineGrid partners.
CERN research data sharing via LHCOPN
NetherLight actively participates in LHCOPN (Large Hadron Collider Optical Private Network). This network distributes large amounts of CERN research data to Tier-1 data centres worldwide. As one of the exchange platforms within LHCOPN, NetherLight facilitates light paths from CERN to Nikhef/SARA (NL-T1), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), DE-KIT (Germany), the Nordic DataGrid Facility (NDGF), TRIUMF (Canada) and ASGC (Taiwan).