Basic Sciences

Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN)

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. MREN in the Medical School
  3. Technical Specifications
  4. Related Links
  5. MREN-based Research

Official NU Information Technologies Pages

NU Observer Articles

Overview

The Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN) is being developed through a collaborative partnership that is currently composed of Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Ameritech Advanced Data Services. An affiliated partner is CICNet. MREN is being designed and implemented as one of the nation's most advanced high-performance regional networks, and one of the first Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks devoted to research and education. MREN is optimized for major inter-organizational scientific and technical research and education projects, providing a high performance networking infrastructure from the desktop through remote advanced instrumentation. At a recent forum on the National Information Infrastructure, MREN was recognized as a model for advanced research and education communication infrastructures. Research applications that are (or will) utilize MREN include high performance computing, advanced medical imaging, computer-aided medical diagnostics, high energy physics, computational biology and chemistry, astronomy and astrophysics, and advanced networking research. MREN provides access to several key research facilities at FNAL (e.g., collider detectors and high energy physics computers) and at ANL, e.g., the Advanced Photon Source (APS, a 7 Gev synchrotron) and, soon, mass storage systems. MREN will eventually provide high performance access to other regional networks and to national and global networks through the National Science Foundation's National Access Point, which allows connections to the vBNS (a national high-performance network devoted to meritorious research projects funded by the NSF). Northwestern's member of the MREN board is Mort Rahimi.

Technical Specifications

The MREN consists of a fiber-optic backbone ring connected to high-speed switches linking Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Chicago, ANL and FNAL. Through MREN, researchers at Northwestern University can transmit data at speeds of up to 155 megabits per second (as compared to 1.5 megabits per second across CICNet's T1 lines - currently our only off-campus network connections are two T1 lines connecting us to CICNet). Members of MREN can transmit data to member institutions at speeds as high as 155 megabits/second using OC-3 ATM technology. OC-3 network bandwidths can be further increased - the large data trunklines maintained by many long distance communication companies are based on OC-12 and are capable of 622 megabits/second. Northwestern University's MREN connection will be OC-3 ATM, and will be used to link the Chicago and Evanston campuses as well as link Northwestern with the other MREN institutions.

ATM technology offers several unique advantages, the most significant for Northwestern is its quality of service capability, where the ATM "pipe" can be logically split into smaller bandwidth pipes, each of which can guarantee a minimum transfer rate per frame. This allows ATM to carry telephony, video, and data all over the same physical connection, yet maintaining a consistency of service that previously required dedicated links. The Chicago campus to Evanston campus ATM connection, with its capacity to transmit large amounts of data, makes wrapping telephony and video services into this single connection a viable possibility. Via MREN, video teleconferencing between institutions and/or classrooms also becomes feasible. Students and faculty will have the opportunity to access experiments, lectures, and conferences taking place at other MREN institutions in real time.

In order for NUMS to access MREN, NU IT has brought the OC-3 ATM connection into the basement of the Ward Building, and upgraded the hardware in the basement to a Cisco 7000 ATM-aware router. The remaining pieces necessary for NUMS researchers to have access to MREN are:

  1. Install a 100BaseFX card for the Cisco 7000 router
  2. Install a multi-port hub so multiple subnets can have access
  3. Install a multi-port hub on each floor needing MREN/high speed NUNet access
Currently, only the Macromolecular Crystallography and Biochemical Computation Resource has been identified as an immediate user of the connection in NUMS. However, having this network available offers several advantages to the NUMS community. 1. For video classrooms, conferencing, and video to the desktop. Only a high speed network offers the throughput necessary for reliable video. 2. Removing server bottlenecks. As the use of computer and computerized core facilities increases, our internal Ethernet backbone will be unable to keep up with peak demands. Placing high demand resources such as the Galter Health Sciences Library OVID servers, the Weinberg Medical Informatics Center and the Cell Imaging facility on the high speed network will remove much of the existing traffic from the existing NUMS backbone.

For more information on ATM, see the white paper by Peter W. Owings of NSG, prepared on December 10, 1994, entitled "High Speed Network Collaboration".

To see how Chicago is connected to the Internet, see Ameritech's NAP (Network Access Points) home page at http://nap.aads.net/.

For a rundown on the status and plans for the NUMS backbone, including MREN, see http://www.basic.nwu.edu/nunet/status.html.

Related Links:

  1. White Paper: High Speed Network Collaboration (ATM)
  2. NAPs (Network Access Points)
  3. EFF's Guide to the Internet
  4. High Performance Computing at NU
  5. NU High-Performance Computing Task Force Report
  6. NU New Media Center Proposal (Other uses for the ATM network)
  7. University of Chicago's writeup on MREN
  8. ANL's Advanced Photon Source
  9. ANL's DND News on MREN (3/96)
  10. The Virtual Reality CAVE
  11. UIC's IWAY network update (fall 95)
  12. UIC: I-WAY Debuts at SC'95 (12/95)
  13. ANL Gigabit Networking group's MREN schematic
  14. ANL Network Schematic
  15. Ameritech view: The Changes Imposed Upon Libraries and their Vendors in the Digital Era
  16. History of the Internet

    MREN-based Research listed on the web:

    1. NETWORKED VIRTUAL REALITY FOR REAL-TIME 4D NAVIGATION OF ASTROPHYSICAL TURBULENCE DATA
    2. An optical microscopy system for 3D dynamic imaging

      Footnotes:

      CICNet provides the greater Chicago region with its Internet uplink, among other network services.

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      MREN page last modified 10/10/96, WAKibbe@nwu.edu