Researchers break world record for data transfer

Researchers have set a new world record for data transfer, helping to usher in the next generation of high-speed network technology.

During last month’s SuperComputing 2011 conference in Seattle, the international team, which included researchers from FIU, transferred data in opposite directions at a combined rate of 186 gigabits per second (Gbps), fast enough to transfer 2 million gigabytes of data or 100,000 full Blu-ray discs in a single day. In addition to FIU, the team of high-energy physicists, computer scientists and network engineers included researchers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Victoria, the University of Michigan, the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other partners.

FIU’s contribution included configuration of a not-yet-released server from Dell with a high-performance network card. That server alone achieved a data transfer rate of 65 Gbps.

“We’re trying to push the envelope of what can be done from a single server,” said Jorge Rodriguez, FIU Physics professor and part of the research team. “We were involved in establishing very large bandwidth between two locations through a single connection. It’s new for this year. Before, it took many connections.”

The data transfer was conducted between the University of Victoria Computing Centre in Victoria, British Columbia and the convention center in Seattle. The achievement will help establish new ways to transport the increasingly large quantities of data that traverse continents and oceans via global networks of optical fibers. These new methods are needed for the next generation of network technology.

The two-way data rate transfer of 186 Gbps broke the team’s previous peak-rate record of 119 Gbps set in 2009. For Rodriguez, the latest achievement means improved research sharing with the Large Haldron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The LHC is a particle accelerator in Europe that physicists hope will help them discover new particles and better understand the nature of matter, and space and time, allowing them to solve some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.

“We have a group at FIU that are involved in various parts of one of the LHC’s detectors,” Rodriguez said. “We’re trying to establish the underlying essence of physics, looking at the most fundamental parts of physics. The universe is made up of material, but we only understand about 5 percent of it. FIU is looking for a particular kind of matter that makes up this other 95 percent.”

While the experiments are conducted at CERN, the data has to be sent to researchers all across the world to decipher and analyze it. By increasing data transfer rates, this will ensure greater efficiency for researchers including Rodriguez.

The achievement could also have direct implications for FIU. Rodriguez said he hopes a high-performance computing center can be built at FIU, allowing all researchers access to do their data intensive research without having to build their own system.