The TransPAC2 Network was a US
National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
-funded high-speed international
computer network
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...
circuit connecting
national research and education network
A national research and education network (NREN) is a specialised internet service provider dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country.
It is usually distinguished by support for a high-speed backb ...
s in the Asia-Pacific region to those in the US. It was the continuation of the TransPAC project which ran from 2000 through 2005.
History
The first TransPAC effort started in 1998.
The original link of 35 Mbit/sec connected to the
Very high-speed Backbone Network Service
The very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) came on line in April 1995 as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored project to provide high-speed interconnection between NSF-sponsored supercomputing centers and select access ...
(vBNS) near
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.
TransPAC2's
Network Operations Center
A network operations center (NOC, pronounced like the word ''knock''), also known as a "network management center", is one or more locations from which network monitoring and control, or network management, is exercised over a computer, teleco ...
was located in the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
on the
Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
Indiana ( ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south and southeast, and the Wabash Riv ...
(IUPUI) campus. The NOC operated 24 hours a day and 7 days a week starting in October 1998.
In May 1999 link speed was expanded to 73 Mbit/s with funding from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation.
In June 2000 link speed increased to 100 Mbit/s, and in September to 155 Mbit/s.
In May 2001, equipment from
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...
replaced that from
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including Router (computing), routers, Network switch, switches, network management so ...
in Chicago.
The principal investigator for this first phase was
Michael McRobbie
Michael Alexander McRobbie (born October 11, 1950) is an Australian–American computer scientist and university administrator. He served as the 18th president of Indiana University from 2007 to 2021. Upon stepping down from the IU presidenc ...
.
The NSF awarded a follow-on grant on December 20, 2004, with principal investigators James Williams and Douglas Van Houweling.
TransPAC2 was part of the NSF's International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program.
In April 2005, a single
OC-192
Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate o ...
circuit was provided by
KDDI
() is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...
America.
It connected to the
Asia Pacific Advanced Network in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
and to a TransPAC2-managed router in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The Los Angeles
router, using the TransPAC2
Autonomous System number 22388, maintained a
10 Gigabit Ethernet
10 Gigabit Ethernet (abbreviated 10GE, 10GbE, or 10 GigE) is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. It was first defined by the IEEE 802.3ae-2002 standard. Unlik ...
connection to the
CENIC managed Pacific Wave Ethernet switch. This connection enabled direct peering with the
Internet2
Internet2 is a not-for-profit United States computer network
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must ...
Abilene Network
Abilene Network was a high-performance backbone network created by the Internet2 community in the late 1990s. In 2007 the Abilene Network was retired and the upgraded network became known as the "Internet2 Network".
History
One of the aims of th ...
,
National LambdaRail
National LambdaRail (NLR) was a , high-speed national computer network owned and operated by the U.S. research and education community. In November 2011, the control of NLR was purchased from its university membership by a billionaire Patrick Soo ...
and other high speed networks on the US West Coast.
Use of the TransPAC2 network was limited to the networks carried by other research and education network aggregators. In the Pacific region, this list includes APAN, TEIN2, and
AARNet
AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners.
AARNet built the Internet in Australia. In 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' C ...
. In North America, the primary connection is via the Internet2 Abilene network, though TransPAC2 peers with other R&E networks at the Pacific Wave Exchange Point.
In February 2006, TransPAC2 established direct connection to JGN2 switch in Los Angeles.
The grant expired at the end of 2011. A total of about $6.3 million was awarded for TransPAC2.
References
{{Reflist
External links
TransPAC2 Project PageTranspAC2 NOCIRNC ProgramsGlobal Research NOC
Academic computer network organizations