Calient Networks Chosen as a Core Platform for OptIPuter

released February 25, 2003

Calient Networks, a leading global provider of intelligent all-optical switching systems and software, will team with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)²] and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) on development of the "OptIPuter," a powerful distributed cyber-infrastructure project designed to support data-intensive scientific research and collaboration. UIC has awarded a major purchase of all-optical switches to Calient Networks, which will install them at facilities in the United States and the Netherlands.

The OptIPuter program is funded by the National Science Foundation. OptIPuter is so named for its use of optical networking and Internet Protocol, as well as computer storage, processing and visualization technologies. It is a virtual machine that sits atop a Lambda Grid, an experimental network of optical fiber, where each fiber carries data on multiple wavelengths of light (lambdas) to connect distributed computing resources at speeds equivalent to internal PC bus speeds. Each lambda can transmit data at 1 to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps), and soon will achieve 40 Gbps and greater speeds.

Calient switches installed at the StarLight site in Chicago and the NetherLight site in Amsterdam will make those facilities the most advanced 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps switch/router exchanges in the world.

"Research and government networks are always the first to deploy the next generation of communications products and lead the way to wide scale commercial deployment," said Charles Corbalis, president and CEO of Calient. "OptIPuter's terabit switching demands make it an ideal application to leverage the reliability, transparency and scalability of our all-optical DiamondWave product. We look forward to supporting the continued growth and success of the Optical Networking Grid program."

 

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