Update on Advanced Networking in Singapore

L.W.C. Wong & F.B.S. Lee

Singapore Advanced Research & Education Network

Background

R&E networking provision through SingAREN

SingAREN Phase 1 – started in November 1997 and essentially completed in March 2001

Phase 2 – initiated in April 2001 with 2-year grant with aim to:Ensure continuity of R&E advance networking

requirements – SingAREN21 infrastructureMore diverse R&D activities and improved project

management – Broadband21 projects

Hosted by :

Kent RidgeDigital Labs

Nanyang Technological

University

Funded by :

ProjectPartners :

TemasekPolytechnic

A*STAR

National Universityof Singapore

NationalUniversity of

Singapore

SingAREN Components

2 main components: Internet2 connectivity

To provision peer connectivity to global R&E partners on the basis of demand-driven bandwidth

Connectivity to US, EU, Japan, Korea & MalaysiaBroadband grant projects

Funded by A*STAR & administered by SingAREN Project Partners: NUS, NTU, KRDL and TP

SingAREN Peering Arrangements

Architecture: Peer PVC routerss Layer 3 via BGP4

Domestic peering: Connectivity via ATM-based Singapore-ONE Tertiary institutions, including NUS, NTU, TP, etc. Research centres, including KRDL, NTRC, CIR, etc.

International peering: US - vBNS+/Abilene (27 Mbps) Korea & Europe – TEIN (2 Mbps) Malaysia – (2 Mbps) Asia-Pacific – APAN (2 Mbps)

SingAREN21 Network Configuration

Multicast/IPv6/E2E

SingAREN is multicast enabled but needs to conserve expensive international bandwidth

IPv6 activities: In discussion to scope project with IDA on

testbedding national IPv6 infrastructure In discussion on collaborative projects with Korea

& Japan E2E performance:

Contractual agreements with provider on specific quality metrics

“Long fat pipe” problem to boost performance on large file transfers

New Activities

SOX - Singapore Open Exchange Community project initiated in 2001 to facilitate open transit of

Internet traffic KRAN – Kent Ridge Advanced Network

Project to set up a small optical network testbed with the aim of facilitating in the definition of a country-wide optical R&E network in Singapore

BMG – Bio-Med Grid Definition and scoping stage of establishing a Singapore BMG in

the next 15 months ONFIG – Optical Network ConFIGuration

Multi-party project looking into R&D of optical network related devices

NII – Next-generation Info Infrastructure Spearheaded by InfoComm Development Authority (IDA) to

investigate 2nd generation broadband infrastructure

Kent Ridge Advanced Network

Campus-wide optical network testbed for Grid technologies and research

Inter-faculty, research institute collaborative R&D

18-month project focus on:optical networking, layer-2 networkingGrid computing middleware

Network vendor participation

BMG Task force

Formed in Sep 2001 Aim to formulate blueprint for BMG with

phased implementation over next 15 months 5 Technical Committees

NetworkingSecurityHigh performance computing & storageSoftware engineeringEnd-user training and education

Sponsored by A*STAR and supported by IDA

Drivers & Show-stoppers

R&E communityLife sciencesGrid activitiesDemand projections and provisioning?

Industry IDA National Infocomm Roadmap to be announced

in early March with call for participationTimeliness and economic viability of next-

generation broadband info infrastructure ?Killer applications ?

SingAREN Future Directions

Role of SingAREN as R&E network service provider Rising need for R&E bandwidth – cheaper bandwidth? Separation of experimental facility from more reliable

production facility Activities in life sciences will significantly increase

demand for bandwidth Challenges and opportunities for optical networks Challenges and opportunities with seamless wireless

connectivity

Tel: +65-68746630

www.singaren.net.sg

The Singapore Advanced Research & Education Network