ABSTRACT

Science research and education activities between the U.S. and nations in South America have been evolving, benefiting from the shared investments between the U.S., Brazil and other nations in Latin America. Astronomy, High-Energy Physics, Comparative research in Biodiversity, Ecology and Genomics, Materials Science, Seismology, Future Internet Research, Ultra-High Definition (UHD) video and streaming research collectively represent a suite of collaborative science research communities, with resources and cyberinfrastructure geographically dispersed across the U.S. and the nations of Latin America with diverse network services requirements. As data production of science applications increases, so to is the demand for high-throughput production network services to transport data from where it is collected, processed, then archived.

In response to the network requirements of these U.S.-Latin America collaborative science research communities, the AmLight Express and Protect (ExP) implements a hybrid network strategy that combines optical spectrum (Express) and leased capacity (Protect) that builds a reliable, leading-edge diverse network infrastructure for research and education. Researchers will be able to leverage the resources of AmLight ExP to foster network innovation and to address increasing network services requirements between the U.S. and the nations in South America.

AmLight ExP is a reliable, leading-edge infrastructure for research and education. With significant investments from the Academic Network of São Paulo (ANSP), and Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP) and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), the total bandwidth provided by AmLight ExP between the U.S. and South America is expected to grow to more than 680 Gibabits per second in aggregate capacity between 2015 and 2020. This serves as a flexible inter-regional infrastructure, enabling communities of scientists to expand their research, education, and learning activities uniquely empowered through access to unlit optical spectrum on submarine cables, and through AmLight ExP's use of dynamic circuits in a production environment. AmLight ExP increases the rate of discovery in the U.S. and across the Western Hemisphere. Faster discovery means quicker focus on the greatest benefit for society. AmLight ExP acts as a catalyst for new communities of researchers and learners with a bridge linking Latin Americans of the Western Hemisphere, benefiting U.S Hispanic students, teachers and researchers. FIU is committed to serving the needs graduate and undergraduate education through models that bring together students and the networking community with scientists from all domains.

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