IU receives grant to develop, test new networks

In December, IU received a total of four grants from the National Science Foundations’s Global Environment for a Network Innovations project that will help IU research new computer networks.

This is the third time IU has been awarded a GENI grant. The sum, which totals $2.3 million, will be used to research, build and test new computer networks.  

“We need researchers to develop new technology,” said Beth Plale, professor of computer science and director of the Data to Insight Center of Pervasive Technologies. “Experiment is needed to research and create a new network, and the GENI project supports that.”

The daily use of high-traffic Internet sites, including social media forums Facebook and Twitter, tends to create a decrease in the Internet server activity speed.

“Communication traffic slows down the network,” Plale said. “We really need to develop new networks.”

Dave Jent, associate vice president for the IU Global Research Network Operations Center (GlobalNOC), said the money will be used to create the next-generation research platform.

“The current Internet really isn’t capable of holding the capacity that is being used,” he said.

The new grants will also help fund IU network programs that are already in place.
OpenFlow and GlobalNOC will be given money to conduct research about how to switch the network hardware and what to do in the event that an emergency shutdown occurs.

“The NSF created GENI to create an environment to run experiments,” Jent said. “IU will be researching software, training materials and operational tools.”

Plale said she thinks IU received money for the GENI project because the University is a major player in computer science.

Jent said IU’s advancement in the information technology field is what got the University the funding.

“IU is really leading a lot of the network development,” he said. “There really is no one else doing what we’re doing.”