Alcatel has deployed its 40 Gbit/s solution connecting the data centers of the University of Stuttgart and the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, a distance of over 105 km. Providing a direct link between two supercomputers, this is the fastest data line in Germany. Together, the two centers deliver a computing power of over 20 teraflops for business and educational applications.

The deployment is part of the "Baden-Württemberg Extended LAN" scientific network (BelWü), which is funded by the Baden-Württemberg state and is integrated in the European research association GÉANT. The whole network connects nine universities, 25 technical colleges, eight cooperative academies and other scientific institutions in southwestern Germany.

The new 40 Gbit/s link enables the two supercomputers to bind the computing and data resources across the network into a unified environment for commercial and educational applications where fast networking rates and high computing horsepower are key. For business users, this means performing detailed 3D simulations in real time such as car-crash tests and process simulations. For research institutes and students, this groundbreaking speed per channel enables new ways of sharing and processing huge amounts of information for advanced and complex research programs.

The Alcatel 40 Gbit/s solution available within its WDM systems, including the Alcatel 1626 Light Manager (LM), enables customers to move huge amounts of data between supercomputer clusters in the most efficient way. For this project, Alcatel interconnected multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces of the two university supercomputers through a single WDM link exhibiting remarkable low latency and high transparency. Four bidirectional 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces are aggregated onto one 40 Gbit/s wavelength that is transported over an optical fiber without repeaters. The new line is designed to support multiple 40 Gbit/s wavelengths to cope with future traffic growth.

"Our users must benefit from easily accessible, highly reliable computing capabilities and this project represents an enormous boost for the Baden-Württemberg area as a technology center", explained Wolfgang Peters of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden Württemberg. "Alcatel's solution guarantees that the BelWü network is in a leading position in Europe and worldwide to successfully carry out international grid computing projects."

"Alcatel's technology is at the forefront of innovation and this project positions us among the first research networks able to achieve 40 Gbit/s data rates over such distances in a real operational environment," said Prof. Horst Hippler, Rector of the University of Karlsruhe. "The deployment has been achieved in a smooth way enabling our existing supercomputer to continue its operation without disruptions."

"The Baden-Württemberg network, and more generally scientific communities, have growing requirements for high-performance computing power, which has become critical for research developments," said Romano Valussi, president of Alcatel's optical networking activities. "Alcatel's 40 Gbit/s technology enables to deploy new and reliable clusters empowering research activities in many different scientific disciplines and industries".

The new supercomputer of the High Performance Computing Center of the University of Stuttgart (HLRS) is equipped with 576 processors and is around 5,000 times as fast as a desktop PC. The system has a peak performance of 12.7 teraflops and a main memory of 9.2 TB. The computer is thus one of the fastest vector systems in Europe - in 6th place in Europe and 27th place worldwide.

A cluster is currently being installed in several stages at the Scientific Supercomputing Center of the University of Karlsruhe (SSCK). At its peak capacity, the system will feature over 1,200 processors with a performance of around 11 teraflops and a main memory of 7 TB. The different architectures of the computers complement one another for a broad range of applications.