HANOVER, Md., June 9 – As part of its ongoing mission to connect researchers to the data and resources needed to advance environmental science through its N-Wave science network, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is building a private optical network powered by Ciena’s converged packet optical platforms. The new 100G network will connect four geographically dispersed facilities in the Washington, D.C. metro area, including McLean, Va. and Suitland, Silver Spring and College Park, Md. It will enable NOAA to support bandwidth-intensive applications and programs such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series R (GOES-R), and the next-generation national weather observation satellite program, which is working to advance weather and climate science and services.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts. Its N-Wave science network, initially founded via funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is a national spanning network that provides intra-NOAA connectivity, including communication and data transfer (5 Petabytes per month) between NOAA programs, line offices, research facilities and other scientific centers across CONUS, Alaska and Hawaii.

Through a competitive procurement process and deployment of the Ciena packet-optical platform, NOAA in the D.C. Metropolitan area can consolidate its network and make it more efficient. The enhanced network will give researchers greater access to large volumes of complex climate and weather data, helping scientists collaborate and transfer information without constraint. It will also allow the administration to economically and flexibly provide bandwidth to support new scientific research and applications like next generation satellite programs that monitor weather data/activity across the globe.

Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, equipped with WaveLogic 3 coherent optical processors and integrated switching capabilities, will help NOAA address increased bandwidth demands and provide high-capacity interconnectivity between locations, giving NOAA researchers instant access to the weather-related data they need.

About NOAA

NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. NOAA’s reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor working to keep citizens informed of the changing environment around them.

From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.

NOAA’s roots date back to 1807, when the Nation’s first scientific agency, the Survey of the Coast, was established. Since then, NOAA has evolved to meet the needs of a changing country. NOAA maintains a presence in every state and has emerged as an international leader on scientific and environmental matters.

NOAA’s mission touches the lives of every American and has established a proud role in protecting life and property and conserving and protecting natural resources.

About Ciena

Ciena is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPⁿ architecture for next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment.

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Source: Ciena