IRNC: Core Improvement: Americas-Africa Lightpaths Express and Protect (AmLight-ExP)

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Big data science in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa will dramatically evolve over the next five years, with increasing dependency on advanced cyberinfrastructure and programmable networking. Significant projects include The Vera Rubin Observatory, the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider experiments and the Square Kilometer Array in S. Africa. AmLight-ExP supports high-performance network connectivity required by international science and engineering research and education collaborations involving the NSF research community, with expansion to South America and West Africa.AmLight-ExP is a reliable, leading-edge infrastructure for research and education. With significant investments from the Academic Network of São Paulo, Brazil’s Research and Education network, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the regional network of Latin America (RedCLARA), and national R&E network of S. Africa (TENET/SANReN), the total bandwidth provided by AmLight ExP between the U.S. South America, and Africa is expected to grow to over 4 Tbps in aggregate capacity from 2020-2025. This flexible inter-regional infrastructure enables science communities to expand research and learning activities, empowered through access to scalable optical spectrum on submarine cables and programmable networks. AmLight-ExP increases the rate of discovery. Faster discovery means quicker focus on the greatest benefit for society. AmLight-ExP is a catalyst for new communities of researchers and learners with a bridge, linking U.S. Hispanic and African students, teachers and researchers. AmLight-ExP is committed to serving the needs of graduate and undergraduate education through models that bring together students and the networking community with scientists from all domains.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.