STI: Starlight: Strategic Technologies for Internet Discovery and Development

StarLight的智力优势：StarLight是由研究人员为研究人员规划的研究支持设施，遵循“STARTAP”项目现在建立的研究和运营模式。这些研究人员包括网络工程师、电气工程师、计算机工程师、计算机科学家、电子科学家和应用程序员。StarLight将锚定未来波长丰富的LambdaGrids，其交换和路由处于最高的实验水平，为三年内实现全光交换奠定基础。按照早期“STARTAP”项目的传统，该项目将与研究人员一起实现下一个网络业务增长周期。光网络技术正迅速从超昂贵的长途载波实现向负担得起的区域和城域社区网络迁移。下一步是通过具体的大规模科学应用来扩展、整合和调整这些资源。商业趋势是为非常广泛的客户群提供具有广泛公共服务的通用基础设施。然而，光网络技术为网络研究人员提供了一个远远超出一般要求的机会，并支持大规模的e-Science应用，利用非常先进的网络来解决复杂的问题。直到最近，由美国国家科学基金会资助的STAR TAP项目提供了先进网络的互操作性和互连性，充分服务于芝加哥联邦网络（Fednets）和Internet2之间的ATM连接。芝加哥的大都市研究和教育网络，以及几个国际网络。然而，几个月前，随着国内外网络开始在芝加哥要求1到10gb的交换连接，STAR TAP迅速将其重点和连接转移到StarLight，这是一个新的托管设施。国家需要一个持久的设施，配备人员和设备，为使用IP-over-lambda网络的研究人员提供服务，解决恢复问题，构建lambda网格，优化DNS服务，并测试长连接的新协议。StarLight将作为各种lambdagrid节点的持久交汇点，并将支持先进的应用程序和中间件研究，以及积极的先进服务。StarLight将成长为：(1)多厂商、多lambda 1Gb、2.5Gb、10Gb（甚至更高）实验交换和LambdaGrid节点，为国内和国际实验提供“另一端”或交换点；Starlight计划在3年内为研究人员提供60个全动力光纤连接机架。(2)支持3D协议栈开发的设施（用于光学管理、控制和数据平面）。(3)中间件研究环境，在该环境中，面向应用的中间件（如Globus）和数据传输协议由中间件社区使用主要的实验性e-Science驱动程序实现和测试。(4)主办以应用为中心的网络测量与监测的国家和全球研究活动。(5)跨域安全试验台，以lambda速度研究和部署加密，并测试将数据发送给涉及自然或人为灾害的危机管理人员。(6)开发/测试在光网络上提供高性能应用程序的手段的实验室。(7)促进对社区的广泛推广工作，利用文化遗产项目将代表性不足的社区作为数据和可视化LambdaGrids的内容开发者、提供者和用户引入。(8)城市规模的实验室，让CISE学生进入相互依存的计算和网络世界。

The Intellectual Merit of StarLight: StarLight is a research support facility planned by researchers for researchers that follows the mode of Research and Operations now established by the "STARTAP" project. These researchers are networking engineers, electrical engineers, computer engineers, computer scientists, e-Scientists and application programmers. StarLight will anchor future wavelength-rich LambdaGrids, with switching and routing at the highest experimental levels, laying the foundation for fully optical switching in three years. Following the tradition of the earlier "STARTAP" project, this project will enable the next cycle of network operations growth with researchers.Optical networking technology is rapidly migrating from ultra-expensive long-haul carrier implementations to affordable regional- and metro-area community networks. The next step is to expand, integrate and tune these resources with specific large-scale scientific applications. The commercial trend is to provide a general infrastructure with a wide range of common services for a very broad client base. However, optical networking technologies provide networking researchers with an opportunity to move far beyond general requirements, and support large-scale e-Science applications that exploit very advanced networking to tackle complex problems. Until recently, STAR TAP, an NSF-funded project providing interoperability and interconnectivity of advanced networks, adequately served the ATM connections in Chicago among the US Federal Networks (Fednets), Internet2.s Abilene, Chicago's Metropolitan Research and Education Network, and several international networks. However, several months ago, as domestic and foreign networks began to request 1-to-10Gb switched connections in Chicago, STAR TAP quickly migrated its focus and connections to StarLight, a new colocation facility. The Nation needs a persistent facility, staffed and equipped, to serve researchers using IP-over-lambda networks, addressing restoration issues, building LambdaGrids, optimizing DNS services, and testing novel protocols for long, fat connections. StarLight will be a persistent meeting point as a node on various LambdaGrids and will support advanced applications and middleware research, and aggressive advanced services. StarLight will grow into a: (1) Multi-vendor, multi-lambda 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 10Gb (and perhaps higher) experimental exchange and LambdaGrid nodal point that provides the "other end" or switching point for National and international experiments; Starlight has 3-year plans to make available 60 fully-powered and fiber-optic-connected racks to researchers. (2) Facility to support 3D protocol stack development (for optical management, control and data planes). (3) Middleware research environment, in which application-oriented middleware, like Globus, and data transport protocols are implemented and tested by the middleware community with major experimental e-Science drivers. (4) Host for national and global research activities in application-centric network measurement and monitoring. (5) Inter-domain security testbed to research and deploy encryption at lambda speeds and to test getting data out to crisis management personnel involved in natural or human-caused disasters. (6) Laboratory for developing/testing means for high-performance application provisioning on optical networks. (7) Facilitator of broad outreach efforts to communities, using a cultural heritage project to bring in under-represented communities as content developers, providers and users of data and visualization LambdaGrids. (8) Metro-scale laboratory for CISE students' access to the interdependent worlds of computing and networking.