As part of the NSF funded ARI grant, 3ROX has established a pool of research resources that are available at no cost to any researcher, research project, or lab associated with a 3ROX participant. Over time, we expect these resources to include items that range from ports on the layer 2 switches to transponders to establish private lambdas for the researcher.
In the past, 3ROX implemented a limited pool of resources based on its spare pool for the production network infrastructure. This service has been popular with the regional research community; however, due to the nature of the pool, the types of projects it can support is limited.
We expect the 3ROX Research Resource Pool resources will allow greater experimentation by both the network research community for projects such as GENI, as well as for the discipline specific communities. We expect that the 3ROX Research Resource Pool will allow researchers to experiment with and test different types of infrastructure and services, providing concrete information on what services fit best with their specific application. Network research projects can test their protocols and algorithms on experimental test beds at little or no cost prior to being deployed on permanent network infrastructure. Discipline scientists can request infrastructure for specific, short term, real-time projects as well as for demonstrations at conferences and workshops.
3ROX has other resources, like colocation space, available to researchers as well.
More information about other research resources provided by 3ROX
Applying to use the research resource pool
In order to use these resources, a researcher must submit a proposal to 3ROX describing the research project. The proposal should include the following information:
- the PI(s) and participating institution(s)
- one-page proposal abstract describing the project, including the project duration and the how the resources would be utilized by the project
- a list of requested resources
- a list of project-provided resources
- colocation requirements, including the ability to provide the necessary co-location space and/or power
- timeline and milestones for deploying the infrastructure
- letters of support from the regional and campus networks included in the end-to-end path of the project
The 3ROX RRP Committee will review the proposal. If approved, the researcher would have access to these resources for a period that is specified by the researcher, up to one year. Once the initial research period is over, the project may submit another proposal for continued use for up to an additional 12 months.
To receive additional information on the resources available or to submit a proposal for the resources, email info@3rox.net. 3ROX network engineers can provide additional information on the specific services available, deployment options and how specific services may be used to support a specific application.
Current resources available
Current resources available to researchers include:
10 GE Transponders – A pair of 10 GE transponders deployable within the 3ROX metro DWDM infrastructure. The pair can be deployed between any of the 3ROX DWDM nodes – Level3 (L3), Allegheny Center Mall (ACM), Mellon Institute (MI) and Northern Pike (NP – previously referred to as WEC).
6509 10 GE port or 1 GE port and optics – Based on availability of spare ports and optics on a location (PoP) basis.
Colocation Space – Colocation space for research projects is available at each of the 3ROX PoPs (ACM, MI and NP). Since the PoPs do not have unlimited space and power, projects must be evaluated for their suitability for a specific PoP.
Non-Dedicated Bandwidth – non-dedicated access to bandwidth on currently under-utilized 10 GE or 1 GE MAN link.