New computer network links US, Russain and China

Scientists in the United States, China and Russia will soon be able to collaborate in cyberspace over a new high-speed computer network that includes the first direct computer link across the Russia-China border.

The network, expected to go online next month, will connect computers in Chicago with machines in Amsterdam, Moscow, Siberia, Beijing and Hong Kong, said Greg Cole of the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications, one of the leaders of the Little GLORIAD project.

“This new network permits us to learn more from each other in areas where we have not worked together in the past,” Cole said.

The NCSA, based at the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus, received £1.8 million from the National Science Foundation to fund the US portion of the network for the next three years. Russia and China are spending similar amounts, Cole said.

“As we aim to strengthen our nations’ capabilities in research, we also aim to contribute to the cumulative knowledge that lifts the prospects of people everywhere,” NSF director Rita Colwell said.

Scientists have always had computer networks separate from the consumer internet that assure them the capacity to transfer huge volumes of information at speeds much faster than typical internet transfers, Cole said.

Little GLORIAD – an acronym for Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development – will allow scientists and educational researchers to work together on such issues as responding to natural disasters, safeguarding nuclear material, monitoring earthquakes or joint space exploration.

They could also collaborate to remotely monitor or control high-tech equipment and even could get together face-to-face by video conferencing over the network, he said.

“This is specifically so our scientists and educators can work together more easily,” Cole said. “The technology is really rather amazing with what it allows us to do on a daily basis.”

The fibre optic connection between China and Russia that makes the network possible was completed a few months ago, Cole said. Final touches are being put on the China-Russia link, and the global network should see its first traffic on January 5.

A formal launching ceremony is planned for January 12 in Beijing, he said.

Scientists from Russia and the United States have had direct computer linkage for about five years, while Russia and China often exchanged scientific information by meeting in Chicago, Cole said.

The new network should strengthen the collaboration between those countries, he said.

Little GLORIAD is a “first big step” toward development of the higher-speed GLORIAD, Cole said. That effort will move data at 10 gigabytes per second, 60 times faster than the Little GLORIAD.