Internet2, Indiana University and the Clean Slate Program at Stanford University have formed the Network Development and Deployment Initiative (NDDI), a partnership to create a new network platform and complementary software, which together will support global scientific research in a revolutionary new way. Through substantial investments by each of the partners, the NDDI will yield a new Internet2 Network service called the Open Science, Scholarship and Services Exchange (OS3E). OS3E and the NDDI capabilities will be developed and interconnected with links to Europe, Canada, South America and Asia, through coordinating international partners like RNP in Brazil, CANARIE in Canada, GÉANT in Europe, and JGNX in Japan, with additional service partners to be identified.

Built using the first production deployment of OpenFlow technology, NDDI will deliver a “software-defined network” (SDN), a common infrastructure that can create multiple virtual networks, allowing researchers to experiment with new Internet protocols and architectures, and at the same time enabling domain scientists to accelerate their research with collaborators worldwide. The new capabilities create an unprecedented platform of support for projects ranging from the global exchanges of massive datasets from the Large Hadron Collider, radio astronomy and climate modeling experiments, to large-scale network research initiatives like the National Science Foundation’s GENI project and Princeton University’s PlanetLab.

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