LSU Science & Technology

Governor Approves Funding to Utilize Light-Speed Connections

Ever wish for a better computer or a faster connection? Scientists hope for this all the time, and Louisiana scientists will soon have their computing wishes granted.

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco surprised a hopeful audience of scientists when she announced approval of a multimillion dollar investment during a forum for the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, on September 2, 2004.

"Louisiana will be funding LONI in full," said Blanco. "This $40 million investment will make it functional now, and in the years to come."

LONI is a Louisiana project that will create a high-speed connection throughout the state, joining researchers from Louisiana Tech, LSU, LSU Health Sciences Center, Southern University, Tulane University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the University of New Orleans.

The LONI forum allowed the Louisiana research community to interact with national and international technology executives and federal-funding agency representatives. The group held an open discussion to explore the uses of the statewide fiber optic network.

Edward Seidel, director of the Center for Computation & Technology, has been an instrumental figure in the development of LONI.

"I can feel the energy from what we launched today," said Blanco, adding that she expects LONI to cause dramatic long-term benefits for the entire state. "We'll be right in there with the most sophisticated folks in the world," said Blanco.

During the forum, applications of the high-speed connection were demonstrated. World-renowned experts from a broad mix of scientific fields discussed how computational power can be harnessed by connecting computers at remote locations throughout the state.

Researchers from the Louisiana institutions participating in the initial phase of LONI presented their plans for the network.

Presentations were also made by representatives from IBM, AT&T, Intel, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Northrop Grumman, BellSouth, Silicon Graphics Incorporated, North Carolina's Renaissance Computing Institute, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Institute, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, and the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center in Poland.

Funding agency representatives from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy also discussed ways to take advantage of such a network.

The Louisiana network will link to the National LambdaRail (NLR), which will connect the state to computational power available throughout the nation and world. Membership in this nationwide network is through the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Such a connection will allow scientists to harness vast amounts of computing power through a new field of study called "Grid computing."

Grid computing connects computing devices to work as one machine. Computers that are located across the world from each other can be joined to adopt the processing power of the group and work as one unit.

Devices like Sony Playstations and hand-held computers can be coupled with the fastest supercomputers in the world. Grid technology allows scientists in Europe to run their calculations on the most powerful computers available, even if those computers are located right here in Louisiana.

"The Grid is the biggest development in computer science since the Internet, and now Louisiana is getting on board with a regional network," said Ed Seidel, director of the Center for Computation & Technology (CCT) at LSU.

Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, spoke to an audience of scientists and technology executives at the LONI Forum.

Already, Louisiana's supercomputing projects have assisted in the planning for disaster management during hurricane season, research of coastal erosion, and the development of new findings in the petrochemical industry.

With this technology, Louisiana scientists will also study more global problems like solving Einstein's equations by modeling the collision of black holes. Medical researchers can model fluid flowing through the human eye to learn about glaucoma.

Even creative thinkers need supercomputing resources for projects like animation rendering and visualization.

"The network will help digital-media artists and composers collaborate and share their work no matter where they live in Louisiana," said Stephen David Beck, interim director of the Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT) at the CCT at LSU.

The economic development impact of such a network is evident.

"LONI and the NLR attract new dollars to the state and more smart people. It's an engine that will drive the state in every respect," said Dan Henderson, director of information technology at the state's Department of Economic Development. "It will create new and better jobs as well as more companies in Louisiana."

LSU's supercomputer, SuperMike, will be part of this network, and additional machines will be added throughout the state.

"We started in mid-September 2004 so the network will be operational and the supercomputers at Louisiana Tech, Southern, UNO, and Tulane installed by April 15, 2005" said director of LSU's Office of Telecommunications Charlie McMahon.

Brian Ropers-Huilman, LSU's high-performance computing manager within the CCT, said that the high-speed dedicated network isn't much different from the local connection that connects the processors of LSU's supercomputer, SuperMike.

"It's just like the Beowulf concept that ties together the 1,024 processors of SuperMike," said Ropers-Huilman. "When the computers from other Louisiana universities are connected, the new metacomputer would have almost 3,000 processors."

With the LONI opportunity on the horizon, the LSU supercomputer is currently being upgraded with new processors that will allow it to perform at a rate twice as fast as with the old hardware. The machine is moving from 1.8 to 3.0 GigaHertz Intel Xeon processors.

Many industry and research experts from around the world were happy to hear the good news for Louisiana. "You have all the ingredients to really succeed," said John Stephenson, private sector program marketing director for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Stephenson's responsibilities involve technology transfer and developing industrial partnerships for the research center. "The key is bringing the people together," said Stephenson.

The National LambdaRail will connect the state to computational power available throughout the nation.

"I can feel the energy from what we launched today," said Governor Blanco, adding that she expects LONI to cause dramatic long-term benefits for the entire state. "We'll be right in there with the most sophisticated folks in the world," said Blanco.

"LONI and its connection to the National LambdaRail are where technology and university research are going," said Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie. "The LONI Forum will serve as an excellent demonstration of this evolution. This event will showcase LONI's implications for our universities' ability to participate in cutting-edge research that can significantly impact Louisiana's economic future."

Gabrielle Allen , associate professor in the LSU Department of Computer Science, is one of the researchers who will benefit from LONI.

"The new network will bring research in Louisiana to a new level, connecting our researchers to data, computational power, and to each other," said Allen.

The LONI Forum was held at C.B. Pennington, Jr., Conference Center in Baton Rouge and was hosted by the Office of the Governor, the Board of Regents' National Science Foundation's (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and LSU's Center for Computation & Technology.

Contact Jennifer Hughes | CCT | LSU University Relations
Highlights Team
Spring 2005