Funding Support for the Net Scale Laboratory
Current Support
| Sponsor |
Grant |
Project Description |
| NSF |
CNS03-47392 |
CAREER: Transparent Bandwidth Conservation Techniques |
| The thrust of the work in transparent bandwidth conservation is to examine practical network efficiency, i.e. how can one deliver an efficient network with zero or minimal modifications to the end hosts themselves? Technologies such as multicast have received considerable attention with limited traction in terms of actual deployment. Quite simply, while multicast offers tremendous promise, there exists a significant chasm between a true `native IP multicast' and the curent unicast-centric world. Although ALM (Application Layer Multicast) and AMT (Automatic Multicast Tunneling) offer a better bridge to realizing multicast, the cost of embracing such technology is still significant. Moreover, the fundamental motivations for embracing bandwidth efficiency (i.e. why multicast fared poorly) are still not addressed with current efforts. When the drawbacks of the existing approaches are coupled with the perceived over-abundance of network capacity, the net result is a stalemate with neither content provider nor service provider moving in a significant way towards improving efficiency. Hence, this research purports to address those fundamental issues to get over that initial roadblock by developing techniques that are legacy application-friendly with directable economic benefit. Critically, we draw on the properties of caching which has been regarded as widely succcessful. In contrast to multicast, web caching and the more recent content distribution networks (CDNs) operate in a manner friendly to the application, i.e. proxying, DNS trickery, etc. that do not require modifications to the applications themselves. Moreover, the economic benefit of such techniques are easily directable and realizable in the current infrastructure without dramatic changes with regards to capability or capacity. |
| Proposal Documents / Discussions |
| NSF |
DBI04-50067 |
GEMS: Grid-Enabled Molecular Simulation |
| Scientific applications often demand more intermediate storage space than is available on small servers. In a typical University or business network, a great deal of storage space is available for harvesting, because modern workstations ship with much more space than is usually immediately consumed. GEMS offers users a convenient way to group free disk space into an dynamic storage pool. The GEMS system builds atop the Chirp system to provide fault-tolerant access to a distributed system of servers. |
Previous Support
| Sponsor |
Grant |
Project Description |
| NSF |
SCI04-12633 |
GIPSE: Grid Interface for Parameter-driven Simulation Environments |
| |
| DARPA |
Control Plane |
The purpose of the Control Plane Program is improving end-to-end TCP/IP wide-area network performance between the CONUS operating base and forward deployed tactical units. The technology the program seeks to develop is the ability of individual hosts (end-points) to learn essential characteristics about the network path between themselves and their transmission partners. This allows the hosts to “shape” the traffic they generate so it can pass through the network with the minimum amount of additional network load possible (e.g., minimizing retransmissions, reducing fragmentation). To shape their traffic correctly dynamically the hosts must become aware of the wide-area network’s state. Additionally, if multiple network paths are available, a host should be able to choose the path that best meets its requirements. The heart of the Control Plane program is to develop technology for computers (i.e., individual hosts) to learn about the wide-area network’s infrastructure characteristics and state. Solutions range from hosts querying the infrastructure devices along network path for information to having monolithic monitors that know the network’s state to having multiple hosts work together to infer the network’s characteristics and current state. (Per the BAA04-11 PIP) |
| BAA04-11 DARPA STO Control Plane Website |
| Architecture Technology Corporation - Project Lead - Tactical TCP |
Equipment Sponsorship
| Sponsor |
Program |
Equipment |
| Sun Microsystems |
Academic Excellence Grant |
Grant - Sun T2000 server, 10x SunRay thin clients + licensing |
| Intel |
IXP Development Grant |
Intel IXP 2350, Workstation for Development, Student/Travel Funding |
| Sun Microsystems |
Academic Excellence Grant |
Sun v440, Sun Blade System |
| Sun Microsystems |
Academic Excellence Grant |
Sun v210, SunRay Thin Clients, Sun v100 |
| HP |
Itanium2 Initiative |
Itanium 2 Server, Itanium 2 Workstations |
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here for several of the above funded grants and the respective feedback on the grants themselves.
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