Getting the most from the network

Since Internet2 was formed in 1996, helping members get the most out of the Internet2 Network has been a major focus. After all, what good is a sports car if it only goes 45?

Today, the focus on performance is more important than ever. Although network capacities have increased exponentially, so has the demand for global collaboration. Whether it’s life or physical science, high-definition videoconferencing, or remote synchronous fine arts performance, disciplines across the board are bursting through national boundaries to realize their global potentials. For this reason, performance is a key component of the Internet2 Innovation Platform, integral in the design and implementation of pioneering architectures like the Science DMZ.*

The goal of the Performance Initiative is to help members establish predictable, well-supported environments where Internet2 campus network users have routinely successful experiences in their development and use of advanced Internet applications. The focus is on improving performance problem detection and resolution throughout campus, regional, and national networking infrastructures.

With joint collaborators ESnet, GÉANT and RNP, Internet2 helped form perfSONAR (Performance Service Oriented Network Monitoring Architecture), an infrastructure for network performance monitoring, making it easier to solve end-to-end performance problems on paths crossing several networks. 

This collaboration has developed a number of network performance tools that are interoperable across multiple networks and useful for intra- and inter-network analysis. Some individual tools have been configured into packages by open source projects like perfSONAR, which has produced the pS-Performance Toolkit.

A network Performance Working Group has been created to provide collaboration opportunities for those interested in discussing and coordinating work on performance and measurement tools, applications, implementations, and the supporting infrastructure needed to meet the network performance and measurement requirements of the research and education community.

*The Science DMZ model was developed by the Department of Energy's ESnet. More info on Science DMZ can be found at ESnet's website: fasterdata.es.net/science-dmz.