New 100G gateway allows for expansion of data-intensive research at Virginia Tech
The Mid-Atlantic Research Infrastructure Alliance (MARIA) supports and promotes the development of shared advanced network and other cyberinfrastructure resources to serve the Commonwealth and the Mid-Atlantic region. By investing collaboratively in networking infrastructure and services, MARIA members and partner institutions can better enable innovative research and facilitate successful projects and productive working relationships in research and education across the United States.
Since MARIA’s founding, Virginia Tech has played a leading role in the procurement and development of high-speed network services and connections to ensure MARIA’s infrastructure keeps pace with evolving technology and researchers’ expanding needs.
In March 2023, MARIA added a new, high-speed gateway connection in Atlanta. This doubled the data-carrying capacity for Virginia Tech and other member institutions. The new Atlanta gateway complements and provides backup for MARIA’s existing gateway in Ashburn, Virginia, and also enhances reliability and speed of access from the university to Internet2, the nation’s largest and fastest coast-to-coast research and education network. Both connect at a speed of 100 gigabits per second, or 100G.
“The addition of a second 100G gateway is a real milestone for MARIA, as it puts participating Virginia universities, including Virginia Tech, among the best-connected institutions globally,” noted Jeff Crowder, executive director of strategic initiatives for the Division of Information Technology at Virginia Tech and managing director for MARIA.
Data centers for prominent cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, and many others are located in both the Atlanta and Ashburn metro areas. The proximity of MARIA’s gateways to these facilities means that members can connect to these services, as well as Internet2, through the MREX with virtually unlimited capacity and minimal lag time in sending and receiving data.
Together, the Atlanta and Ashburn gateways provide a competitive advantage for Virginia Tech researchers, both in conducting research activities and securing funding. “These gateways are critical to all computational research that requires access to national high performance computing resources or the movement of large data sets,” said Crowder. “Now, our researchers can demonstrate to sponsors that they have robust access to Internet2 and other key cloud services through a connection that provides the capacity and reliability they need for their work to succeed.”
