A New Generation of Networks and Computing Models for High Energy Physics in the LHC Era

Abstract

Wide area networks of increasing end-to-end capacity and capability are vital for every phase of high energy physicists' work. Our bandwidth usage, and the typical capacity of the major national backbones and intercontinental links used by our field have progressed by a factor of several hundred times over the past decade. With the opening of the LHC era in 2009-10 and the prospects for discoveries in the upcoming LHC run, the outlook is for a continuation or an acceleration of these trends using next generation networks over the next few years. Responding to the need to rapidly distribute and access datasets of tens to hundreds of terabytes drawn from multi-petabyte data stores, high energy physicists working with network engineers and computer scientists are learning to use long range networks effectively on an increasing scale, and aggregate flows reaching the 100 Gbps range have been observed. The progress of the LHC, and the unprecedented ability of the experiments to produce results rapidly using worldwide distributed data processing and analysis has sparked major, emerging changes in the LHC Computing Models, which are moving from the classic hierarchical model designed a decade ago to more agile peer-to-peer-like models that make more effective use of the resources at Tier2 and Tier3 sites located throughout the world. A new requirements working group has gauged the needs of Tier2 centers, and charged the LHCOPN group that runs the network interconnecting the LHC Tierls with designing a new architecture interconnecting the Tier2s. As seen from the perspective of ICFA's Standing Committee on Inter-regional Connectivity (SCIC), the Digital Divide that separates physicists in several regions of the developing world from those in the developed world remains acute, although many countries have made major advances through the rapid installation of modern network infrastructures. A case in point is Africa, where a new round of undersea cables promises to transform the continent.

Additional details