The Energy Sciences Network has expanded the bandwidth at Argonne National Laboratory, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to 400 gigabits per second.
According to ESnet Executive Director Inder Monga, 400G would enable collaboration between scientific researchers regardless of their location or the location of their equipment or data, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said Wednesday.
ESnet is an unclassified network connecting 50 Department of Energy sites with the aim of supporting scientific research. The network is funded by the DOE’s Office of Science and overseen by Berkeley Lab.
400G is made possible by the installation of relevant circuitry following the launch of ESnet6 in 2022. The sixth iteration of the network was designed to enable collaboration between DOE researchers and international partners, facilitating high data traffic generated by a variety of sources, including artificial intelligence and imagery systems.
Many other national laboratories will be upgraded to 400G in the coming months. Meanwhile, upgrades at Berkeley Lab and CERN are almost complete.