Phosphorus project to support global scientific collaboration finishes successfully

The three-year Phosphorus project focused on supporting global scientific collaboration by interconnecting scientific instruments, supercomputers and dedicated gigabit circuits has finished successfully. CESNET, the association of universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, was from the very beginning an active member of the project implemented under the European Union's 6th framework programme.

From October 2006 when Phosphorus was launched, CESNET participated in building a global experimental platform for the provisioning of network services in a large-scale heterogeneous environment, a "test-bed" covering Europe, the United States and Canada. The project also included developing the middleware necessary for the allocation of network resources based on on-line user requests.

Phosphorus aimed at creating Grid-enabled Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (G²MPLS) oriented towards the setting up and switching of communication paths in heterogeneous networks between grid centres, building support for the protocol into existing applications and creating new specialized applications.

CESNET used a part of its optical network and international data circuits to test the developed protocol and was the project leader of Task 6.6, whose output document is Deliverable D6.9. The document named Recognizing, Description, Deployment and Testing of New Types of L0/L1 Resources deals with the classification of modern optical devices and gathers information about the project partners' interest in such devices. It briefly discusses optical fibre imperfections, monitoring their changes in operation and limiting their effect on data transmission. It deals in detail with the description of optical devices at the level of laser beam transmission allowing machine processing. To this end, it uses NDL (Network Description Language) and creates a scheme for the description of optical network elements. Another part of the document summarizes information about the implementation of the G²MPLS protocol for a photonic switch, CzechLight Switch (CLS), which is produced under CESNET's licence as part of a family of open photonic devices; last but not least, it discusses the deployment and documentation of optical network elements. A major contribution of CESNET researchers is a machine-readable description of photonic (fully optical) networks, which is not publicly available from other sources. It is an important step towards Computer Aided Network Design and Maintenance.

The final review of Phosphorus took place in Poznan, Poland on the 29th and 30th of September 2009, consisting of demanding tests attended by representatives from the European Commission and external reviewers. The tested environment included successfully implemented CLSs in Prague and Brno as part of the Essex–Amsterdam–Prague–Brno–Poznan circuit.

More information at: www.ist-phosphorus.eu.

The CESNET association was founded by universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The association is currently financed mainly from the resources of the governmental Research and Development Board and funds of the association members. The association deals with the research and development of information and communication technologies, and it is building and developing the national gigabit optical network CESNET2 designed for research and educational purposes. Thanks to its research activities and accomplishments, the CESNET association represents the Czech Republic in the GÉANT pan-European network building project, and takes an active part in its implementation.