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SAMTP
(SONET Application Memory Transport)—Pentum Group,
Inc., 111 W. El Camino Real, #109, Sunnyvale, CA 94087-1304; 408-718-4099, http://www.pentum.com
Dr. Bodo
Dr. John
Brown, Business Official, johnbrown@pentum.com
DOE Grant No.
DE-FG02-04ER84039
Amount: $749,984
The Grid, the network that
links DOE and other research computing facilities, requires faster access to
large amounts of data to feed faster computer systems, as well as the ability
to reach data when required by applications (quality of service). Under current network technologies, data
access is randomly affected by competing traffic, which slows response and
makes interactivity next to impossible.
Much of the commercially available, long distance, fiber optic links use
SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork), which lacks a transfer protocol that would
allow its characteristics to be used to advantage. This project will develop a new data transfer
protocol, based on SONET frames, to allow low cost, higher speed, and
interactive networking between Grid computer systems that are connected through
either carrier-provided or customer-provided fiber optic links. The protocol will be implemented in hardware
and will be based on application-to-application communication rather than on
computer-to-computer communication, which is used for current operating systems.
Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new data transfer protocol should provide low cost, higher speed, and interactive networking between computers connected through existing long distance fiber optic links. Benefits are expected to include improved quality of video conferencing, technology collaborations, scientific and engineering simulations, computer gaming, and more efficient use of existing communications infrastructure.