The OptIPuter and its applications

The NSF-funded OptIPuter project [see www.optiputer.net and special issue of Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS), Volume 25, Issue 2, February 2009] has been exploring for the last six years how user-controlled 10Gbps dedicated lightpaths (lambdas) can provide direct access to global data repositories, scientific instruments, and computational resources from the researchers\´ Linux clusters in their campus laboratories. These clusters are reconfigured as "OptlPortals," providing the end users with local scalable visualization, computing, and storage. Using the 10 Gbps lightpaths available over the National Lambda Rail (NLR) and the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF), this new distributed architecture creates an end-to-end "OptlPlatform" for data-intensive research.