LHC data centre will use new terabit network

CERN’s new data centre in Budapest will be one of the first beneficiaries of GÉANT’s new terabit network. The Wigner Research Centre for Physics in Hungary will host CERN’s new remote data centre and will process and store data from CERN for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The LHC generates around 30 petabytes of data every year, and the rapid distribution of this data to centres around the world for analysis is very important. GÉANT, together with its National Research and Education Network (NREN) partners are providing a high-speed, pan-European managed network with global links to reach data centres across the world.

The Budapest facility will act as an extension to CERN’s existing data centre as well as providing business continuity in case of any issues that could affect on-going service.

'Having a remote site and operations places a lot of requirements on the networking solutions. Together with GÉANT and NIIF/Hungarnet, as well as our research and education and commercial partners we will be implementing state-of-the-art capabilities to connect CERN and Wigner. The GÉANT network is fundamental to our data transfer needs, and we’re delighted that we will be continuing this successful relationship,' said David Foster, deputy head of the CERN IT Department.

GÉANT’s migration to the latest transmission and switching technology is designed to support up to 2Tbps (terabits per second) capacity across the core network, which promises to effectively future-proofing Europe’s critical network up until 2020. 500Gbps capacity will be available across the core network from first implementation, delivering circuits across Europe that will allow individual users to transfer data at speeds of up to 100Gbps, or multiples thereof, thereby enabling faster collaboration on critical projects and meeting the rapidly increasing demand for data transfer.