COLLEGE PARK, MD (September 5, 2013) – Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) recently unveiled Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect as a new part of its service offering. Through Direct Connect, MAX participants can now establish a dedicated 10 Gbps network connection to AWS’s U.S. East (Northern Virginia) Region (US-EAST-1), which decreases data transfer cost while increasing network reliability.
MAX’s enablement of Direct Connect allows participants to circumvent the public Internet through a private fiber optic connection between Amazon services and their network infrastructure, including datacenters and colocation environments. This shift in bandwidth from Internet service provider to Direct Connect results in a faster networking speed that supports big data flows for academic and scientific research.
“Direct Connect is a natural, yet impactful, addition to the MAX service catalog,” said Tripti Sinha, Executive Director of MAX. “It is our mission to offer a high-performance network and advanced services to support research and innovation. Direct Connect helps to achieve this goal by enhancing MAX’s expansive network, allowing for reliable and dedicated direct access to Amazon services such as EC2 and S3.”
During the first test download of a 1,000 genomes dataset, MAX engineers used Direct Connect to transfer 150 GB at a 9.87 Gbps sustained rate, which took two minutes. Through a standard Internet connection, transferring such large data could have taken up to 11 hours. For researchers, this high-speed transfer of information is necessary in order to enable scientific advancements that could positively impact the world.
“Scientists and researchers now require a dedicated, private network connection to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation,” said Jaroslav Flidr, Director of Services at MAX. “Direct Connect provides this valuable solution, and MAX is proud to facilitate it through our high-performance and robust networking infrastructure.”
Participants can access multiple Amazon services through MAX, while still maintaining the efficiency of the dedicated connection. In addition, participants can tailor their network connection speeds ranging from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps.
“From the MAX participant perspective, data transfer through Direct Connect is very accessible and user-friendly,” said Xi Yang, Senior Research Scientist at MAX. “However, the mechanics behind the service are actually quite complex. With careful engineering of the individual participant solutions, we are able to create a seamless service for all MAX participants.”
For more information about MAX’s AWS Direct Connect service offering, please visit MAX’s Advanced Services.
Media Contact: Phyllis Dickerson Johnson, Director of Communications and Marketing, Division of Information Technology, University of Maryland, 301.405.4491, phyllis@umd.edu
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