CC*DNI Network Infrastructure: The Gopher Science Network - A Dedicated Science Network for the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota (UMN) is building a dedicated campus research network (Gopher Science Network or GSN) to connect its world-class physical and intellectual resources with its state, regional, national and global research and education partners. The new network connectivity accelerates the transition of the UMN campus from an enclave within which research is conducted to the nerve center of a widespread, interactive research ecosystem: less an ivory tower than an organic web. On a national scale, the GSN not only benefits NSF-funded research, but also strengthens existing partnerships with other agencies (e.g. NASA, NIH, DOE, DOD, USGS) and universities nationwide by facilitating bidirectional access to facilities, data, and intellectual resources.

The GSN bridges high speed links to Minnesota's regional optical network with a dedicated 100 Gbps campus research network linking two NSF funded centers located on UMN Twin Cities campus, several core campus research facilities, and advanced research in dynamic networks and high performance computing. The GSN is accelerating discoveries in genomics, proteomics, advanced networking, high resolution satellite imagery, demographics, magnetic resonance, and advanced computational research and infrastructures by removing the network as a barrier to advanced data intensive research and complex analysis workflows. With a governance structure that encourages broad participation from researchers, educators, and central IT specialists, UMN is able to magnify the broader impacts efforts of research and education projects that use the GSN.