CHAPEL HILL, NC – Sharlini Sankaran, formerly assistant director of the NC Department of Commerce Office of Science and Technology, has been named the first executive director of the Research, Engagement, and Capabilities Hub of North Carolina, or REACH NC.  Sankaran assumed her new duties November 14.

Sankaran will lead the continued development of REACH NC, a new statewide, comprehensive web portal to information on research expertise and capabilities at North Carolina’s universities and research institutions. While REACH NC will make it easier for university faculty and staff to locate potential collaborators for research and other scholarly activities, it also will provide businesses, entrepreneurs, state and local government, community organizations, and citizens with unprecedented access to information on university-based expertise and assets.

The development of REACH NC began in late 2009 as a collaborative effort of the University of North Carolina General Administration, NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Renaissance Computing Institute, a multi-campus organization that develops and deploys advanced technologies to enable research discoveries and practical innovations.  In 2010, Duke University joined the REACH NC effort as a partner.  The vision is to expand REACH NC to include additional universities and research institutions across the state.  Sankaran’s work will be supported with funding from the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies, Inc., and the Research Triangle Foundation.

Sankaran holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Ohio University and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from UNC-Chapel Hill.  At the NC Department of Commerce, Sankaran managed the Green Business Fund, a competitive program that awards grants to small businesses to encourage them to commercialize innovative green technologies.  She also organized the annual NC Nanotechnology Commercialization Conference, an event that features national-caliber speakers and attracts hundreds of attendees, and tracked the success of the One North Carolina Small Business Program and the Green Business Fund in creating jobs and leveraging funding.  Earlier in her career, Sankaran held positions with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Sigma Xi.

For more information about REACH NC, visit www.reachnc.org.

Blondin’s image of the beginnings of a supernova shockwave in the core of a star was simulated using computational resources at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy (DOE) lab, and visualized by Steve Chall and Theresa-Marie Rhyne at RENCI at NC State. The conference attracts members of the global computer-aided engineering, medical imaging, and scientific visualization communities. CEI, based in Apex, NC, develops cutting-edge visualization and animation software for customers worldwide. The Blondin/RENCI image was created using CEI’s EnSight software.

Supernovas are dying stars that explode, causing a sudden burst of radiation that can briefly outshine an entire galaxy before fading after several weeks or months. Astrophysicists theorize that as the iron core of a star cools and runs short on fuel, a shockwave of energy ripples back through the star and it explodes. Observation has backed up the theory, but so far no scientist has been able to create a complete simulation of a star’s death because of the massive computational power needed.

Blondin’s simulations and visualizations give researchers a better understanding of the dynamics of a supernova and also push the limits of supercomputing processing and data processing. Originally funded by the DOE’s Terascale Supernova Initiative, which involved NC State and seven other universities, the work aims to answer the question “How does a supernova explode?” and illustrates how supernova shockwaves move through the universe.

The visualization was also picked by CEI as the November image for the company’s 2009 calendar. http://www.ensight.com/2009-calendar-contest-winners.html

More information:
NC State astrophysics: http://wonka.physics.ncsu.edu/
CEI: http://www.ensight.com/
RENCI visualization: Visualization

RENCI…Catalyst for Innovation
The Renaissance Computing Institute brings together teams of talented researchers, engineers, technologists and leaders in government, business, the arts and humanities to attack major research questions and community issues in ways that accelerate discovery and drive innovation. RENCI has nationally significant expertise and capabilities in high performance computing, visualization, collaborative tools, networking, device prototyping, and data systems as well as engagement sites across the state. Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI is a statewide virtual organization. For more, see www.renci.org.

Collaboration means listening to the needs of your partners. So when emergency managers across North Carolina said they needed a better way to track lightning strikes, their partners at RENCI set out to apply technology and ingenuity to the problem.

The results are now in: a series of simple lightning sensors, customized by RENCI software engineers, that when completed will comprise a lightning detection network capable of locating and tracking dangerous lightning and lightning ground strikes in real time. So far, two of the lightning sensors are in place in central North Carolina at the Orange and Montgomery county emergency management offices. Another four will be installed—two in western North Carolina and two in the east.

“One thing we learned when we introduced our NC-FIRST weather data portal was that emergency managers wanted information on lightning—how concentrated the strikes are and, as accurately as possible, where they are. And they wanted this data in real time.” said Jessica Proud, a senior researcher and meteorologist with RENCI’s disaster research program.

When severe storms head across the state, an accurate picture of lightning strikes and potential strikes can be crucial to emergency managers. The information can help them determine whether people at large outdoor events—county fairs, sporting events and outdoor concerts, for example—are in danger and need to be evacuated. Archiving lightning data for further study helps in future decision making, such as figuring out the safest place to install a communications tower.
The data collected by the RENCI network will be archived by the State Climate Office of North Carolina at North Carolina State University and will be made available to emergency managers in real time across the state through RENCI’s NC-FIRST weather data portal, which pulls together a wide range of weather data into an easy-to-use format for emergency managers and first responders.

In addition, RENCI software developers are customizing the lightning sensors so that the data from each one can be integrated to create an accurate, real-time big picture of lightning strikes across the state. Other customization will be the ability to overlay radar imagery in order to better understand the dynamics of a thunderstorm in as it happens.
“Until this project, the county emergency managers really didn’t have a practical way to get this kind of data,” said Proud. “It’s a simple solution that could make a big difference.”

RENCI…Catalyst for Innovation
The Renaissance Computing Institute brings together teams of talented researchers, engineers, technologists and leaders in government, business, the arts and humanities to attack major research questions and community issues in ways that accelerate discovery and drive innovation. RENCI has nationally significant expertise and capabilities in high performance computing, visualization, collaborative tools, networking, device prototyping, and data systems as well as engagement sites across the state. Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI is a statewide virtual organization.  For more, see www.renci.org.

The Infinera equipment will support RENCI’s research agenda for BEN, which serves as a testbed for experimentation with disruptive technologies such as enabling researcher access to the dark fiber, experiments with new transmission, modulation, and coding formats, interaction between the optical plane and the packet forwarding plane in the network, network virtualization and remote visualization of high-definition images on visualization walls using multiple optical wavelengths. BEN connects sites at Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and RENCI’s main office in Chapel Hill and enables university researchers to test their software and hardware by placing equipment at these sites. North Carolina’s MCNC, which manages the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), is also collaborating with RENCI on BEN and its offices in Research Triangle Park will connect to the network.

For its experiments using BEN, RENCI chose an Infinera Digital Optical Network because Infinera’s scalability, flexibility, and ease of operations make it an ideal platform for an advanced research network where researchers are experimenting with cutting-edge technologies and applications using large volumes of bandwidth and requiring frequent reconfiguration. Infinera’s Bandwidth Virtualization™ capabilities also enabled the joint GENI proposal.

GENI’s Vision for a “Sliceable, Programmable” Network
Last year, the NSF launched an ambitious multimillion dollar project, the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI), to design and construct a large-scale network that will enable the worldwide research community to test ideas and clean-slate designs in a range of technology areas including network design, distributed systems, and cyber-security. GENI’s aim is to forge new solutions to problems facing today’s Internet including inadequate security, reliability, manageability and scalability. RENCI, Duke University, and Infinera have collaborated on a proposal that envisages a sliceable and highly programmable optical network that connects diverse storage and computing resources to enable dynamic, reliable network provisioning. End-to-end slicing, which combines provisioning of edge computer and storage resources as well as core network resources, is considered one of the top technical risks by GENI.

The Infinera optical platform can deliver these advanced experimental features because of its innovative design. Based on large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) which integrate more than 60 optical devices on a pair of chips, the Infinera system delivers bandwidth in increments of 100 Gigabits/second (Gb/s) and is scalable to 800 Gb/s today and more with Infinera’s next-generation ILS2 line system. The Infinera paradigm of Bandwidth Virtualization™ creates a “pool” of available bandwidth that can be deployed and reconfigured to deliver a wide range of optical services, from 1 Gb/s to 40 Gb/s services today, and 100 Gb/s services in the future. The Infinera PIC-based optical engine enables a highly flexible pool of bandwidth, which can be configured through service adapters to support a wide variety of services, with the entire architecture controllable with advanced GMPLS-powered network software.

The RENCI-Duke-Infinera proposal for GENI leverages the strengths of each organization. RENCI and Duke will use ORCA—a software framework developed at Duke—to implement a model for the GENI management plane and deploy it on BEN in order to create a ‘GENI island’ – a miniature version of the future GENI testbed. Infinera has used its innovative photonic integrated circuits and Bandwidth Virtualization™ feature to enable an unsurpassed level of flexibility and programmability in an optical platform for this project.

“We partnered with Infinera because we needed a scalable and flexible solution to accommodate our wide-ranging research agenda for BEN, and because we needed a product that would meet the demands for cutting-edge research necessary to participate in the GENI initiative,” said Ilia Baldine, manager of network research and infrastructure at RENCI. “Infinera’s solutions provided us with the best pathway to create a high-speed reconfigurable experimental network and to become a leader in developing the next generation of advanced research networks.”

“We are excited to partner with RENCI on its Breakable Experimental Network and on the GENI proposal,” said Infinera Chief Technology Officer Drew Perkins. “Leading-edge research like that envisaged by GENI will play a vital role in developing new technologies for a more powerful, flexible, scalable Internet that can support the applications of the future.”

The Infinera DTN is a Digital ROADM for long-haul and metro core networks, combining high-capacity DWDM transport, integrated digital bandwidth management, and GMPLS-powered service intelligence in a single platform.

For further information
Media:
Jeff Ferry
Infinera
Tel. +1-408-572-5213
jferry@infinera.com

Investors:
Bob Blair
Infinera
Tel. +1-408-716-4879
bblair@infinera.com

About RENCI
The Renaissance Computing Institute, a multi-institutional organization, brings together multidisciplinary experts and advanced technological capabilities to address pressing research issues and to find solutions to complex problems that affect the quality of life in North Carolina, our nation and the world. RENCI leverages its expertise and resources in leading edge computing, visualization, networking and data technologies to catalyze new collaborations and find solutions to previously intractable problems. Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI is a statewide virtual organization. For more, see www.renci.org.

About Infinera
Infinera provides Digital Optical Networking systems to telecommunications carriers worldwide. Infinera’s systems are unique in their use of a breakthrough semiconductor technology: the Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC). Infinera’s systems and PIC technology are designed to provide optical networks with simpler and more flexible engineering and operations, faster time-to-service, and the ability to rapidly deliver differentiated services without reengineering their optical infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.infinera.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Infinera as of the date hereof; and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Infinera’s expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, such as the benefits and capabilities of our products and the Digital Optical Network’s architecture, that RENCI chose an Infinera Digital Optical Network because Infinera’s scalability, flexibility, and ease of operations make it an ideal platform for an advanced research network where researchers are experimenting with cutting-edge technologies and applications using large volumes of bandwidth and requiring frequent reconfiguration, that Infinera’s Bandwidth Virtualization™ capabilities enabled the joint GENI proposal; that the Infinera optical platform can deliver advanced experimental features because of its innovative design that based on large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) which integrate more than 60 optical devices on a pair of chips, the Infinera system delivers bandwidth in increments of 100 Gigabits/second (Gb/s) and is scalable to 800 Gb/s; that the Infinera paradigm of Bandwidth Virtualization™ creates a “pool” of available bandwidth which can be deployed and reconfigured to deliver a wide range of optical services, from 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s services today, and 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s services in the future, that Infinera’s “programmable optical network” is based on the powerful PIC-based optical engine enabling a highly flexible pool of bandwidth that can be configured through service adapters to support a wide variety of services, and that Infinera has used its innovative integrated components and Bandwidth Virtualization™ feature to enable an unsurpassed level of flexibility and programmability in an optical platform for this project. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by forward-looking words such as “anticipated,” “believed,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “will,” and “would” or similar words. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include aggressive business tactics by our competitors, our dependence on a single product, our ability to protect our intellectual property, claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property, our manufacturing process is very complex, product performance problems we may encounter, our dependence on sole or limited source suppliers, our ability to respond to rapid technological changes, our ability to maintain effective internal controls, the ability of our contract manufacturers to perform as we expect, a new technology being developed that replaces the PIC as the dominant technology in optical networks, general political, economic and market conditions and events, including war, conflict or acts of terrorism; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 2008, our public announcements and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Kenneth J. Galluppi will lead RENCI efforts to utilize advanced technologies in planning for, mitigating, and recovering from natural and man-made disasters, including hurricanes and their aftermath. He will work with university, business, and community groups to integrate high-end technology tools into development and emergency plans. These tools could include visualization for predictive and real-time models of environmental conditions, data mining algorithms for analyzing evacuation and rescue routes, and high-end computers for calculating changing conditions in near real time.

Galluppi was senior scientist and program manager at the UNC-Chapel Hill Carolina Environmental Program, where he identified environmental issues requiring multidisciplinary research and brought together project teams to address those issues. He was co-PI of the environmental program’s Carolina Environmental Bioinformatics Research Center, where he applied computational infrastructure and modeling approaches to a wide range of bioinformatics problems and managed multidisciplinary outreach and translation activities. Galluppi spent two years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Exposure Research Laboratory and six years at the North Carolina Supercomputing Center as co-director, director of scientific and environmental programs and as a program manager. Galluppi also has been a consultant on air quality model evaluation, risk assessment and regulatory compliance and was a model and system developer for Computer Science Corporation. He has a master’s degree in meteorology and served as an officer and environmental analyst with the U.S. Air Force.

Chris Heermann comes to RENCI from Internet2, where he spent four years as a networking engineer for the Abilene national research and education network. Heermann’s duties included planning, designing and testing network initiatives, working with network operations, testing and evaluation centers, and collaborating with Internet2 members, corporate partners and network participants. He initiated and developed the Collaborative Wireless Infrastructure Initiative, a program that coordinates wireless access from the network infrastructure to the last mile, including remote sensor network deployments. He is a member of the design team for the Hybrid Optical Packet Infrastructure (HOPI), a national test bed that examines new network architectures capable of delivering next-generation services. With over 18 years of experience, Heermann has worked in both R&E and the commercial sector.

At RENCI, Heermann will lead efforts to improve connectivity among North Carolina universities, communities and industries in order to enable research, education and economic development. He also will work with scientists who use RENCI resources to ensure they have the bandwidth needed to use remote computing resources and applications.

“With the addition of Ken and Chris, RENCI has taken a giant step forward in reaching out to all the audiences we aim to serve,” said RENCI Director Dan Reed. “Technology and technical expertise are as crucial to disaster mitigation and recovery as they are to research and economic development. And stable, high-speed network connectivity is the glue that binds together the technologies and the people who use them.”