Funded by the PNRR, TeRABIT (Terabit Network for Research and Academic Big Data in ITaly) has the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) as proponents and CINECA and GARR Consortium as partners. The project aims at integrating and enhancing three strategic research digital infrastructures identified by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Research Infrastructure Plan 2021-2027 in order to make them more easily accessible by the Italian scientific community. The three infrastructures involved are:
- GARR-T, the network infrastructure supporting education and research in Italy;
- PRACE-Italy, high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, the Italian node of the European PRACE infrastructure;
- HPC-BD-AI, distributed cloud-edge computing infrastructure capable of managing high-performance computing resources, big data, and artificial intelligence applications.
TeRABIT has recently entered a new phase with the acquisition of a portion of Sparkle’s BlueMed submarine cable that will allow to connect Sardinia university and research network to the national GARR-T network. Thanks to this acquisition, it will be possible to use cutting-edge technologies that will exploit the optical spectrum of the BlueMed submarine cable system. This innovation represents the first step towards achieving dual high-speed optical fibre connectivity in Sardinia, ensuring not only rapid data transmission to the research and university world, but also greater reliability extending globally. The technologies for the access, use and services associated with the TeRABIT integrated system will be developed in synergy with the Italian Research Centre on High Performance Computing, i Big Data and Quantum Computing (ICSC), PNRR intervention to which this project is complementary.
“Thanks to the open cable technology, which offers the possibility to freely manage a wide range of spectrum rather than individual optical signals, this new digital optical fibre bridge will eliminate the distance of the island creating a seamless integration between the GARR-T infrastructure in the peninsula and that of Sardinia, effectively opening a unified optical network throughout the national territory. Today’s is the first stone of the expansion of GARR-T, which will be completed by 2025 and will provide connectivity up to 400 Gbps,” said Massimo Carboni, GARR Chief Technical Officer.
The new network connection will support the needs of several research infrastructures and laboratories in Sardinia and will strengthen the candidacy of the Sos Enattos area to host the Einstein Telescope project, the third-generation detector 10 times more sensitive than those currently existing. Once the expansion is completed, the GARR-T network will increase of 5,000 km of optical fibre, reaching a total capacity of approximately 40 Tbps throughout Italy.
