The University will complete the development of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, a supercomputer network that will enhance research and information analysis over a network more than 1,000 times faster than previously thought possible.
The University, along with six other state universities, was given $7 million for development from the Board of Regents. Matched with $8 million pledged by the University, the total budget for on-campus development is $15 million. The other universities involved in the project are University of Louisiana- Lafayette, University of New Orleans, Southern University, Louisiana Tech and Tulane. According to the LONI Web site, $40 million was allotted for the project as a whole to be divided between the universities.
"We have one of the most advanced computing environments in the world in Louisiana through LONI, and with the LONI Institute, we will create a research entity that allows the network to reach its full potential both for business and academic purposes," said Kristen Sunde, public relations manager for Center for Computation and Technology.
Through these research efforts, many see opportunity for educational and economic development.
CCT director Ed Seidel and the other project partners believe the LONI Institute could lead to significant economic development for Louisiana, making the state much more competitive for industrial partnerships with companies that depend on computing advances for their competitive edge, Sunde said.
With such a large database of usable knowledge, many industries that rely on computing could serve to benefit from the high-speed information sharing.
Before LONI, there was limited availability to data compiled by individual research institutions.
"We're doing something that has not really been done before," said Leslie Guice, vice president for research and development for LONI. "The possibilities are endless."
CCT has been chosen as the lead for the institute, with Seidel managing operations. Seidel was the principal investigator of the LONI institute proposal.
The purpose of the initiative is to further research primarily in the areas of biology, materials science, and computational science.
"The LONI Institute marks a significant step forward as we work to encourage use of our state's significant computational resources available through LONI," said Charles McMahon, LONI executive director.
Many industries depend on the dissemination and analysis of data to expedite their business, such as petroleum and aerospace engineering.
"Louisiana is really leading the way right now in information sharing and computing," said Guice. "By Gov. Blanco committing to the LONI program, the push has been really placed on other states to do the same thing. No one has done what we as a state have done with this, but I see it going great places."
To manage development, LONI is hiring a scientific and economic development director to manage projects between the six institutions and oversee development efforts.
The institute will not be fully-functional until fall when computational staff scientists and faculty are hired. Once hiring is completed, students will have the opportunity to work with faculty on revolutionary research projects.
"Students will have an incredible opportunity to run programs on one of the fastest supercomputers in the country," Guice said.
Publish Date:
07-10-2007
