Presidential Address to School Children Spikes Network Traffic

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Presidential Address to School Children Spikes Network Traffic

September 10, 2009

By Brian Warkoczeski

ANN ARBOR, MI - For the second time in 2009, an event featuring the President of the United States caused a spike in network traffic in Michigan and around the country. President Barack Obama's school-time address from Wakefield High School in Virginia on September 8, 2009, was streamed live from the White House web site to schools and locations around the country and broadcast on ESPN and other television outlets.

During the time period of the president's address, traffic from Merit's network to the Internet2 Network router in Washington D.C. climbed to over 8 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of traffic.

"We have two 10 Gbps connections to the Internet2 Network," said Robert Duncan, network engineering director for Merit Network. "Our primary route to the Internet2 Network is through Cleveland, and our secondary route is through Chicago. Our layer 3 traffic for Internet2 then goes on to Washington D.C."

While not as large as the 15-18 Gbps of network traffic experienced on Merit's backbone during the President's Inauguration in January, network traffic on the Internet2 Network router in Washington D.C. doubled from 4 Gbps prior to the event to over 8 Gbps during the event.

"Our network performed extremely well on both occasions," said Bob Stovall, Merit Network's vice president of network operation and engineering. "The backbone has been engineered to perform well during those types of situations. We have enough capacity and routes to provide reliable connectivity for our Members during high-demand situations."

Merit Network's backbone remained stable and was unaffected during both network traffic spikes. With multiple 10 Gbps network paths to the Internet2 Network and the commodity Internet, Merit's backbone is capable of accommodating bursts in network traffic.

"Whether it's during an event featuring the President or a large interactive video event, like Megaconference Jr., our network provides the reliable connectivity our Members need to serve their users," Stovall said.

About Merit

Merit Network Inc., a nonprofit corporation owned and governed by Michigan's public universities, owns and operates America's longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan's public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained on the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking solutions to Michigan's public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations.

For more information: www.merit.edu

For press/media contact:

Elwood Downing
Merit Network, Inc.
Phone: (734)527-5702
Email:

Go to the Merit Network News Archive.