We're moving quickly into the next phase of the Internet, and that space is being created by the Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI), sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Open and broadly inclusive, the GENI research project is designing an updated replacement for the current Internet. A new frontier would include faster data speeds, new approaches to network security, and a wide range of new features and functionality. And because it's open, this virtual laboratory offers opportunities for researchers to test new network strategies at scale, without disrupting Internet traffic. By taking "virtual slices" (entire virtual networks running on the same physical infrastructure), many different versions of a new Internet can operate in parallel.

So how are engineers playing in this digital sandbox?

Researchers and campus IT organizations are working together bring GENI to its full potential -the ability to transform global networks -while at the same time efficiently supporting campus IT operations and services. For higher education in particular, GENI offers a disruptive type of technology that will help to advance scientific research; it's important for the academic community to maintain its role in evolving the Internet.

Cisco is working to give campus network engineers a simple but powerful way to experiment: a GENI Rack. A GENI Rack, which provides connectivity to a GENI virtual slice, consists of hardware and software that provide the computation, storage, and network connectivity to the GENI environment -at scale.

Colleges don't want researchers breaking the campus network to try out a new trick. Using a GENI Rack built for complex investigation enables larger experiments that allow transparent integration with existing campus data centers. The Cisco GENI Rack brings a high-performance compute cluster with leading-edge capabilities including 100Gbps Openflow capable switches to the GENI Community.

Cisco has collaborated with RENCI, NetApp, and ePlus to build a GENI Rack based on existing Cisco products, RENCI ExoGeni software, and NetApp storage. The Cisco GENI Rack is currently undergoing certification with the GENI Project Office.

Cisco's GENI Racks will be demonstrated at Cisco LIVE in Orlando, Florida June 23rd through the 27th.

To learn more about Cisco GENI Racks, contact your local Cisco account team or email [email protected].