Major Factors in Science DMZ Deployment at Small Institutions

Abstract

The Science DMZ is a network research tool offering superior large science data transmission between two locations. Through a network design that places the Science DMZ at the edge of the campus network, the Science DMZ defines a network path that avoids packet-inspecting devices (firewalls, packet shapers) and produces near line-rate transmission results for large data sets between institutions. Small institutions of higher education (public and private small colleges) seeking to participate in data exchange with other institutions are inhibited in the construction of Science DMZs due to the high costs of deployment. While the National Science Foundation (NSF) made 18 awards in the Campus Cyberinfrastructure program (CC-NIE, CC*DNI) to investigate the designs, methods, costs, and results of deploying Science DMZs at small institutions, there lacks a cohort view of the success factors and options that must be considered in developing the most impactful solution for any given small institution environment. This paper examined the decisions and results of the 18 NSF Science DMZ projects, recording a series of major factors in the small institution deployments. In summarizing the results, we propose the Science DMZ Capital Framework (SCF) as a future-expanded model to simplify the peripheral factors that must be considered at the start of a small institution Science DMZ project.