The new year has begun with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Pacific Wave, International Networks at Indiana University (IN@IU), and the recently created Coalition of Interoperable Networks for Japan and International (CINJI). This MoU cements Pacific Wave’s continued commitment to connecting research and education networks across the Pacific Rim to Tokyo.
Pacific Wave is a joint project of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) that enables most of the advanced research and education networks in the US to cross the Pacific Ocean, allowing researchers to collaborate with colleagues around the world.
The MoU formalizes Pacific Wave’s plans to offer connectivity to the newly created Federated Units of Japan Internet eXchange Point (FUJIXP). This new Tokyo-based open exchange facility for research and education networks was established by CINJI, an alliance of Japanese academic organizations that includes the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Network (MAFFIN), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), the National Institute of Informatics (NII), and the Widely Integrated Distributed Environment (WIDE) project.
The MoU was signed last November by Shinji Shimojo of CINJI, Edward Moynihan of Indiana University, and Raul Rincon of CENIC at a ceremony held in Tokyo, Japan.
“At CENIC, we’re committed to advancing research and education by building strong, resilient connections both locally and globally,” stated Rincon, CENIC's Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. “Welcoming FUJIXP into the Pacific Wave family reinforces that mission, expanding our reach into Tokyo and enhancing our ability to support data-intensive science across borders. This partnership is a powerful example of what can be achieved when networks work together in the service of discovery.”
Pacific Wave's connection to FUJIXP will directly enable data-intensive international science collaborations such as the Belle II particle physics experiment at Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). Pacific Wave's participants connect US Department of Energy (DoE) laboratories and research universities to this collaboration of 1,200 physicists from 122 institutions across 28 countries. Belle II is expected to generate approximately 40 Terabytes of raw data daily by 2027, with data flowing from KEK in Japan to data centers distributed globally—representing a 50-fold increase in data volume compared to its predecessor experiment.
By linking the DoE’s national research network ESnet to SINET and other Asia-Pacific research networks participating in FUJIXP, Pacific Wave provides the resilient, high-capacity exchange infrastructure that makes these massive international data flows possible.
“The establishment of FUJIXP as a single, unified exchange point in Tokyo is a significant advancement for the Asia-Pacific research networking community,” stated Jonah Keough, PNWGP’s Managing Director. “Pacific Wave’s expansion to FUJIXP represents exactly the kind of strategic infrastructure development that strengthens the entire research and education ecosystem. As co-operator of Pacific Wave, and partners with Indiana University on dedicated capacity connecting Seattle to Tokyo, PNWGP is proud to support these critical efforts that enable data-intensive science collaborations through high-capacity, neutral exchange facilities. This unified approach provides access to diverse subsea paths, which are essential for resilience given the long repair times entailed by undersea cable failure, while keeping costs manageable across the community.”
As Pacific Wave continues to work with our partners in the Asia-Pacific region, we’re excited to build upon our collective investments in bringing cost-effective, resilient, and reliable connectivity to the research and education community. With significant developments in subsea cable investments over the coming years, FUJIXP will be critically positioned as a core facilitator of those growing interconnections.