Opening a University Fiber Highway between Mexico and the US

Binational business and cultural exchange between Mexico and the United States can be complemented adequately by an enhanced scientific collaboration. A high-bandwidth optical fiber link between La Jolla, California, USA and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico is currently shared between the Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (CUDI), Mexico’s Internet 2 initiative, and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). A meteorological computing-intensive parallel application requiring high-bandwidth connectivity would launch collaborations between Mexico’s leading science, technology and Internet 2 organizations and associated Mexican universities, and their Californian counterparts. A demonstration grid was set up between the San Diego Supercomputer Center and CICESE, a scientific research facility in Ensenada, Mexico, and weather systems that occur over the western United States and the Baja California peninsula were simulated. Significant savings in computing time have been achieved. A successful implementation of the MM5 meteorological model on this demonstration grid may present an incentive to bring dark fiber to CICESE. With an enhanced connectivity, we expect to provide the means to realize collaborations between groups working on oceanographic, seismic and ecological undertakings in both countries.