SCinet Teams

The Architecture Team identifies and evaluates leading-edge technologies to be included in the network design. They work closely with other teams to implement best-in-class network topology and orchestration to deliver the best performance and advanced services to conference participants. The Architecture Team is ultimately responsible for the correct assignment and operation of all network resources. The team manages a detailed database for coordinating all connections to booths, the network operations center, distributed network operations centers, and the wide area network.

The Communications Team provides marketing communications support in advance of and during the conference, including developing online content, contributing SCinet content to the monthly SC newsletter, drafting SCinet content for the conference program guide, writing press releases, and editing SCinet vendor communications.

The Contributor Relations Team is in place to advocate for and provide support, information, and assistance to the vendors and carriers who contribute millions of dollars in equipment and services needed to build and support SCinet each year for the SC Conference. The team ensures that contributors are familiar with the information provided in the SCinet Contributor Guidelines and that they are able to derive the greatest benefit possible for their time, expertise, and solutions delivered.

The DevOps Team runs the internal software infrastructure for SCinet and works to automate the flow of information to the various entities that need it. The team administers the main database that stores team member information and manages access, mail servers, customer connection requests, and configurations for tools operated by other teams. The DevOps Team also maintains the infrastructure that monitors and measures network flows to ensure services and provide alerts when there are issues, and operates critical network services such as NTP, DNS, and DHCP.

The Edge Team is responsible for the wired edge network for the SC conference. This team provides network connectivity for conference workshops and tutorials, conference committee rooms, conference registration, Network Operations Center, Student Cluster Challenge, and wireless access points throughout the convention center and the exhibit floor.

The Experimental Networks Team engages partners in research, education, and industry to facilitate high-performance networking experiments during the SC Conference. These experiments often span multiple years, and the results serve to push the boundaries of network technologies and set the stage for SCinet’s continuous evolution to meet the network-intensive needs of the HPC community during SC. The team also leads the annual Innovating the Network for Data-Intensive Science (INDIS) workshop, which facilitates discussion of network-intensive demonstrations and advancements related to high-performance networking. The workshop also showcases the latest advances in academic and industry research that exploit SCinet’s capabilities or inform its future developments.

The Fiber Team is responsible for building the physical layer of SCinet. This team installs miles of aerial and floor fiber to connect exhibitor booth equipment to the network.

The Help Desk Team serves as the first point of contact for exhibitors regarding all SCinet services. The team provides tier-one support to exhibitors and escalates requests to other teams as necessary for resolution.

The Logistics Team is tasked with ensuring the delivery and logistical support for donated SCinet equipment. The team works closely with contributors and the conference committee to ensure that SCinet equipment is delivered in a timely manner for staging, setup, and show.

The Network Research Exhibition Team empowers researchers, computer scientists, and network engineers to experiment using the state-of-the-art SCinet network. The team helps display new and innovative demonstrations in network testbeds, emerging network hardware, protocols, and advanced network-intensive scientific applications.

The Network Security Team is charged with protecting SCinet vendor, exhibitor, and attendee resources during the conference. Activities of the team include filtering harmful network traffic, detecting and preventing compromised systems, and mitigating the effects of compromised systems.

The Power Team provides the basic power infrastructure for all SCinet gear in the network operations center and distributed network operations centers.

The Routing Team is responsible for installing, configuring, and supporting the high-performance conference network. The Routing Team also coordinates external connectivity with commodity internet and research and education wide area network service providers.

The Volunteer Services Team supports the integration of SCinet student volunteers with their assigned teams and connects them with information, resources, and activities that contribute to an incredible experience with SCinet. During setup and throughout the conference, this team serves as the first point of contact for all SCinet volunteers.

The WAN Transport Team is responsible for delivering multiple wide area network circuits to the convention center. Typically, this requires utilizing dark fiber resources in the facility, acquiring wave-division multiplexing transport equipment, and engineering, building, and supporting a metropolitan area transport system.

The Wireless Team is responsible for the wireless network for the SC conference. This team provides wireless network connectivity for conference workshops and tutorials, conference committee rooms, exhibit floor, hallways and other public spaces.