Last year, CANARIE experienced 83 percent growth in data traffic, going from 46,149 Terabytes to 84,630 Terabytes in just twelve months. Much of this data comes from “big data” projects like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Europe, where they recently discovered proof for the existence of the Higgs’ boson particle. Canada’s TRIUMF facility in Vancouver is a Tier-1 data site for the LHC computing grid and uses the CANARIE network to transfer data to and from the other sites.

Spanning across Canada – from Victoria, BC to St John’s, NL - CANARIE’s network connects more than 89 universities, 101 colleges, 47 CEGEPS, 127 provincial and federal government labs and research parks, 62 hospitals and health networks, 24 cultural institutions, thousands of K-12 schools, 12 provincial and territorial optical network partners, and more than 100 international peer networks in 80 countries. Its unparalleled footprint and diverse user base enabled the transmission of 84,630 Terabytes of data last year.

The upgraded Montreal to New York link will provide high-performance optical transport to enable the delivery of big data streams and foster greater scientific collaboration – both in-region and internationally – for key Canadian research and education centers that are working on projects including everything from particle physics to genomics and neuroscience.Ciena Corp.