The Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) was established in 2018 as a collaborative focal point for operational expertise and analysis and is jointly led by Indiana University (IU) and the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet).
Improving R&E Networking
EPOC provides researchers with a holistic set of tools and services needed to debug performance issues and enable reliable and robust data transfers. By considering the full end-to-end data movement pipeline, EPOC is uniquely able to support collaborative science, allowing researchers to make the most effective use of shared data, computing, and storage resources to accelerate the discovery process.
EPOC supports six main activities:
- Roadside Assistance and Consultation via a coordinated Operations Center to resolve network performance problems with end-to-end data transfers reactively
- Application Deep Dives to work more closely with application communities to understand full workflows for diverse research teams in order to evaluate bottlenecks and potential capacity issues
- Network Analysis enabled by the NetSage monitoring suite to proactively discover and resolve performance issues
- The Data Mobility Exhibition and associated work with our simplified portal to check transfer times against known “good” end points
- Provisioning of Managed Services via support through IU’s GlobalNOC and our Regional Network Partners
- Coordinated Training to ensure effective use of network tools and science support
Looking ahead
Expanded partnerships and NetSage deployments
EPOC will be adding new partners in 2021 with a focus on additional NetSage deployments for measurement and monitoring data.
Route discovery
Members of IN@IU and EPOC will jointly support an international team to investigate preferred routing paths and to coordinate corrective actions if needed.