Healthcare Technology Featured Article

August 16, 2010

Healthcare Technology and News: Cox Business Launches New Supercomputer Connection to Speed Up Genetic Research


Cox Business, a facilities-based provider of voice, video and data solutions for commercial customers, announced it will provide Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) with light speed computer connection, based on Obsidian Strategics technology, an advanced, military-grade technology. With this, company officials said Cox will be providing TGen with the nation’s fastest supercomputer link among life-sciences facilities.

This LightWave service from Cox Business is based on technology designed for mission-critical military applications by Obsidian. This supercomputer connection is designed to speed up the institute’s research relating to various genetic diseases.

According to Cox, this enhanced capability moves data 100 times faster between TGen and Saguaro 2, Arizona State University’s (ASU) supercomputer. This enhanced capability will help accelerate TGen’s molecular research into diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and many types of cancer. The service also uses military grade encryption for the flow of information to ensure patient privacy.

The research process involves transferring and processing of data sets containing trillions of bits of DNA information. Previously it took more than a week to perform the task, but now it will be done in just a few hours.

The benefits will be felt more clearly in the near future, when for the institution, reducing transmission time will become more critical as TGen’s next generation sequencers will attain the capacity of easily producing as much as 30 terabytes of data per experiment, or the equivalent of an iPod with 15 million songs.

Dr. David Southwell, chief technology officer of Obsidian Strategics adds, "Cox Business’ LightWave Service, enhanced with a new technology designed for mission-critical military applications by Obsidian, achieves near perfect utilization of a 10Gb Ethernet connection by saturating the wavelength with a sustained flow of data, essentially filling the pipe, while at the same time encrypting the flow of information to ensure patient privacy."

“The field of biomedical research presents one of the greatest opportunities in transferring massive amounts of data from point to point. Our Cox LightWave Service accomplishes this quickly, and with 100 percent security, over our wholly-owned network. It’s ideal for enterprises like TGen, ASU and data centers that transmit and receive information in terabytes,” Hyman Sukiennik, vice president of Cox Business, Arizona, said.


Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Harrison
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