ESnet OSCARS Service (Text Version)

This is the text version of the video ESnet OSCARS Service. 

This video explains how researchers developed a dedicated, consistently high-performing online connection for NREL's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) team—accelerating time to discovery by a geographically dispersed group of scientists.

Text on screen: The latency fix: ESnet's OSCARS service.

Narrator: "Luckily, researchers didn't need to look far for the best solution."

Drawing of a businesswoman with a lightbulb above her head, her left arm bent at the elbow, and her index finger pointing up.

Narrator: "The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) had a perfect solution to address the issues encountered with a standard internet connection."

Text on top half of screen: The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network. The ESnet brand appears in a circle below that text.

Lower half of screen shows drawings of six people, representing a team of researchers.

Narrator: "ESnet's On-Demand Secure Circuits and Advance Reservation System—or OSCARS—allows ESnet to set up a dedicated connection with consistent performance for NREL's ARIES team. The connection is optimized for scientific data workflows."

ESnet brand floats to top of screen. Under it, the words 'On-Demand Secure Circuits and Advance Reservation System' appear, then transition to the acronym, 'OSCARS.' A drawing of the northwest portion of the United States appears in the background, with state boundaries visible. Moving lines indicate connections between Idaho National Laboratory (INL); the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington state.

Narrator: "Consider the OSCARS service like an HOV lane that can only be used by the labs or sites involved in the connected experiments that allows the data to flow with persistent, predictable, low-latency performance."

The ESnet brand and OSCARS acronym remain on top half of screen. On the bottom half, an animation of a four-lane highway appears, with two lanes of vehicles moving down the screen on the left, and two lanes moving up the screen on the right. The far-right lane of traffic is moving slowly up the screen. The inside-right lane, the HOV lane, is moving much faster and steadier.

Narrator: "This approach could fix the initial difficulty that real-time SuperLab encountered, and ensures the simulation can sync up, like video and voice on a videoconferencing platform."

Drawing of a laptop with the lid open. On the laptop screen, there are drawings of a woman (on the left) and a man (on the right). The woman's mouth moves as if she is speaking.

Narrator: "OSCARS has been a cornerstone in supporting data-intensive experiments like those being performed at the Large Hadron Collider or LHC. OSCARS supported global LHC scientists to make groundbreaking discoveries, like proving the existence of the elusive Higgs boson particle."

The ESnet brand and OSCARS acronym appear on top half of the screen. Below these, a flat, animated circle appears with outlines of technical instruments placed along its circumference. The text, 'Large Hadron Collider,' appears in the center of the circle. Momentarily, the animation is replaced with a photo of the LHC, then the animation reappears. Inside the circle, the text says, 'LHC.' The words, 'Groundbreaking discoveries' appear below the circle. Momentarily, a representation of moving particles appears.

Narrator: "LHC workflows require transferring of multiple petabytes of data on a regular basis. OSCARS circuits connect hundreds of geographically distributed LHC resources. This technology supports low-latency experiments like those needed for projects conducted by the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform."

The animation reappears with the words, 'Multi-petabytes of data' below the circle. A map of the world replaces the circle and text. The ESnet brand and the acronym 'OSCARS' are at the top of the screen. In the center, with the map in the background, 'LHC' appears. Lines showing connectivity expand out from 'LHC' across oceans and continents.

Narrator: "ESnet's services accelerate time to discovery by bringing different collaborators together to work together as one, as if side-by-side."

Drawings of multiple researchers appear, scattered in different parts of the world. The map fades away and drawings of six researchers move to the front and center of the screen, side by side.

Text on screen: Coming up next, From Theory to Practice, an NREL/PNNL Demo