Juniper M5 Router Operational at STAR TAP
May 30, 2001
A Juniper M5™ Internet backbone router donated by Juniper Networks to the National Science
Foundation's STAR TAP project is now operating as the international networking exchange's
layer three peering point for the exchange of IPv4 traffic.
The recent upgrade means that STAR TAP Member Networks will be able to take advantage of
advanced services, such as line-speed forwarding, filtering, class of service, policing, class-based
forwarding, rate limiting, and sampling, even during adverse network conditions.
For example, the APAN network plans to use Juniper's Class of Service feature to implement
Internet2's QBone Scavenger Service, which lets users and applications take advantage of
otherwise unused bandwidth in a manner that does not substantially affect performance of the
default best-effort class of service.
"Juniper Networks is pleased to contribute to STAR TAP's mission of promoting long-term
interconnectivity and interoperability of advanced research networks," said Juniper Networks
Consulting Engineer John Jamison. "And the Juniper M5 router is particularly well suited to
handle the high volume of research application traffic that comes through the STAR TAP."
"We welcome Juniper's donation," said STAR TAP principal investigator Tom DeFanti. "With
three more international networks expected to connect in coming months, the M5 will allow us to
further increase our level of service."
STAR TAP supports applications, performance measuring and technology evaluations. It
connects with the Ameritech Network Access Point (NAP) in Chicago, and enables network
traffic to flow between international collaborators and over 180 U.S. leading-edge research
universities and institutions, including supercomputing centers.
About STAR TAP
The Science, Technology, And Research Transit Access Point, or STAR TAP, is a proving
ground for long-term interconnection and interoperability of advanced international networking.
STAR TAP is made possible by major funding from the US National Science Foundation to the
University of Illinois at Chicago. See: http://www.startap.net
About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of purpose-built systems that meet the scalability,
performance, density, and compatibility requirements of rapidly evolving, optically enabled IP
networks. The company's systems provide new IP infrastructure solutions for the world's leading
service providers. See: http://www.juniper.net
Contact:
Laura Wolf
Electronic Visualization Laboratory
ph: +1.312.996.3002