AmLight Shines at SC25 With Record-Breaking Network Performance and Global Collaboration

AmLight achieved a major milestone at SC25, delivering more than 1.5 Tbps of bidirectional traffic from Latin America to the conference show floor—more than double the throughput achieved at SC24, which peaked at under 0.7 Tbps. The accomplishment drew strong praise across the international research networking community, including from Harvey Newman of Caltech, who highlighted AmLight’s outstanding performance and the contributions of its users and members such as Rednesp, RNP, UEFS, Unesp, and USP.

This achievement was made possible thanks to broad support from AmLight’s global partners. Angola Cables provided a dedicated channel for SC25, Ciena loaned a Waveserver 5 chassis, ESnet contributed a Waveserver 6E transponder, and OpenGlobe supplied 4×400G transceivers in Brazil. Network providers also played a key role, with Lumen delivering a 400G link from St. Louis to Miami, Verizon providing dual 100G circuits, and Zayo offering a 400G link from St. Louis to Atlanta.

SC25 also served as a testbed for cutting-edge networking technologies. AmLight deployed a newly developed, previously untested P4 pipeline alongside a new release of Kytos-ng, updated monitoring tools, a redesigned patch panel interconnection at Equinix MI1, new 400G Tofino 2 switches, and the debut of the Polka P4 application for Tofino 2. The CIARA admin team played a pivotal role in supporting last-minute equipment needs to ensure the success of these deployments.

Planning for SC26 is already underway. Early discussions with RNP, Rednesp, Ciena, and Internet2 suggest that even AmLight’s 800G Monet channel may be insufficient for next year’s goals. The team is targeting 1.6 Tbps of unidirectional traffic for 2026, supported by new potential pathways including an 800+ Gbps channel out of Jacksonville via Internet2’s spectrum, additional 400G capacity through NA-REX/Atlanta, and continued 400G connectivity from Miami via Lumen.

Set to take place in Chicago, SC26 promises to be even larger, more complex, and more ambitious. AmLight aims not only to scale its technical capabilities but also to expand international participation, bringing more network research experiments from Latin America and Africa.

With preparations beginning in January, the AmLight and SCinet teams are gearing up for what promises to be a groundbreaking year in global research networking innovation.