Defense Research and Engineering Network

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The Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) is the United States Department of Defense’s recognized research and engineering network. It is a major component of the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The DREN is a robust, high-capacity, low-latency nation-wide network that provides connectivity between and among the HPCMP's geographically dispersed High Performance Computing (HPC) user sites, HPC Centers, and other networks. The DREN Wide Area Networking (WAN) capability is provided under a commercial contract. The DREN WAN service provider has built DREN as a virtual private network based on its commercial infrastructure.

The DREN provides digital, imaging, video, and audio data transfer services between defined service delivery points (SDPs). SDPs are specified in terms of WAN bandwidth access, supported network protocols [Multi Protocol Label Switching, Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)], and local connection interfaces. DREN currently supports both IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6) at bandwidths from DS-3 (45 Mbit/s) at user sites up to OC-48c (2.488 Gbit/s) at selected HPC Centers. Future bandwidths will scale even higher. Expansions or enhancements to the DREN as a whole are accomplished through the addition of defined SDPs or modifications to the operating specifications of existing SDPs. The sites connected by DREN services may be at virtually any location in the continental United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and at OCONUS sites.

Incorporating the best operational capabilities of both the DoD and the commercial telecommunications infrastructure, DREN is the official DoD long-haul network for computational scientific research, engineering, and testing in support of DoD's S&T and T&E communities. It has also been designated as a DoD IPv6 pilot network by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Networks & Information Integration)/DoD Chief Information Officer [ASD (NII)/DoD CIO]. DREN enables over 4,300 scientists and engineers at DoD and other government laboratories, test centers, universities, and industrial locations to use HPCMP computing resources. Since its inception, DREN has been very active in transferring leading edge network and security technologies across DoD and other federal agencies. Since users and resources are scattered throughout the United States, strong interconnectivity with other major networks and high performance test beds at key interconnect points are critical for optimal use of DoD HPC resources.