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Introduction
Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (LM ATL) has taken another step as a leader in software and network systems development as well as in its position as a major resource for Lockheed Martin. Granted,LM ATL’s recently installed racks of computers, interconnected by an array of colorful cables, look more like a mad (computer) scientist's dream.

LM ATL’s Emulab — meaning "emulation laboratory" — provides researchers a remotely accessible network testbed capable of emulating a wide range of environments including software-defined radios,sensor and mobile wireless networks, as well as live Internet experiments. Emulab was originally developed by the University of Utah.


Not Just for LM ATL
Unlike other cluster management systems, Emulab gives researchers complete control over what becomes a private network dedicated to their project. For example, researchers have root access to their experimental systems, they can load almost any operating system and software needed, and they can power cycle any machine at any time.

Experiments, including complex network and software configurations, can be saved and easily reloaded again in the future.

Emulab resides on LM ATL’s network, but it is accessible to all Lockheed Martin sites on the LMI. Access from the external Internet is available through LM Passage/VPN.

To use Emulab, the program leader simply logs on and registers to start a project.

Once access is granted — normally in only a few hours — the program leader is responsible for authorizing and managing additional team members for their experiment. Experiments are set up using a graphic user interface (GUI).

The flexibility and utility of Emulab is limited only by the researcher’s imagination. Several planned activities include nanotechnology-related computer network research, Government- sponsored research on constraint-based resource allocation algorithms, and Global Information Gridbased experiments.


Technical Details
Each PC is connected to a programmable switching matrix with four fully configurable interfaces so that users can set up and change topologies of their experiments without having to move wires.

Each node in the 40-node Emulab cluster consists of a Dell 1950 rack-mounted PC with two Dual-Core Xeon Processors, a 4-MB Cache operating at 3.00 GHz, and an 8-GByte main memory.

LM ATL is already planning to expand the number of available nodes.

LM ATL's Emulab is designed to foster innovation and collaboration across the Corporation, and is available to streamline the way Lockheed Martin develops and tests software systems. To learn how to access this valuable research tool on any LMI connected machine, go to: http://emulab.atl.lmco.com.

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