The NSF Pennsylvania Science DMZ (PA Science DMZ) project aims to address infrastructure and connectivity gaps in five institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Lafayette College, The Digital Foundry at New Kensington (DFNK), and Swarthmore College. By enhancing cyberinfrastructure connectivity over KeystoneREN’s advanced statewide R&E network, the project supports various research fields, including data analytics, robotics, cybersecurity, molecular dynamics, and linguistics. Beyond these immediate benefits, the initiative fosters broader collaboration, enabling smaller institutions to access critical scientific tools. The project serves as a model for regional cyberinfrastructure development, promoting inclusivity and efficiency. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) supports this effort based on intellectual merit and broader impacts.

The Pennsylvania Science DMZ (PA Science DMZ) service provides a means for researchers to collaborate with their peers. The PA Science DMZ service is analogous to a private network exchange, but is available exclusively to KeystoneREN connected institutions. Built as a performance based security enclave network, the network segment is ideal for giving a preferred path for lowest latency and best performance that would otherwise transit the public Internet. The PA Science DMZ can be a lower-cost and flexible alternative to circuit, private-line technology, or VPNs that customers may be using today for best effort connectivity between disparate locations and peers.

This design maximizes the potential uses for the PA Science DMZ and gives researchers the flexibility to implement their specific network requirements and policies. This service can be delivered as an 802.1Q tagged Layer 2 Ethernet hand off with a common Ethernet Broadcast Domain within the PA Science DMZ. Additionally, this service can also be delivered as a Layer 3 Ethernet routed interface or managed router services within the PA Science DMZ.