Argonne National Laboratory supports hundreds of research projects and collaborators around the world with remote access from NoMachine NX.

About the Company

The nation's first national laboratory and one of the leading federally funded research and development centers in the country, Argonne National Laboratory, is also one of the U.S. Department of Energy's oldest and largest national laboratories for science and engineering research. Argonne's mission is to apply a unique mix of world-class science, engineering and user facilities to deliver innovative research and technologies and create new knowledge to address the most important scientific and societal needs of the nation. Argonne supports manifold research projects and has collaborative relationships with hundreds of companies, federal agencies and other organizations to perform joint research.

The Challenge

To support outside researchers and employees from anywhere, Argonne needed to provide remote access to certain beamlines of their Advanced Photon Source (APS) and engineering simulation software on the back-end computing cluster for data collection at the Transportation Research and Analysis Computing Center (TRACC). They required a solution that works well with Windows, Mac and Unix providing a multi-platform work environment. A remote access solution was needed to perform simulation with high visibility, while handling huge amounts of data with speed to prevent the delay of any research.

The Solution

Argonne chose to deploy an NX Enterprise Server cluster located centrally in Chicago enabling university researchers and contractors around the world access to software and resources hosted there via an NX connection. They can access the environment without a full Unix command line, minimize data transfer and achieve results in a timely fashion. NoMachine provides a multi-platform solution with OpenGL support to visualize complex graphics in any operating system.

NX reduces bandwidth requirements and with its speed allows users to perform research and analysis faster from remote locations. Argonne is provided the security they need to protect important information with NX's SSH encrypted technology. Currently, two thirds of the TRACC group at Argonne use NX to access critical facility software and tools.

Results

NoMachine NX met the needs of the TRACC group and APS users at Argonne and has proven to be a successful remote access solution. It provides an easy way for collaborators across the country and overseas to quickly access the Advanced Photon Source and engineering software, reducing travel costs and time delays.

For an instructional how-to video demonstrating how NX provides remote access to GM/CA CAT, please visit the Argonne National Laboratory website here: http://www.gmca.anl.gov/video/remoterastering.html.

This video shows quick and easy NX Client initiation via the use of NX Web Companion for remote access to beamlines of Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS) and engineering simulation software on the back-end computing cluster. It also demonstrates NX's high performance with applications using complex graphics.

About NoMachine NX Enterprise Server

A fully-featured Unix terminal server and desktop consolidation tool allowing users to create, manage and operate an unlimited number of virtual desktop sessions on a single server. Perfect for companies which need to offer a complete set of corporate services to all mobile and on-site employees.

NX security is guaranteed at every layer involved in the communication process. NX uses SSH public-key encryption and 128 bit volatile random cookie generation.