Vol. 19, No. 12

Nov. 18, 1999

Internet2 partnership brings
high-speed connection to UD

The University became a "live" Internet2 partner Sept. 27 by connecting to Abilene, a high-performance computer network. One of 36 charter members of the Internet2 initiative, UD now has an established connection to Abilene that transmits data more than 10 times faster than its connections to the Internet-155 million bits of information per second. The Internet2 project is a collaborative effort to design a new Internet that will accommodate an astronomical increase in demand for service in the very near future, while facilitating new types of service such as "real-time" video and audio transmission. Internet2 researchers are using dedicated high-performance networks, like Abilene, and high-speed connections to it, as laboratories for network development. Internet2 research is complementary to the federal government's Next Generation Internet (NGI) project. The direct connection to Abilene guarantees the vast increase in network capacity, or bandwidth. Although only a very small amount of the bandwidth is being used today, the new connection dedicates the 155 million bps to UD users at all times, according to Dan Grim, Information Technologies/Network and Systems Services, the engineering leader at UD for Internet2. Named for a railroad junction in Abilene, Kan., that opened access to the frontier in 1860, the Abilene connection is one of many high-performance networks the Internet2 researchers will use to advance network technology. Abilene and the National Science Foundation's very high-performance Backbone Network Services (vBNS), are the two largest high-performance networks. Together, Abilene and vBNS currently connect more than 150 U.S. universities and government agencies. The UD campus network has been configured to route any data transmissions destined for one of these Abilene or vBNS sites over the Abilene network, Grim explained. To take full advantage of the high-performance backbones, UD's Network and Systems Services unit will upgrade the campus network with dedicated switches, so that 10- to 100-megabit-per-second connections to Abilene will be available to individuals in participating departments and laboratories. Currently, those in laboratories share a 10-megabit-per-second (mbs) connection with others, which means they rarely have access to the full, 10-mbs capability. At least 16 teams of researchers at UD- in electrical and computer engineering; marine studies; chemistry and biochemistry; computer and information sciences; chemical engineering; civil and environmental engineering; physics and astronomy; and the Bartol Research Institute-are eager to start using Abilene in their projects. Kenneth Barner of electrical and computer engineering, for example, wants to transmit video images of messages in sign language. Xiao-Han Yan, marine studies, needs to receive detailed and dynamic information about atmospheric circulation and the climate for numeric models that simulate ocean conditions. Murray V. Johnston III, chemistry and biochemistry, will invite researchers across the country to "use" his laboratory's extensive collection of mass spectrometers, by transmitting live video images of their experiments to the collaborating institutions. As Internet2 partners, these and other UD researchers will be contributing to the development of sophisticated new Internet applications. The increased capacity of the high-performance backbones will be critical for gathering and sending vast amounts of data, and to address the anticipated increase in Internet use by the general public, which will make the recent yearly doubling of traffic seem modest, says Susan J. Foster, vice president, information technologies. Internet2 researchers also need to develop and test new methods and protocols for "streaming, " or transmitting data in real time, and to accommodate "nomadic" computing. Streaming data would make it possible, for instance, to listen to a Seattle symphony concert on a computer network, or to let a student in Iowa claim a virtual seat in a classroom in Gore Hall. Currently, the Internet uses a transfer protocol, which breaks apart a body of data such as a message and then reassembles it upon delivery. The strategy efficiently maximizes the network's capacity. But, it wouldn't support the transmission of a lecture or a symphony concert, which the user would want to hear just as it would be performed, in real time. Internet2 researchers want to multicast these performances. Unlike a broadcast, which would transmit the concert to every point on the network, a multicast would make efficient use of bandwidth by transmitting only to designated points on the network. Unlike e-mail sent to a large list, with copies to each list member, a multicast would efficiently send a single copy over the network to multiple recipients. Nomadic computers are the anticipated next-generation of cell phones, pagers and wireless devices that will require network addresses in order to allow connection to the Internet. Someday soon, researchers expect that everyone's TV set will be an Internet host, connected to the Internet. Internet Protocol (IP) governs the assignment of network addresses. Internet2 is testing a new version, Ipv6, which is designed to accommodate these new requirements. Researchers in computer and electrical engineering at the University, who played a significant role in the design and development of network technology for the Internet, are now contributing to Internet2 network design, specifically with projects in data streaming and multicasting. -Susan Allmendinger Internet2 Awareness Day planned Jan. 19, 2000, will mark the date of UD's first Internet2 Awareness Day, to be held in Memorial Hall. The program will help participants understand what Internet2 is and how it is altering teaching and research at UD and elsewhere. Speakers will include David J. Farber, the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania; Ted Hanss, director of applications development, University Corp. for Advanced Internet Development; and UD faculty members, including Murray V. Johnston III, Chandra Kambhamettu and David L. Mills. They will discuss and demonstrate Internet2-enabled research and network-enhanced collaboration across widely varying disciplines. Advance registration will be encouraged because of the lecture hall's seating limitations, according to Dick Sacher, applications lead at UD for Internet2. An online registration form will be available shortly at the web site <http://www.udel. edu/topics/internet2/i2day/register.html >. Further details will be provided in a future issue of UpDate.