Internet2 is a consortium of universities, corporations, and affiliated organizations working together with the government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies in order to accelerate the creation of the next generation Internet. Internet2 once again establishes the partnership among academia, industry and government that originally fostered today’s Internet.

Internet2 is here and it will likely change the way many of us do business in terms of research and distance education. The bandwidth available through participation in Internet2 will provide universities, corporations, museums, libraries, hospitals, and others almost unlimited resources to move vast quantities of data internationally. Current applications focus primarily on research among universities and between them and other researchers outside of the university setting. However, distance education is likely to be an even more widespread application in the long run. And for those interested in attracting top notch faculty, it is rapidly becoming a benchmark for successful recruitment in many disciplines.

By using a consortial approach through the Alliance Internet2 GigaPoP, academic institutions can save nearly two-thirds of the cost and corporations can save about one-third. Of equal importance, interacting with a group of organizations trying to collaborate in achieving a common objective typically leads to a series of outcomes that are enhanced by mutual support. . .in other words, we learn from one another!

Leading edge technologies are applied to provide very high bandwidth and very short response times. This enables the development and deployment of innovative, real-time applications that operate at a distance. Those involved with Internet2 are encouraging the development of applications that use this new networking infrastructure in ways that benefit the economic and social improvement of individuals, companies, industries, regions and communities.

This is not just about increasing the speed of the Internet. New activities that initiate the development, testing, incubation and demonstration of new business and user-focused applications designed to specifically take advantage of the features and performance of the Next Generation Internet are now on the forefront of this effort.

Look for things to happen in the areas of collaborative design and product development, work force support, community interaction and real time relationship support, real-time supply chain integration, manufacturing engineering, medical services and education, media and information services, and training and technical support.

Internet2 activity is happening now. It started in 1996 with the establishment of the vBNS Network through access to the MCI/Worldcom nationwide fiber optic network. This connected many major universities and supercomputer sites in order to foster leading edge research projects. In 1997 the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) was formed to provide high-performance network connectivity to universities that could not justify connecting to the vBNS.

In April of 1998, the Abilene Network (not related to Abilene, Texas) was announced as a UCAID development based on the Qwest Communications nationwide fiber optic network, using leading edge network technologies provided by Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and other high tech firms. Abilene is an advanced backbone network that connects regional network aggregation points (GigaPoPs).

Internet2 has reestablished and improved significantly upon the Quality of Service (QoS of the original Internet by providing between 100 and 1000 times the bandwidth that we currently experience with the Internet. This performance has enabled the resumption of leading edge application development and collaborative academic research that was provided by the original Internet before 1995.

The Internet2 backbone only carries traffic related to university education and research. No commercial or personal traffic is allowed thereby ensuring that there will not be many, if any, surprising demands for the available capacity. The minimum bandwidth connection to an Internet2 Point of Presence (PoP), such as the one at the new Alliance facility adjacent to the University of Texas at Dallas, is a 155 megabit per second OC-3 connection. This is 100 times more bandwidth than the typical 1.5 megabit per second T1 line that represent the best connection available to Internet users. Even more bandwidth is allowed by using OC-12 and OC-48 connections.

The Alliance Internet2 GigaPoP is a project coordinated by the Alliance for Higher Education. There is an advisory council comprised of leaders from Alliance member institutions that oversees this activity. An Internet2 hub is located at the Alliance facilities. There is an OC-3 local loop between the Qwest Communications Abilene Network PoP on Bryan Street in downtown Dallas and a Cisco router (GSR 12008) at the Alliance that became operational in August of this year. Four universities and Alcatel USA have joined the Alliance Internet2 GigaPoP to connect via direct DS3 digital communication lines.

Contact Sylvia Kelley at the Alliance for Higher Education at 972-713-8170 or sylviak@allianceedu.org.