November 18, 1999 Internet 2 Mike Rackley Head of Information Technology Services

November 18, 1999 The Applications What are Internet 2 Applications? “They deliver qualitative and quantitative improvements in how we conduct research and engage in teaching and learning. They require advanced networks to work.” -- Sept 9, 1998 Ted Hanss, Internet2

November 18, 1999 The Applications... Learningware - Substantially increase the quality and inventory of instructional software and make the creation, management and use of such software significantly easier –Example: Provide a large digital repository of instructional materials, including rich multimedia content, accessible to university faculty to aid in the creation of online instruction. Make access to such materials convenient and routine.

November 18, 1999 The Applications... Tele-immersion - Extend the reach of immersive environments to multiple participants at physically separate locations –Example: A CAVE is a high end research environment where participants enter a room to interact with a computer generated, virtual reality. Consider such an environment unbounded by geography where participants can join the immersion via a high performance network.

November 18, 1999 The Applications... Digital Libraries - Migrate “exotic” information such as continuous digital audio and video from limited use, poor quality to mainstream use, broadcast quality –Example: A presentation by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra that captures the true experience requires significantly more than “postage stamp” size video and low quality audio common on the Internet today.

November 18, 1999 The Applications... Virtual Laboratories - Create a laboratory environment unbounded by geography to permit routine, collaborative work among groups of researchers around the world –Example: An expensive piece of lab equipment could be made available to researchers via the network in a way that matches the experience of being in the same room with the instrument. This requires realistic “projection” of the instrument controls and measurements, including tactile response/feedback systems.

November 18, 1999 An Interesting Calculation Normal TV picture resolution approximates 640x480 pixel PC monitor resolution One B&W frame of TV can be represented digitally by ~ 640·480·1 or 307,200 bits of information Color approximated by bits per bits of information per pixel One color frame of TV ~ 640·480·16 or 4,915,200 bits of information

November 18, 1999 An Interesting Calculation… A TV picture is updated 30 frames per second To transmit full color, full motion TV without “tricks” requires ~ 640·480·16·30 or ~ 150 Mbps of information HDTV will bring higher resolutions, with even higher bandwidth requirements A typical Internet connection is T1, or 1.5 Mbps Frames must be delivered “on time” for motion to appear smooth

November 18, 1999 An Interesting Calculation… Now consider thousands of users placing such demands on the network simultaneously

November 18, 1999 What is Internet 2? An agreement among 150+ universities to: –Create a very high speed network among participating campuses –Use the network to facilitate development of the next generation of network based, bandwidth intensive, education and research applications –Transfer the technologies and lessons learned to the commodity Internet

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The Need for I2 Existing commodity Internet under stress due to skyrocketing traffic demands Commerce, not education and research, has become the major focus Limited bandwidth and no “quality of service” mechanisms Ill equipped to support next generation of network intensive education and research applications

November 18, 1999 Connection Issues Must connect to one of two national high speed backbones, vBNS or Abilene Typical connection speed is OC3, equivalent to 100 T1 lines High speed campus network infrastructure required to permit ubiquitous access to faculty and researchers

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Organization The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development, UCAID, is a non-profit consortium of I2 members I2 is its first, and so far only, project Provides administrative structure to I2 initiative

November 18, 1999 MSU’s Experience We’ve been preparing for 3+ years by investing heavily in upgraded campus network infrastructure Received NSF HPC award, Fall of 1998 –$550K federal funds over two years –$350K university match over two years Searched for affordable wide area solution for 2+ years - lack of carrier competition a big problem

November 18, 1999 MSU’s Experience… Breakthrough announcement of Abilene access node scheduled for Jackson, MS Originally scheduled for connection in July, 1999 Connection finally achieved October 25 Now it’s time for faculty and researchers to step forward

November 18, 1999 Summary Internet 2 is a University-led high speed networking and applications development initiative Rapidly evolving “work in progress” Technologies and applications will migrate over time to commodity Internet Expensive but important –To maintain research leadership position –To compete in “anywhere, anytime” higher education world of the future