1. Virtual Universities: Myth or Reality? Panel for EUNIS 2000 Poznań, 13-14 April, 2000 Edward A. Fox fox@vt.edu http://fox.cs.vt.edu CC CS DLRL Internet TIC Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

2. Example: Commonwealth of VA Internet Technology Innovation Center VIVA: library “buyers club” Net.Work.Virginia Commonwealth Electronic Campus

3. University/Industry: Virginia’s Internet Technology Innovation Center Statewide University Partners - Governing Board Christopher Newport University –William Winter, William Muir, Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology Center / Southeastern Virginia Network (VECTEC/SEVAnet) George Mason University –Scott Martin, Internet Multimedia Center (ICM) –Steven Ruth, International Center for Applied Studies in IT (ICASIT) University of Virginia –Alf Weaver, Internet Commerce Group (InterCom) –Jim French, Internet Digital Library Virginia Tech –Edward Fox, Digital Library Research Laboratory (DLRL), CC, CS –Scott Midkiff, Center for Wireless Telecomm. (CWT), VTISC, ECpE

4. Position Approach bottom up Now entering 2 nd generation which is moving us closer to reality –Infrastructure: network, DB, digital library, … –Standards (IMS): metadata, multimedia, … –Train/motivate/reward faculty –Universities cooperate, publicize offerings –Work toward economic viability, sustainability

5. 1 st Generation Virtual University Broadcast courses using TV –Satellite  Network Multiple universities sharing remote facilities for graduate education @ night –Graduate Centers in: Falls Church, Roanoke, … –Community Colleges –Cooperative Extension Centers

6. 2 nd Generation Virtual University Use digital libraries of (small) knowledge modules Train and support faculty innovation –Faculty Development Initiative –8 th Year, Each faculty members gets computer –¼ faculty each year spends 3-5 days –Educational technology, distance education, –Multimedia, online course automation Cooperate: integrate IS, enhance network

7. Internet Technology Development Cycle RESEARCH LARGE-SCALE PROTOTYPE COMMERCIAL COMMODITY ARPAnet NSFnet Early ISPs AOL, Mom’s Internet (Q,M,6)-Bone Broad Wireless Abilene Net.Work.Virginia vBNS Erv Blythe VP, Information Systems Virginia Tech Jeff Crowder Net.Work.Virginia Virginia Tech

8. Networking: What’s Needed? Predictable Performance & Symmetry Interoperability Network integrity & reliability Privacy and secure transactions Ability to Find People & Resources Commodity Priced Access Six Fundamental Technology and Policy Issues

9. Characteristics of a “Next Generation Internet” Sensory Communication –teleimmersion (beyond the cave) –visual (+ aural, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory) “ go where other noses fear to sniff” Death of Distance –we can move Virginia Tech to Washington, D.C. … Design Criteria: –Reliability and Performance for Mission Critical Applications –Content and Producers are Everywhere

10. vBNS ESnet 245 Mbps Internet SprintLink Router OC3 Abilene jmc 1/3/97 Net.Work.Virginia Architecture Backbone / Gateways Sprint ROA Sprint WTN Sprint RIC Over 750 sites by end of 1999 All have ESnet & SprintLink Access Managed by Virginia Tech

11. San Francisco National Center for Atmospheric Research San Diego Supercomputer Center Houston Denver Ameritech NAP Chicago National Center for Supercomputing Applications Cleveland Perryman, MD Sprint NAP MFS NAP Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Los Angeles A Atlanta A New York City vBNS Backbone Network Map Boston Washington, DC Seattle A A C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C J J Ascend GRF 400 Cisco 7507 Juniper M40 FORE ASX-1000 NAP A C DS-3 OC-3C OC-12C OC-48 J

12. Abilene and Internet2 Internet2 as infrastructure: –150+ campus LANs –about 35 gigaPoPs –a few interconnect backbones Abilene is the 2nd Backbone –OC-48 trunks from Qwest –Cisco 12008 routers with IP/Sonet –OC-3 and OC-12 access to gigaPoPs

13. Abilene Network Cleveland New York Atlanta Indianapolis Kansas City Houston Denver Los Angeles Sacramento Seattle Abilene Router Node Abilene Access Node Operational January 1999 Planned 1999

14. Abilene Characteristics 2.4 Gbps (OC48) capacity today 13,000+ miles of circuits 70+ universities connected by end of 1999 Interconnects with other national R&E networks Built on contributions from Qwest, Nortel, Cisco, and Indiana Univ.

15. End-to-End Innovation OC3 NET.WORK.VIRGINIA World’s Most Advanced Public Network Statewide Access Regional / National / Global Access Blacksburg Electronic Village LMDS Wireless Technology Multimedia Service Access Point Local Community Access Internet 2 / NGI Multimedia Network Access Point

16. Virtual Univer- sities SGML (1985) Poznan SNC (1993) Digital Library Initiative (NSF 1994) Faculty Development Initiative (1992) University Scholarly Electronic Pub. (1988) EUNIS (1995) Improving Education Internet (1984) WWW (1994) Multimedia (1986)

17. Questions for Audience Change agent/leadership: –Bottom up (faculty driven) vs. top down? Campus control/responsibility: –Educational technology, computing, library, … –Who owns courses, course materials? Who: Current faculty vs. new staff? Scope: University, region, nation, international?

18. Decoupling Educational resources –Producing –Using Assessment, certification Collaboration –Mentoring, tutoring –Group activities