Description

Internet2 is led by over 185 US universities, including the University of Puerto Rico. Close collaboration with Internet2 corporate members will ensure that new applications and technologies are rapidly deployed throughout the Internet. Just as email and the World Wide Web are legacies of earlier investments in academic and federal research networks, the legacy of Internet2 will be to expand the possibilities of the broader Internet.

The investments by universities in Internet2, coupled with the efforts of industry and government, are helping to develop technologies such as IPv6, multicasting, and Quality-of-Service that will enable a new generation of Internet applications, benefiting all sectors of the society. The wisdom of this approach to network research has been proven by the rise of today's Internet from the academic and federal research networks of the 1980s. Internet2 will replicate this by relying on the university community for pre-commercial development. Internet2 participation is open to any university that commits to providing on-campus facilities that will allow advanced applications development on its campus. The financial investment required to meet these obligations may be more than many institutions can manage right now. However, Internet2 intends to rapidly transfer the developments to the broader networking community. The cost of technology used and developed by Internet2 will drop within the reach of any institution that currently has a commodity Internet connection. Fifteen years ago, connecting to the Internet was frequently as expensive as participating in Internet2 is today. As the technology dropped in price, the efforts of the initial participants in network research spread out to reach the entire academic community. Deployment of Internet2 technology will follow a similar pattern.

Meritorious Applications

Internet2 is about everything we do in higher education, encompassing projects involved with teaching, learning and research. Therefore, the project encourages and supports applications development in all disciplines from the sciences through arts and humanities. One common characteristics of Internet2 applications is that they require advanced networks. That is, these applications will not run across commercial Internet connections. Internet2 applications require enhanced networking functionality, such as high bandwidth, low latency (delay), Quality of Service or multicast which not currently available on our commercial Internet connections. Typically, Internet2 meritorious applications possess attributes from the following categories.

• The first is interactive collaboration environments, where you can truly interact with others without the barriers of distance.
• The second is to provide common access to remote resources, such as telescopes and microscopes.
• The third is using the network as a "backplane" to build network-wide computation and data services.
• The fourth attribute is displaying information through virtual reality environments, i.e., moving from static graphics and images to moving, three-dimensional animations.

For a comprehensive collection of illustrative applications, check out the database maintained by the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research.

It is important to mention that most of the 3000 applications listed in the Clearinghouse are available in some form or other. Having the capability of adapting existing applications to suit particular needs, results that researchers at the University of Puerto Rico need not necessarily recreate the wheel. Internet2 organizes a variety of activities through which members can collaborate on new technologies, applications, and the development of best practices in building and maintaining high performance environments. A series of working groups in such areas as multicast, quality of service, IPv6, digital video, and others are focused on testing and deploying specific advanced networking and applications technologies. Members also work together on projects and initiatives in middleware design and implementation, such as common directory structures and authentication mechanisms, and in application areas like health sciences and fine arts. Internet2 holds general member meetings in the spring and the fall of each year, and several other regularly scheduled technical meetings throughout the year.