Back in the day, we installed television antennas on our homes to intercept free, black-and-white images of Uncle Miltie and Howdy Doody on a handful of basic channels. Then along came PBS, MTV, A&E, CNN, and the Discovery Channelalong with cable, satellite dishes, digital satellite systems (DSS), and high-definition television (HDTV).
The Net is growing up in a similar way. What began as a U.S. defense project in the sixties and what the National Science Foundation commercialized in the eighties is now branching out to new, educational digs called Internet 2. Here's what you need to know about this new kid in town.
Why do we need Internet 2? Vice President Gore officially unveiled Internet 2 in April 1998. Also known as the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, it will function as a testing ground for new technology that can help unclog nagging bandwidth bottlenecks.
According to the U.S. Commerce Department, Internet traffic is doubling every 100 days. That's great news for online advertisers, but bad news for the rest of us. Say you have the latest 56K modem connection to the Net at home. On most days, don't you still have to wait for Webpages? You do, because the network is overloaded. Internet 2 won't be available to the general public, but expect the advancements resulting from it to improve Net productivity at home and work within a few years.
Who's involved in the project? This new computer network is fueled by $500 million in private and collegiate investments. The U.S. government is funding basic research on using such a network. Here are some of the other major players.
The UCAID (University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development) oversees the Abilene Project-the network backbone that supports Internet 2. Indiana University staff will manage the day-to-day operations. (UCAID has an open-door policy for other corporations interested in joining this or other projects.)
Qwest Communications International provided part of its nationwide fiber network and numerous access points. According to Lew Wilks, Qwest president of business markets, "It's amazing that technological innovations, which we haven't even thought could exist, are being created."
Nortel (Northern Telecom) contributed to the network development. Says Geoff Goddard, Nortel's vice president for advanced network engineering, "The creation of the Abilene network is critical to move the industry forward."
Cisco Systems provided state-of-theart series routers and software to help create routing capabilities. According to Stephen Wolff, executive director of Cisco's advanced Internet initiatives division, "We believe that the understanding gained from the stresses of the [Abilene Project's] advanced and demanding applications can only benefit further development of products and networking technology."
Internet 2 is not the only next-generation kid in town, so the Abilene Project acts as a watchdog to ensure that these high-performance networks interconnect. For example, the National Science Foundation's vBNS (very high performance Backbone Network Service)-in conjunction with MCI-offers connectivity between a group of research and higher learning institutions. And CaIREN-2, a project of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, links more than a dozen universities.
What benefits could it produce? Internet 2 will establish a place for advanced network design research that could benefit all networks. For example, we should see marked advancements in distance education and realtime collaboration within three to five years.
According to Abilene project director Terry Rogers, "We're combining leadingedge fiber technology with leading-edge routing technology to produce the most advanced R&D network in the world and enable the most advanced applications. We plan to build a network that pushes beyond commercially available technology."
One crucial aspect of Internet 2 is the quality-of-service guarantee. Basically, it recognizes that all uses of the Net aren't equal-that they don't require the same speed or space. For example, general Net surfing requires fewer Net resources than telesurgery. So surfing would be allotted just enough resources to operate smoothly, and telesurgery would have more.
Internet 2 should be in full swing by the end of 1999, and you can find more about it at www.internet2.org. The Website offers data on the 130-plus participating universities, the corporate partners, and upcoming events.
It will take a lot of money to transfer technological improvements to the Net we now know and love. However, Internet 2 gives us some hope that relief may be on the way for our byte-filled pipes.
No one ever said that raising an Internet was going to be easy.
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