Jay R. Turner's
research helps set appropriate air-quality standards
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Jay R. Turner's research helps set appropriate air-quality standards |
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WU part
of Internet2 consortium Will enable access to Internet of the future By Tony Fitzpatrick A consortium has been formed joining three St. Louis research and higher educational institutions with SBC Communications Inc. enabling access to Internet2 (I2), a higher performance Internet that provides users with more sophisticated applications than the commodity Internet.
All the institutions expect to be participating in I2 within the next several months. I2 was begun in 1995 and today has more than 190 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced technologies to form the future Internet. Present applications of I2 can improve teaching, learning and research in higher education by providing enhanced networking features such as high bandwidth, low delay and multicast. One distinct advantage I2 provides is linkage to the nation's supercomputing centers via a sophisticated network grid. Washington University has been an I2 member since 1999 and presently uses the network for collaborations across the country for research in brain mapping and high-energy physics, among other initiatives. Jerome R. Cox Jr., Sc.D., senior professor in computer science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University, organized the efforts to bring the consortium together. "Internet2 will provide a much better environment for science and engineering research, though it is available to anybody on campus who communicates with other education institutions," said Cox, who was a longtime chair of computer science. "Primarily, it will provide more imaging capability, including three-dimensional animations, and facilitate distance learning and collaborations. Internet2 eventually will provide common access to distant resources, such as telescopes, microscopes and other instrumentation." Thomas F. Moberg, Ph.D., vice president and chief information officer at Saint Louis University, said, "Both the St. Louis Internet2 Access Consortium and our new agreement with SBC are exciting steps forward for our institutions. We are delighted to enter into this collaborative venture with Washington University and the Danforth Plant Science Center. These activities and resources will quickly lead to new applications in research and education that will benefit our students, faculty and community." Kevin Scully, chief information officer at the Danforth Center, said, "As the plant and life sciences are becoming increasingly dependent on information technology, a strong infrastructure of high-speed networking and applications, such as I2 provides, will be vital to the continuing leadership of research institutions such as the Danforth Center, Saint Louis University and Washington University in St. Louis. Our research at the Danforth Center depends on collaboration with partners around the world so we can exchange extremely large genomic data sets, cell imagery and streaming video. I2 will be an enabler for our research success. "Connectivity provided through our partnership in the St. Louis Internet2 Access Consortium will pay great dividends for science in our region for years to come." Kevin Kremer, regional vice president of major accounts for SBC Southwestern Bell-Missouri, said. "SBC is pleased and excited to be partnering with three world-class institutions in this initiative. We look forward to enabling Internet2 access over SBC's state-of-the-art network." Jan Weller, assistant vice chancellor of network and library technology at Washington University, will continue to operate Internet2 for Washington University access. "The Washington University in St. Louis campus data network was created under Dr. Cox's leadership," Weller said. "The St. Louis Internet2 Consortium was conceived based on his vision and his understanding of how networks currently support and sustain research, teaching, learning and outreach efforts. While there are immediate economic and technical benefits derived from the consortium, the future of a St. Louis regional network is rich with possibilities. We look forward to exploring this new opportunity." Cox said that the access network will allow data transmission speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second and will provide connectivity to the Abilene network for each of the consortium institutions. He expects that more area educational institutions will join the consortium once the core institutions are connected to all other Internet2 institutions through the nationwide Abilene network. For additional information on the St. Louis Internet2 Access Consortium, call Cox at 935-4621 or e-mail jrc@cs.wustl.edu. |
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