The
original Internet "jest grew" from its origins as
ARPANet and the various university networks. Now
it's a chaotic, sprawling mess, rife with speed
bumps, bandwidth clogs, messy constructions, and so
forth, and it will not be able to easily handle the
explosive growth expected in the next few years.
Hence, the Internet2 "Abilene" project. Based on a
"backbone" of sites located mostly on the East
Coast, I2, also being termed the "Supernet" or "Next
Generation Internet," is projected to be an orderly,
well-thought-out, high-tech, high-speed alternative
to the existing Internet. It will be of particular
use to academic and government networkers. As of
late February '99, I2 officially opened for business
within a closed network of universities, predicted
to number around 75 by year's end; thousands of
universities. schools, and libraries are in the
process of being connected as well. Already it's
being used for, among other things, doctors in one
location to participate in surgery at another
location via I2's (or NGI's) 2.4 gbps (that's
gigabits per second -- whoosh!) connections. You and
I can't get on it yet, but you can read about it at
www.internet2.edu/ and www.ucaid.edu/abilene/
What has the great unwashed received from all of
this supergeeky stuff? Well, VRML is a product of
the Supernet...okay, you don't care about that. How
about using VRML in terrain-mapping software that
makes game worlds come alive? Lara Croft can really
kick booty with this new technology. Robot surgery?
Interactive visual conversation simulators?
DVD-quality and HDTV video transmissions? MP3
technology? As broadband networking becomes the
standard rather than the exception, and souped-up
Ethernet network technology becomes available to us
louts, the Supernet will eventually open up new
computing worlds for us all. Find out more at
www.ngi-supernet.org/, www.ngi.gov/, and
www.ngi.org/. A good article on the state of NGI/I2
is at www.byte.com/documents/
s=7240/byt1023903443170/0617_geer.html (you'll
have to join up, and pay up, to read this article);
another (from 2001) is at http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~almeroth/classes/
W02.176B/papers/i2-overview.html. Note: "NGI"
and "Internet2" seems to be dividing into two
related but separate beasts, the first a program
mostly serving government and research needs, and
the second bringing NGI-type technologies into the
mainstream.
The
original Internet "jest grew" from its origins as
ARPANet and the various university networks. Now
it's a chaotic, sprawling mess, rife with speed
bumps, bandwidth clogs, messy constructions, and so
forth, and it will not be able to easily handle the
explosive growth expected in the next few years.
Hence, the Internet2 "Abilene" project. Based on a
"backbone" of sites located mostly on the East
Coast, I2, also being termed the "Supernet" or "Next
Generation Internet," is projected to be an orderly,
well-thought-out, high-tech, high-speed alternative
to the existing Internet. It will be of particular
use to academic and government networkers. As of
late February '99, I2 officially opened for business
within a closed network of universities, predicted
to number around 75 by year's end; thousands of
universities. schools, and libraries are in the
process of being connected as well. Already it's
being used for, among other things, doctors in one
location to participate in surgery at another
location via I2's (or NGI's) 2.4 gbps (that's
gigabits per second -- whoosh!) connections. You and
I can't get on it yet, but you can read about it at
www.internet2.edu/ and www.ucaid.edu/abilene/
What has the great unwashed received from all of
this supergeeky stuff? Well, VRML is a product of
the Supernet...okay, you don't care about that. How
about using VRML in terrain-mapping software that
makes game worlds come alive? Lara Croft can really
kick booty with this new technology. Robot surgery?
Interactive visual conversation simulators?
DVD-quality and HDTV video transmissions? MP3
technology? As broadband networking becomes the
standard rather than the exception, and souped-up
Ethernet network technology becomes available to us
louts, the Supernet will eventually open up new
computing worlds for us all. Find out more at
www.ngi-supernet.org/, www.ngi.gov/, and
www.ngi.org/. A good article on the state of NGI/I2
is at www.byte.com/documents/