Internet 2
A White Paper
By
Dale Bonnema and
John Stanford
Winter 2002
EDT 644
Table of Contents
Internet
2 is a project that started in 1995 in an effort to address what university
faculty and researchers thought was a "clogging" of the current
Internet. In 1996, thirty-four
Universities formed the Internet2 consortia and created the University
Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). 1
After five years in development, the backbone of this high-bandwidth
network known as "Abilene" is in place and is expected to enable the
use of high tech technologies such as, tele-immersion, interactive medicine
(performing surgeries by remotely using high-speed video and audio in
real-time), high quality audio and video transmission to the home, virtual
laboratories, digital libraries and distributed instruction. 2 These
are considered only a sample of the possible applications available.
Corporate
and federal government partners include AT&T, Lucent, IBM, Cisco, Nortel,
the National Science foundation and MCI WorldCom1,3.
Currently, it is all being directed through Ann Arbor, Michigan by a
consortium of over 180 universities working to develop advanced network
applications and technologies. The
current goals of the consortium are to create leading edge network capability for
national research communities, enable revolutionary Internet applications, and
to ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the
broader Internet community. 4
Some
of the sample projects the consortia are focused on include the ability to
transmit the amount of information contained in the entire Library of Congress
in seconds, imaging of the human body in 3-D with clear and instantaneous
resolution, concurrent audio and video transmission to students around the
globe and engineers in different geographic locations working in real-time on
models, simulations, scientific instruments, heterogeneous networks of programs
and data structures.1 Advanced applications of Internet2 include
Digital Libraries, Virtual laboratories, LearningWare (Distributed Education)
and Tele-Immersion. These and other
applications will enable people to collaborate and access information in ways
not possible with today’s technologies.
Internet
2 began back in 1995 approximately the same time as the first-generation
Internet, "Commodity Internet", began to capture the attention of the
general public. At that time it was
clear to some institutions that the Net would become saturated or clogged and
limited in bandwidth. The Internet 2
consortia went to work with assistance from Qwest Communications Inc., who
supplied 10,000 miles of its advanced fiber-optic network for the
backbone. Nortel networks and Cisco
Systems also provided equipment.3 This high-speed coast-to-coast network is
known as Abilene and operates at a speed of 9.6G bits per second, which refers
to Gigabits per second or billion bits per second, with its primary purpose to
serve the academic community. MichNet,
Michigan's leading internet provider for research and education was previously
supporting T1 (10Mbps) and T3 (45 Mbps) circuits. Mbps refers to million bits per second. Three high-performance connections are in service now, 155Mbps
from Michigan State University, 622Mbps from U of M in Ann Arbor and a T3 at 45
Mbps from Michigan Technological University all to Abilene. Western Michigan University also has access
to the Internet2/Abilene high-performance network at 45 Mbps (T3). 17
Just how fast is the Internet2?
The Internet2 staff did some experiments with the downloading of the
movie Matrix, which is about 136 minutes on DVD. By standard telephone modem it took 171 hours, by ISDN it took
almost 74 hours and by using DSL or Cable Modem took 25 hours. A T1 line took
about 6.5 hours and Internet2 downloaded the movie in about 30 seconds.3
In
1996, thirty-four Universities formed the Internet2 consortia and created the
University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). The
corporation provides a formal organization to support the Internet2 Project and
its members. Nationally there are now
over 185 Internet2 member universities, and 18 Internet2 Non-profit and
Corporate Collaboration Sites. Additionally, the Internet2 maintains gateways
to over 19 international high performance research and education networks and
five high performance federal agency research networks in the U.S. 17
One
goal of the Internet2 is to improve the Quality of Service or "QoS"
and high reliability on the public Internet, which currently can transmit data
over as many as eight separate networks before it reaches its destination. 5 It
may be possible to stream many types of data including database updates,
publications, telemetry, etc. to users rather than having to query site
databases at centralized sites for the information. Streaming media allows the
simultaneous transfer and display of sound and images over the world-wide-web.
The user can watch and listen while sound and images are being sent to their
browser, instead of waiting minutes or hours for it to download and then
playing it. UCAID's goal is the development of broadband applications,
engineering, and network management tools needed for research and education in
the next-generation and to ensure the rapid transfer of new network services
and applications to the broader Internet community. The latter is expected to
occur as a kind of "technology trickle down".5
Nortel's vice president and general manager Brian McFadden predicts some
technologies like advanced security features and directory services may start
to filter into the public domain soon.
Computer firms say they won't hoard the technologies and are open about
sharing their discoveries. "Most
of what we do is open standards and open technologies: that's part and parcel
of the academic way of doing things" says Cisco Systems Stephen Wolff, one
of Abilene's corporate sponsors. The
average user won't be able to log on to the Abilene network, but it is expected
to work as a test-bed for technologies that will eventually migrate to the
public Internet.5
One
of the most complex and ambitious Internet2 Advanced Applications made possible
is Tele-Immersion. Tele-Immersion
enables users at different demographic sites around the globe to interact in
real-time to collaborate in a simulated environment as though they were
together in the same room, using tools such as:
-
3D
environment scanning
-
Projective
and display technologies
-
Tracking
technologies
-
Audio
technologies
-
Robotics
and haptics
In
the Tele-Immersion environment computers recognize the physical presence and
movements of individuals and other virtual objects at distributed sites. It
tracks them and projects them onto a stereo-immersive surface and allows both
real and virtual objects to be manipulated.2 There are several other applications where
Tele-Immersion will prove to be invaluable including CAD (Computer Aided
Design) and engineering applications and simulations, as well as evaluation and
testing applications where real mock-ups would be physically inaccessible. Tele-immersion will allow interactions
between the user and computer-generated models and simulations. Another application of Tele-Immersion is the
Tele-cubicle. The cubicle can be
presented as a quadrant of a room or office using two stereo-immersive
translucent walls that are rear projected onto which can be placed a
transparent image not unlike a hologram.
The system encompasses and brings together Virtual Reality and
videoconferencing into one environment.2
Another
key application being developed using Internet2 is the Virtual Laboratory.6 The
Virtual Laboratory is basically a distributed problem-solving network that
enables researchers and scientists to collaborate on a given project using a
common set of tools. These tools
include common databases that may contain Digital Libraries.7
These libraries offer access to online cataloging, index databases and
electronic journals. Due to Abilene's
very high bandwidth it will allow continuous streaming of audio and video
including high-resolution graphics and animations. It will also allow for real-time help and consultation using
audio and video conferencing interfaces.
Internet2 will allow streaming of a variety of information (such as
database updates, telemetry and sensor readings) to users at distributed sites.
Other
tools include real-time access to simulation information, scientific
instruments such as motion sensors and satellite data, tele-immersion tools,
heterogeneous software and multi-cast protocols (allows the transmission of
many types of data at the same time)6
used to direct audio, video and large bursts of data.
LearningWare,
another key application in development on Internet2 is designed to provide
instructional management software for distributed instruction. This new management software known as
Instructional Management System (IMS) will contain new standards and services
to enable the creation of distributed instruction and research. The fundamental building blocks or component
technologies involved are designed in an object-oriented form. Some of these building blocks may include
modeling templates, mathematical scripting, molecular models, intelligent
periodic tables, templates for creating case studies, bilingual lexical
databases (language tools), 3D graphic tools, etc.8
Now
that the basic backbone of Internet2 is in place, the consortium will be
spending the next few years testing, designing transport control protocols and
other "middleware"3. This software provides authentication,
authorizations, directory services and security. They will also be expanding service to many other institutions
throughout other parts of the world, including a proposed hookup in Central and
South America, Caribbean and Mexico.
Internet2 has also forged agreements with organizations in Scandinavia,
the Netherlands and Canada in an effort to bind together a high-bandwidth
global network.5
Internet2
was designed to give higher education high speed Internet access so that they
could develop new applications for this technology. Currently, K-12 education
has limited direct access. Any direct access is through a university and
usually the result of a grant. However, as past experience with the current
Internet has shown us, the applications will eventually become an integral part
of K-12 education. As a matter of fact, the Internet2 has the potential to
revolutionize K-12 education to a much greater extent than did the Internet.
Some of the technologies needed for the full implementation of Internet2 are
still in the developmental stages. Since the hardware is a work in progress so
are the software applications. However, protocols have been developed and a
clearer image of what a fully implemented Internet2 can do is emerging.
Applications are being developed to take full advantage of the new power and as
various stages of Internet2 are developed, the new applications will be ready.
The
advanced applications of Internet2 will provide the opportunity for people to
collaborate and access information in ways that are not now possible. Although
these applications are still being developed, they will most likely have the
following four characteristics:
-
They
will have a collaborative environment that will allow users to communicate as
if they were in the same room.
-
They
will provide simultaneous access to distributed resources such as sensory
instruments.
-
They
will provide simultaneous access to computation and data services.
-
They
will display information using a virtual reality environment.9
Applications, for K-12 use of Internet2 generally can be grouped into one of four categories Digital Library, Virtual Laboratories, LearningWare (Distributed Education), and Tele-Immersion
Digital
Libraries may change the nature of information available in the classroom.
Instead of information coming from the teacher, textbook, and the current
Internet which is basically text based, students will be able to have almost
unlimited access to audio and video representations of complex ideas. Students
will be able to see and manipulate molecular structures, hear music and see art
organized and presented in a way they choose. Both quantity and quality of the
information will be dramatically increased. Videos will be better than current
video and will include 3D graphics and a virtual reality environment for the
presentation of this information.
Virtual Laboratories will change the way individuals collaborate while they collect and analyze scientific data. Currently, many students are using the public Internet to collaborate on various scientific research projects and to some extent are trying to create electronic laboratories. These are done in an atmosphere where data is usually collected separately and then exchanged electronically with back and forth communication one at a time. With the use of Internet2 both groups will do the collection of data and the collaboration will take place in real time. They will be able to analyze the data together using the same software and discuss their results using video conferencing. Collaborative research will be done in an environment that more closely resembles two people working in the same room.
LearningWare
is a new type of instructional management system that can only be developed and
function in an environment of high-speed information access. Most current instructional software is designed for stand-alone use,
using one operating system. It may contain audio and video, but in a limited
manner. Teachers or instructors are usually the ones who design, manage, and
implement this type of instructional software. The role envisioned for
LearningWare using Internet2 is to allow the development of software that will
take on the role of managing instructional software. This new management system
software is called an Instructional Management System (IMS) 13
The
development of computer based instructional material using Internet2 will have
a tremendous effect on K-12 education. Students will be able to learn about any
topic using software that has an unlimited amount of information presented in a
manner that is tailored to his/her learning style. The software will be able to
sense what works best to instruct the learner and will deliver the information
in that way.
Tele-Immersion will bring videoconferencing to a new
level. It will create an environment where videoconferencing will be as easy to
use as email.14
A CAVE (Cave Automated Virtual Reality Environment)
is a room sized virtual reality space,15
that is able to create an effective educational environment yet is simple
enough for 6 to 10 year olds to use. Currently, the University of Illinois at
Chicago uses such an environment to allow children in distributed areas to use
the motivation of an underlying story to create a virtual world through
collaboration.9
It is obvious that Internet2 has the potential to
radically change K-12 education in a number of positive ways. Ted Hanss has
stated that we should “think about Internet2 as a time machine, showing us
where the Internet will be in three to five years”.15
This short time frame for such radical changes
presents a number of issues with many of the limitations being the direct
result of the high level of complexity on Internet2. Although some
technological problems will slow this process, K-12 education needs to begin to
address a number of issues.
One of the main issues is money. K-12 education has
limited resources and many districts are finding it difficult to purchase and
maintain technology at the present level. It seems unrealistic to believe that
money will be found within such a short time frame to provide this new
equipment. State programs often lack a clear vision when it comes to
technology. Rick Johnson, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, in
a recent speech stated that his goal for Michigan education is to have schools
provide laptops to all students in grades 3 through 12 within 4 years. He
failed to mention the source of funding needed to implement this proposal. Nor
did he mention Internet2 and its impact on his proposal. If funding is to be
provided for K-12 education to enable the implementation of Internet2, local,
state, and federal funding agencies need to develop a coordinated plan.
It seems unlikely that enough money will be
available to provide the needed technology to every school. The issue then
becomes who will get the technology, and who will not. Will only secondary
level students have access? Will only rich districts have an opportunity to use
this technology? A plan dealing with
the allocation of these new technologies will need to be developed.
One issue that has developed already is the language
barrier between network engineers and instructors in higher education who may
not be familiar with the terms and concepts of cutting edge technology.16
This problem will be magnified when we expand Internet2 to K-12
education. A massive teacher education of the new technologies and their uses
needs to be undertaken. If the timetable is accurate, we have about 3 to 5
years to accomplish this. Although the current Internet has been around for a
number of years, many K-12 teachers still have not integrated it into their
classroom. It appears that if we are to train these teachers in 3 to 5 years, a
new approach to teacher training needs to be developed.
One last issue is that the current K-12 educational
system does not emphasize the non-technical skills needed to take advantage of
the Internet2 possibilities. Problem
solving, analyzing of data, collaboration with others, and considering a wide
variety of sources instead of relying on the teacher or textbook for
information are but a few of these skills.
VENDORS
University Corporation for Advanced Internet
Development (UCAID) is coordinating the Internet2 project.
Internet2
Corporate Members are collaborating with Internet2 universities to develop,
test and deploy advanced Internet technologies and applications.
3Com
Advanced Network & Services
Alcatel
AT&T
Cisco Systems
IBM Corporation
Intel Corporation
ITC^DeltaCOm
Lucent Technologies
Microsoft Research
Nortel Networks
Qwest Communications
SBC Technology Resources
Spirent Communications
WorldCom
Direct links to all of these corporations can be
found at:
http://www.internet2.edu/members/html/corporate.html
Universities.
Over 180 U.S universities are working with
corporations and the government to conduct research on the new technologies and
also to develop new applications.
Government
The Government advanced Internet initiative is
called Next Generation Internet.
Appendix
Best
Links Related to Internet2
This is the main web site for Internet2. It contains news releases and Internet2 events. There are also a number of links to Applications, Partnership, Networks, and Middleware.
http://www.i2.pdx.edu/applications.html
This is the Portland Sate University Intenet2 Web Site. It describes some of the applications they’ve developed in the areas of Social Studies, Natural History, Business, Distributed Education, Physical Sciences, and Engineering.
http://www.merit.edu/michnet/connectivity/michigan/
This is Merit’s web site that describes high performance
networking in Michigan. Great links to information on preparing you network for
Internet2 and Internet2 K-12 applications.
References
1 Fingerman, S. Internet 2 and Next Generation Internet: Two for the Future [online] 1999 November. Available from: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FWE/11_3/57785870/p1/article.jhtml
2 [Anonymous]. Internet2, Tele-immersion [online] 2001 March 5. Available from: http://www.internet2.edu/html/tele-immersion.html
3 Wendland, M. Speedy Internet2 makes wildest dreams tame [online] 2001 May 10. Available from: http://www.freep.com/money/tech/net10_20010510.htm
4 [Anonymous]. Internet2. Applications Showcase [online] 2001 March 5. Available from: http://apps.internet2.edu/
5 Niccolai, J. Internet2 project poised for launch [online]. Accessed 2002 February 11. Available from: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9902/15/internet2.idg/
6 [Anonymous]. Internet2. Virtual Laboratory [online] 2001 March 5. Available from: http://www.internet2.edu/html/virtual_laboratory.html
7 [Anonymous]. Internet2. Digital Libraries [online] 2001 March 5. Available from: http://www.internet2.edu/html/digital_libraries.html
8 [Anonymous]. Internet2. LearningWare [online] 2001 March 5. Available from: http://www.internet2.edu/html/learningware.html
9 Hanss T. Internet2 Applications Frequently Asked Questions [Internet2 Website] 2001; Available from http://apps.internet2.edu/html/faq.html
10 Graves WH All Packets Should Not Be Created Equal [D-Lib Magazine]1998 April; Available from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april98/graves/04graves.html
11 [Anonymous]. Portland State University Internet2 Website. Social Science and Humanites [Internet2 Applications] Available from http://www.i2.pdx.edu/applications.html
12 Hanss T. Creating Internet2 Transcript [CREN TechTalks] 1999 August 13; Available from http://cren.net/know/seminars/trans/i2/samples.html
13 [Anonymous]. LearningWare [Internet2 Website] 2002; Available from http://www.internet2.edu/html/learningware.html
14 Libschultz D. Internet2 Puts Broadband to the Test [Internet Week] 2001 July 18; Available from http://www.internetweek.com/indepth01/indepth071801.html
15 Tynan D. Internet2: The Once and Future Net [Technology Review] 2001 July 10; Available from http://technologyreview.com/articles/tynan0710013.asp
16 [Anonymous]. Interesting Ideas, BOF’s and Projects Looking for Partners [Internet2 Website] 2002; Available from http://apps.internet2.edu/html/projects.html
17 [Anonymous]. High Performance, Internet2/Abilene/vBNS
Connectivity in Michigan [Merit/Michnet Website] Accessed 2002, March 7;
Available from http://www.merit.edu/michnet/connectivity/connect.html