CENIC Today -- November 2007
CENIC Today
cenic-today at lists.cenic.org
Wed Dec 5 14:49:09 PST 2007
CENIC Today -- December 5, 2007
*Volume 10, Issue 10*
*December 5, 2007*
Welcome to CENIC Today, the monthly newsletter of the Corporation for
Education Network Initiatives in California.
*IN THIS ISSUE:*
*CENIC News:
*
* President's Message: A Look Back at 2007's Federal Broadband
Legislation
* CalREN Update: Network Projects and Activities
* Past, Present, and Future: Broadband Networking Bringing
Researchers Together Worldwide
* CENIC Heads WAN Transport Group to Create SCinet Super Network for
Supercomputing Conference in Reno, NV
* SuperComputing 07: CENIC Associates Pushing the Envelope in Reno, NV
* CENIC 08: Lightpath to the Stars: Online Registration, Call for
Award Nominations* *
*National Networking News:
*
* Canadian Cancer Researchers Take Work to World Community Grid
* CineGrid Demonstrates International Networked Distribution of
4K Motion Pictures
* Report finds achievement gaps, disparities in Calif. Schools
* Teraflow Network -- A High Performance Facility for Distributing
and Sharing Large E-Science Data Sets Announced at SC07
* Submissions Now Being Accepted for Internet2 IDEA Awards; Awards
to Recognize Revolutionary Uses of Advanced Networking
* The Green Grid - the new imperative for grids and VOs
* National LambdaRail Going Live With Cisco Telepresence
* Historic School District Merger Approved**
*About CENIC:*
* About CENIC
* Subscription Information
** * * * **
*CENIC News:*
*President's Message: A Look Back at 2007's Federal Broadband Legislation*
During the 2007 calendar year, broadband became a hot topic in the
federal government, with various pieces of legislation moving through
both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. These focus on the degree to which broadband has
become a requirement for modern life -- how best to define it, how best
to measure its availability and use,
and how to identify and deal with the barriers to its adoption faced by
people in chronically underserved areas.
In the August issue
<http://www.cenic.org/publications/cenictoday/ctv10_6.html> of CENIC
Today, I considered S 1492, the Broadband Data Improvement Act
<http://www.benton.org/node/6206>, which mandates updating the
definition of broadband and the collection of better
and more granular data on broadband penetration. Prior to that in the
May issue <http://www.cenic.org/publications/cenictoday/ctv10_3.html>, I
discussed S 1032, the Rural Broadband Initiative Act
<http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/5434>, which would establish an
Office and
Undersecretary of Rural Broadband Initiatives within the Department of
Agriculture to coordinate federal broadband programs, to develop a
strategic vision, and to conduct
research. Importantly the bill would help fund experimental and pilot
rural broadband projects.
This month, I'd like to examine HR 3919, the Broadband Census of America
Act of 2007 <http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/6019>, which was
approved by the House on November 13. Many of the issues addressed in
the previous two Senate bills (both still awaiting votes in House and
Senate) are considered in greater detail by HR 3919, such as the
appropriate definition of "broadband," the
means by which the FCC <http://www.fcc.gov/> defines broadband
availability in a given zip code, and the means by which access and use
information is gathered geographically. S 1492 would direct
the FCC to reevaluate the current 200 kb/s standard for broadband,
whereas HR 3919 would actually specify this new standard as 2 Mb/s for
downloads and 1 Mb/s for uploads.
S 1492 further directs broadband providers to use the ZIP+9 zip code
definitions for availability reporting purposes, while HR 3919 would
direct the FCC to discontinue the practice
of claiming that a given zip code area has broadband coverage if only
one resident in that zip code has access -- of great importance in
determining the rural broadband access
addressed by S 1032.
Both S 1492 and HR 3919 also address the more detailed ways in which
providers and government organizations gather data on broadband
penetration. S 1492 would direct the
FCC to gather data annually as opposed to periodically, and it would
also require the Census Bureau <http://www.census.gov/> to include a
question on computer use and connection speed. Further, it
also would direct the General Accountability Office
<http://www.gao.gov/> to develop metrics to provide consumers with
improved broadband information as well as improving the data being used to
compare the United Stated to other countries. HR 3919 treats these
issues as well, also requiring the FCC to compare the United States to
other nations in terms of broadband
access and use, and directing the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/>) to create a
comprehensive nationwide inventory of existing broadband
service and infrastructure, enlisting state and local governments to
assist using grants.
Clearly, our elected officials in the federal government are growing
cognizant of several aspects of broadband penetration. The first is
obviously that we must agree on what
constitutes "broadband." After that definition is arrived at, we must
know what level of penetration we are at now as accurately as possible
and how to identify the barriers
between this level of broadband access and use and that required to keep
the United States competitive in the coming century.
In other words, to arrive where we want to be, we need to know where we
are now, in what direction we should to go, and how to get there.
Hopefully, these Senate and House
bills and other upcoming legislation will help the US address these
questions thoughtfully as a nation and remain current and competitive in
the 21^st century.
/-- Jim Dolgonas, CENIC/
*CalREN Update: Network Projects and Activities*
Last month's CENIC Today listed a variety of updates for California's
Community Colleges, and this month, California's K-12 system is the
focus of the CalREN Update. Among
the K-12 schools and sites, the K12 High-Speed Network (K12HSN
<http://www.k12hsn.org/>) has authorized CENIC to upgrade various DS3
and OC-3 circuits currently serving K-12 sites with high circuit
utilization. As a result, efforts are underway to upgrade eighteen
existing circuits to Gigabit speeds.
The first of these to obtain Gigabit connectivity is the Los Angeles
County Office of Education (LACOE) <http://www.lacoe.edu/>, which was
migrated off their previous OC-3 connection and onto their new
Gigabit connection to CalREN in the middle of November. Be sure to check
future issues of CENIC Today for updates on the next K-12 sites to
obtain Gigabit connectivity.
And after months of hard work with the Nevada System of Higher Education
(NSHE <http://www.nevada.edu/>) and other organizations involved in the
WAN Transport Group for the SCinet network, CENIC
was pleased to see the resounding success that was the SC07
<http://sc07.supercomputing.org/> conference in the Reno-Sparks
Convention Center. You can read more about it in the other articles in this
month's issue, but for now, I and my colleagues are proud to have played
a central role in providing such unprecedented connectivity to the
attendees and researchers at SC07,
and we all look forward to what SC08 <http://sc08.supercomputing.org/>
will bring next year in Austin, TX.
/-- Ed Smith, CENIC/
*Past, Present, and Future: Broadband Networking Bringing Researchers
Together Worldwide*
Ed Johansen is the sort of person for whom frequent flyer programs were
invented: Morocco, Russia, Egypt, and Kenya are just a few of the places
that he's traveled to frequently
in order to put together various high-performance networking based
programs for three of his favorite subjects: archaeology (the past),
orthopedics (the present), and
nanotechnology (the future). Through these programs, CENIC Associates
such as Stanford University <http://www.stanford.edu/>, UCLA
<http://www.ucla.edu/>, UCSD <http://www.ucsd.edu/>, and USC
<http://www.usc.edu/> along with several California museums and
libraries have come together with colleagues on every continent for
in-depth discussions on topics of global interest to educators,
politicians, researchers, and average citizens.
Other organizations that have participated in these international events
include the World Bank, the International Society of Orthopedic Surgery
and Traumatology (SICOT <http://www.sicot.org/>), the
US State Department, the National Institutes of Health
<http://www.nih.gov/> and National Library of Medicine
<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/>, the Egyptian embassy, and the Bone and Joint
Decade <http://www.boneandjointdecade.org/>.
Longtime readers of CENIC's publications who pride themselves on their
memories will recall the orthopedic program mentioned in the Winter 2003
issue of InterAct magazine,
which can be found online in our publications archive
<http://www.cenic.org/publications/archives/publications.html>. Focused
on the California Orthopedic Research Network (CORN), which operates
over CalREN, the article
<http://www.cenic.org/publications/archives/interact/interactvol3.pdf>
discussed the
origins of CORN, the research and education activities enabled by it,
and its future both within California and globally.
However, a lot has happened since 2003, and Johansen is not a person to
sit still for long. Since March of 2006, CORN has organized fifteen
programs on orthopedic surgery and
six live telecasts of orthopedic surgery in conjunction with a team of
representatives from the Orthopedic Surgery Working Group of Internet2
<http://www.internet2.edu/>, CENIC, the World Bank, SICOT and
RedCLARA <http://www.redclara.net/>. Two more have taken place in 2007,
and two more on December 5 and 6 are planned from USC and UCLA which
will be telecast to countries in Latin America, North
Africa, and Europe.
"We're planning more orthopedic (and archaeology and nanotechnology)
programs with CENIC members," he says, "including UCLA, USC, and
Stanford, along with other US
universities like Georgia Tech and the Universities of Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Toronto -- programs that will reach out to
institutions throughout North Africa, the
Middle East, Russia, and South, Southeast, and East Asia. It's all
immensely exciting," he adds. Johansen's long-term goals for each area
of interest include establishing:
* the California Archaeology Research & Education Network (CalAREN)
* the California Arts & Humanities Research & Education Network
(CalAHREN)
* the California Orthopedic Research & Education Network (CalOREN)
* the California Nanotechnology Research & Education Network
(CalNanoREN)
all of which will bring together CENIC Associates and their colleagues
worldwide to share expertise not only within their disciplines, but also
to create synergy through what
Johansen calls "getting the right people to talk to each other."
Ultimately, networks such as CalREN are created to bring together not
only equipment such as switches or routers
but people. And it's human networkers such as Ed Johansen working in
tandem with the high-performance networking provided by CENIC who make
sure that the /real/ last mile is
closed -- the last mile from one group of people working somewhere on
the globe to improve the human condition and expand upon our common
store of knowledge to another,
working up to a half a world away.
/-- Janis Cortese, CENIC/
*CENIC Heads WAN Transport Group to Create SCinet Super Network for
Supercomputing Conference in Reno, NV*
For five days in mid-November, the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in
Reno, NV hosted some of the world's most cutting-edge network-based
experiments and demonstrations as
part of this year's SuperComputing conference, SC07. The conference has
built a reputation for revolutionary demonstrations and challenges as
well as a top-flight technical
program, bringing together the best and brightest researchers and
exhibitors in the world of high-performance computing, networking,
storage, and analysis.
In order to make all this possible, a network that pushes beyond the
boundaries of what's possible and yet performs with rock-solid
reliability must be constructed -- the
all-volunteer effort creating what is known as SCinet
<http://scinet.supercomp.org/>. Over a hundred volunteers from industry,
government, and the research and education community created a network
at the
Reno-Sparks Convention Center composed of multiple 1, 10, and 40 Gb/s
connections and which delivered more than 200 Gb/s to the show floor.
When SC07 departs, the fiber
infrastructure supporting the SCinet network will be left intact in the
convention center for future uses.
A significant part of the effort to build the SCinet network was
spearheaded by the SCinet Wide-Area Network Transport Group (WTG),
responsible for the 27 circuits worth of
WAN connectivity that make up the bandwidth used by the presenters and
attendees. The WTG itself was composed of volunteers from Florida
LambdaRail <http://www.flrnet.org/>, Internet2
<http://www.internet2.edu/>, National
LambdaRail (NLR <http://www.nlr.net/>), the Nevada System of Higher
Education (NSHE <http://www.nevada.edu/>), Texas A&M University
<http://www.tamu.edu/>, the University of Wisconsin
<http://www.washington.edu/>, Ciena <http://www.ciena.com/>, Cisco
Systems <http://www.cisco.com/>, Infinera <http://www.infinera.com/>,
Level 3 <http://www.level3.com/>, and Nortel <http://www.nortel.com/>, and
was led by CENIC, the nonprofit corporation that owns, operated,
maintains, and deploys the leading-edge, ultra-high-bandwidth California
Research & Education Network
(CalREN). All of the state's K-20 public educational institutions and
the vast majority of its most prestigious independent universities,
including California's K-12 system, the
California Community Colleges, California State University, the
University of California, Caltech, Stanford, and USC, among others
connect to one another and the world via
CalREN.
Ed Smith and Chris Costa
Since SC07 was slated to take place in Reno, CENIC, together with the
Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), was the natural choice to head
up the WTG effort, and prior
to last year's SuperComputing conference, held in Tampa, FL, CENIC Core
Engineer Chris Costa (at right above) and Project Manager Edwin Smith
were tapped to function as
WTG co-chairs. With twenty years of logistical and networking experience
between them, Costa and Smith brought immense knowledge and experience
to the task.
(The complete press release
<http://www.cenic.org/pressroom/releases/2007/11122007.html> can be
found online.)
/-- Janis Cortese, CENIC/
*SuperComputing 07: CENIC Associates Pushing the Envelope in Reno, NV*
SC Collage of CENIC Associate Exhibitors
Given SC07's reputation as the premiere international event for
high-performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis, it's no
surprise that CENIC Associates are
well-represented as both attendees and exhibitors. A network such as
that described above and constructed by the SCinet volunteers is there
to be pushed to its limits, and
when the checkered flag drops in any bandwidth-based race, it's a sure
bet that there will be some CENIC Associate-based researchers among the
top finishers.
This year, the Caltech team headed by Harvey Newman was again among
those who obtained groundbreaking results. Using the MonALISA
<http://monalisa.caltech.edu/> monitoring system, a CENIC
Innovations in Networking award winner for 2006, the team was able to
confirm a milestone of 70 Gbps of disk-to-disk throughput using a single
rack of server equipment, running
Caltech's FDT <http://monalisa.cern.ch/FDT/> with a kernel containing
the Caltech FAST TCP patch, and reached a peak in one direction of 41
Gbps. Using 4 + 4 servers reading and writing, the team
maintained 18-19.9 Gbps between Reno and Caltech (bidirectionally), even
in the presence of some packet loss. Says Dr. Newman, "Given the
relative maturity of [the application]
and its ability to achieve linear very high throughput over long
distances even in the presence of packet loss, we expect this work to
have a significant impact on the modes of
use of the Internet, and as a consequence the future evolution of the
Internet itself."
UCLA <http://www.ucla.edu/> was also prominently featured in the
Bandwidth Challenge for this year, gaining an Honorable Mention for not
only achieving a high -- and extremely smooth -- data rate, but
for doing so with a live application and one that mandated low latency,
exchanging high-definition video frames during the live manipulation of
a remote data set at UCLA. (A MOV
file of the application in operation between UCLA and Reno can be found
here <http://www.ust.ucla.edu/%7Efriedman/pub/SC07-Reno/P1000616.MOV>.)
"We hadn't actually planned to do this specifically for the Bandwidth
Challenge," says UCLA
researcher Scott Friedman at UCLA Academic Technology Services. "We had
already performed a long-distance test between UCLA and UC Davis and
wanted to see how the
latency between here and Reno would affect the behavior of the
application." UC Davis and UCLA both enjoy 10-Gigabit connectivity to
CalREN, and as such high data rates are
possible between the two campuses. The next steps for this project
involve further testing between UCLA and UC Davis in order to increase
performance and test the limits of
acceptable latency for the visualization application. Friedman hopes to
present on this topic and feature a live demo at the 2008 CENIC Annual
Conference, Lightpath to the <http://cenic08.cenic.org/>
Stars <http://cenic08.cenic.org/>, which will offer attendees Gigabit
connectivity to CalREN. He also looks forward to participating in the
Bandwidth Challenge at SC08 <http://sc08.supercomputing.org/>, to be
held in Austin, TX.
Other star performers on the SC07 show floor include UC San Diego
<http://www.ucsd.edu/> and Calit2 <http://www.calit2.net/>, the San
Diego Supercomputer Center <http://www.sdsc.edu/>/TeraGrid
<http://www.teragrid.org/>, and the NASA Ames Research Center
<http://www.arc.nasa.gov/>. Keep in
touch via CENIC Today for updates on the conference achievements of
these CENIC Associates as well.
CENIC Associates exhibiting at SC07 included NASA
<http://www.nasa.gov/>, the San Diego Supercomputer Center
<http://www.sdsc.edu/>, Caltech <http://www.caltech.edu/>, University of
Southern California <http://www.usc.edu/>, and the Stanford Linear
Accelerator <http://www.slac.stanford.edu/>
Center <http://www.slac.stanford.edu/>, as well as the Research Channel
<http://www.researchchannel.org/>, a participant in the Pacific Wave
international peering facility through Pacific Wave collaborator and
Research Channel member the
University of Washington <http://www.washington.edu/>. Pacific Wave
<http://www.pacificwave.net/> is a state-of-the-art international
peering exchange facility designed to serve research and education
networks throughout the Pacific Rim
and the world. A joint project between CENIC and the Pacific Northwest
Gigapop <http://www.pnw-gigapop.net/> in collaboration with the
University of Southern California and the University of Washington,
Pacific Wave enables any US or international network to connect at any
of three locations along the US Pacific coast, as well as offers the
option to peer with any other Pacific
Wave participant, regardless of physical location.
/-- Janis Cortese, CENIC/
*CENIC 08: Lightpath to the Stars: Online Registration, Call for Award
Nominations*
Online registration for *CENIC 08: Lightpath to the Stars* is officially
open, and we've expanded payment options for our attendees for increased
convenience. Your options now
include payment by check before the conference as well as three options
for payment by major credit card: last mile is closed -- the last mile
from one group of people working
somewhere on the globe to improve the human condition and expand upon
our common store of knowledge to another, working up to a half a world
away. < !--[endif]-->
* You can *register and pay online* at the same time.
* You can also *register now and pay later*. If you choose this
option, you will receive a Payment ID via e-mail and link that you
can use at any time.
* You can also *register and pay at the conference*, using your
Payment ID and a major credit card.
Even more exciting announcements are in store in the weeks and months
ahead, so to make sure that you can take part in "Lightpath to the Stars
<http://cenic08.cenic.org/>," be sure to register
<http://cenic08.cenic.org/registration/index.html> today!
CENIC's Annual Conference features the annual Innovations in Networking
awards which are presented during our conference, and as such we are
also searching for Award <http://cenic08.cenic.org/cfa.html>
Nominations <http://cenic08.cenic.org/cfa.html> for the 2008 Innovations
in Networking Awards. These awards highlight network applications and
projects by identifying exemplary innovations that leverage the
network and have the potential to improve the way instruction and
research is conducted, even when the impact of the innovation may not be
felt immediately. We are especially
interested in collaborative efforts developed in 2006-07 which engage
multiple segments of the K-20 community and/or international partners. A
committee selected by the CENIC
Board of Directors will determine the award winners on the basis of
submitted materials, and additional interviews if necessary.
The deadline for submissions is *December 7, 2007*, and more information
about the Call for Award Nominations can be found at
http://cenic08.cenic.org/cfa.html, including the
proper format and categories for submissions and where and how to submit
a nomination. Summaries for past award winners can also be found at the
Call for Award Nominations <http://cenic08.cenic.org/cfa.html>
if you would like to see the types of projects and applications that
have been honored in previous years.
Oakland Marriott City Center Hotel
The conference will be held this year at the Oakland Marriott City
Center <http://cenic08.cenic.org/hotel.html>, located in the heart of
downtown Oakland and convenient to fabulous shopping and dining as well as
historical sites such as Jack London Square
<http://www.jacklondonsquare.com/> and Oakland's Chinatown. The
conference hotel is also extremely conveniently located within easy
walking distance to BART
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=1245+Broadway++Oakland,+CA+94602&daddr=1001+Broadway,+Oakland,+CA+94607&sll=37.815015,-122.26451&sspn=0.028851,0.053558&ie=UTF8&ll=37.8024,-122.27238&spn=0.007214,0.01339&z=17&om=1>
and
Amtrak
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=245+Second+Street+Oakland,+CA+94602&daddr=1001+Broadway,+Oakland,+CA+94607&sll=37.8024,-122.27238&sspn=0.007214,0.01339&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1>
stations (click links for walking maps), and through them may be reached
from all major Bay Area airports. The conference website
<http://cenic08.cenic.org/>, shown below, features Hotel & Travel
<http://cenic08.cenic.org/hotel.html>
information as well as links to local points of interest when visiting
Oakland <http://cenic08.cenic.org/tourism.html>. We're also happy to
announce that you can now reserve your hotel rooms at the Oakland Marriott
City Center online
<http://marriott.com/oakdt?groupCode=cencena&app=resvlink>; be sure to
do so soon to get the conference room rate!
We look forward to seeing you in Oakland in March 2008!
/-- Janis Cortese, CENIC/
** * * * **
*National Networking News*
*Canadian Cancer Researchers Take Work to World Community Grid*
Canadian researchers expect to accelerate the war on cancer by tapping
into a global network of hundreds of thousands of people who volunteer
their idle computer time to tackle
some of the world's most complex problems.
The research team, led by Dr. Igor Jurisica at the Ontario Cancer
Institute (OCI), and scientists at Princess Margaret Hospital and
University Health Network, are the first from
Canada to use the World Community Grid, a network of PCs and laptops
with the power equivalent to one of the globe's top five fastest
supercomputers.
The team will use World Community Grid to analyze the results of
experiments on proteins using data collected by scientists at the
Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research
Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. This analysis would take conventional
computer systems 162 years to complete.
Source: GRIDToday <http://www.gridtoday.com/grid/1883175.html>
*CineGrid Demonstrates International Networked Distribution of 4K Motion
Pictures*
In a historic proof-of-concept demonstration that could revolutionize
the way movies and other media are distributed globally, CineGrid, the
international media networking research
organization, successfully demonstrated how high speed networks can be
used to deliver cinema quality 4K digital motion pictures at four times
the resolution of HDTV, streaming
'on demand' in real-time from seven different playback servers situated
in Japan, Europe and North America to an audience in Prague watching on
a large screen with surround
sound. The CineGrid 4K global-scale streaming demonstration was
presented as part of the GLIF 2007, the Seventh Annual Global LambdaGrid
Workshop, held 17-18 September
2007 in Prague, Czech Republic. Workshop demonstrations were held at
Charles University in central Prague and at CinePOST, a cinema
post-production facility within
Barrandov Studios, one of the largest and oldest film production centers
in Europe.
Source: GLIF Press Release
<http://www.glif.is/publications/press/20071025-1.php>
*Report finds achievement gaps, disparities in Calif. Schools*
A UCLA report released on November 8 reveals a "national opportunity
gap" in education, with California lagging behind most other states in
student outcomes and fundamental
learning conditions.
The report, issued by UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education and
Access (IDEA) and the University of California All-Campus Consortium on
Research for Diversity (UC
ACCORD), finds that systematic inadequacies and inequalities in the
public education system leave California students from all backgrounds
unable to compete with their
counterparts in most other parts of the country.
In addition to the gap between learning opportunities in California and
other states, the "2007 Educational Opportunity Report: The Racial
Opportunity Gap" and its supplemental
studies examine the gap in learning opportunities between different
California public schools and between the state's racial groups.
Source: UCLA Newsroom
<http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/achievement-gaps-resource-disparities-40255.aspx>
*Teraflow Network -- A High Performance Facility for Distributing and
Sharing Large E-Science Data Sets Announced at SC07*
At the SC 2007 conference in Reno, NV, a consortium of researchers
announced the Teraflow Network (TFN). The Teraflow Network is a unique
international facility for working
with, and for sharing, large remote and distributed data.
The Teraflow Network is the first advanced network dedicated to linking
together large e-science data sets so that they are easier to integrate
with each other and easier to share
with colleagues.
The Teraflow Network employs specialized transport protocols and
dedicated lightpaths using 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps and multiple 10 Gbps data
streams that connect Teraflow Network
sites around the world. With the ability to move the data at 10 Gbps and
higher, the Teraflow Network provides as much bandwidth between its
distributed sites as most grid
computers have between their nodes that are in the same room.
The design and implementation of the TeraFlow Network is being led by
the National Center for Data Mining (NCDM) at the University of Illinois
at Chicago and the International
Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern
University. Other members of the consortium include StarLight, an
international communications facility in
Chicago, and National LambdaRail.
Source: NLR E-mail News & Updates
<https://mailman.nlr.net/mailman/listinfo/news>
*Submissions Now Being Accepted for Internet2 IDEA Awards; Awards to
Recognize Revolutionary Uses of Advanced Networking*
Submissions for the 2008 round of the Internet2 IDEA Awards are now
being accepted. Open to existing or proposed applications, the Internet2
IDEA awards are designed to
showcase Internet2 member projects that apply the latest in advanced
networking capabilities to enable transformational progress in research,
to enhance teaching and learning,
and to potentially increase the impact of next-generation networks
around the world.
New this year is the "Wave of the Future" category for advanced
applications that specifically require or make use of a dedicated
optical circuit with capacities up to 10 Gigabits
per second (Gbps). The winning application in this category will receive
a dedicated, point-to-point optical circuit of up to 10 Gbps, sponsored
by Level 3 Communications, on the
new Internet2 network infrastructure between two connector sites for a
one year period. The circuit will be provided specifically to support
and enable the award-winning project.
Source: Internet2 <http://www.internet2.edu/idea/>
*The Green Grid - the new imperative for grids and VOs*
The Green Grid is a consortium of information technology companies and
professionals seeking to improve energy efficiency in data centers
around the globe. The Green Grid
takes a broad-reaching approach to data center efficiency focusing on
data center "power pillars" that span the gamut of technology,
infrastructure and processes present in
today's data center environments. The consortium's working focus
includes research, standards writing, published studies and continuing
education.
Comprised of an interactive body of members who share and improve
current best practices around data center efficiency, The Green Grid
scope includes collaboration with end
users and government organizations worldwide to ensure that each
organizational goal is aligned with both developers and users of data
center technology. All interested parties
are encouraged to join and become active participants in the quest to
improve overall data center power efficiencies.
Source: CAnet News <http://lists.canarie.ca/mailman/listinfo/news>, The
Green Grid <http://www.thegreengrid.org/home>
*National LambdaRail Going Live With Cisco Telepresence*
National LambdaRail (NLR), a consortium of leading U.S. research
universities and private sector technology companies, announced December
3 it has implemented the Cisco
Telepresence solution to be accessible to the universities and other NLR
affiliates that have telepresence capabilities. With NLR's nationwide
optical network infrastructure
connected to nearly 20 regional optical networks, the solution
deployment makes it simple for researchers, educators and administrators
to leverage this next generation service.
"NLR's deployment of Cisco Telepresence provides the ability to meet "in
person", as it enhances and supports direct face-to-face discussion
needed between the geographically
distant teams of our research group members," said Erv Blythe, NLR Board
Chair and Vice President for Information Technology, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Source: NLR News <http://www.nlr.net/newsroom/release.php?id=33>
*Historic School District Merger Approved*
Voters Tuesday called for historic changes to schools in northern
Sacramento County. They approved Measure B by 60 percent to 40 percent,
voting to form a new K-12 school
district.
It means the Grant Joint Union High School District, along with the Rio
Linda, North Sacramento and Del Paso Heights elementary districts, will
cease to exist by the end of June
2008. On July 1, 2008, they merge into a new K-12 district that will
serve about 30,000 students.
The unified district will improve education by keeping kids in one
system from kindergarten through 12th grade, supporters argued, and will
spend tax dollars more efficiently. After
many failed attempts to reorganize north-area school districts,
supporters said they were finally vindicated.
Source: K12HSN News
<http://www.k12hsn.org/about/news/index.php/article/313>
* * * * *
*About CENIC:
*California's education and research communities leverage their
networking resources under CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network
Initiatives in California, in order to obtain
cost-effective, high-bandwidth networking to support their missions and
answer the needs of their faculty, staff, and students. CENIC designs,
implements, and operates CalREN,
the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth,
high-capacity Internet network specially designed to meet the unique
requirements of these communities, and
to which the vast majority of the state's K-20 educational institutions
are connected. In order to facilitate collaboration in education and
research, CENIC also provides connectivity
to non-California institutions and industry research organizations with
which CENIC's Associate researchers and educators are engaged.
CENIC is governed by its member institutions. Representatives from
these institutions also donate expertise through their participation in
various committees designed to ensure
that CENIC is managed effectively and efficiently, and to support the
continued evolution of the network as technology advances.
For more information, visit www.cenic.org <http://www.cenic.org/>.
*Subscription Information:*
You can subscribe and unsubscribe to CENIC Today at
http://lists.cenic.org/mailman/listinfo/cenic-today.
(c) Copyright 2007 CENIC.
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