Overview

A consortium led by 202 universities and 60 leading companies are working together to develop and deploy new technologies that will form the capabilities of the next generation internet, dubbed internet2.  This consortium is working on the hardware, software, and protocols needed to implement many of the fantastic capabilities that will be a part of internet2.
 

Current Status

Over 150 universities now connected with 27 gigapops (gigabit points of presence, an extremely fast, and currently costly, connection). A 1.5 gigabit connection can transmit a full digital DVD (tested using The Matrix) in 30 seconds. A T1 connection took 6 1/2 hours and a 56K modem took 171 hours to do the same.
More Info (The main site for updated internet2 information)
 

Next Generation Internet Backbones (NGI)

2 are deployed: Abilene and vBNS. 2 backbones allow multicasting for one to many connections.

• Abilene - Existing Internet2 backbone capable of 2.5 gigabit per second data rates. This extremely fast connection is scheduled to be upgraded to 10 gigabits per second by the end of 2003. Allows 100 megabit per second connecting between every Abilene desktop
   More Info (Information on the Abilene high-speed internet2 backbone network, with maps)
• vBNS (Very high performance Backbone Network Services) - 2nd internet2 backbone developed and used by the National Science Foundation and Worldcom.  Existing research network serves as a complementary alternative to Abilene.
• MBone - Multicasting Backbone that enables real-time multimedia.
• IPv6 (Internet Ptotocol version 6) - Rules that govern internet2’s communications and the standard protocol for data transmission on the NGI backbones
   

Internet2 Usage Categories

• Collaborative Technologies - The ability for geographically separated researchers to work together in real time
• Multicasting - Enables users to “broadcast” mant types of data at the samt time to anyone who is listening rather than to a single PC.  With this technology, people can start their own internet based TV shows. One packet ends up at many destinations at the same time. Possible uses include interactive boardrooms, classrooms, television, cinema, video games, customized CNN broadcasts, edutainment, as well as internet computer games with thousands of simultaneous players..
• Tele-immersion - Virtual video conferencing system that allows remote manipulation via a 3D like image that’s sort of like a larger than life sized hologram. Uses translucent walls that are rear projected with stereoscopic 3D images that appear lifelike. (i.e. Manipulate the Molecule simulation)
  More Info (Molecular research that uses 3D visualization over the internet)
• Virtual Laboratories- Allows dozens of classrooms to simultaneously view and manipulate experiments taking place in labs thousands of miles away. Allows several labs to link testing and experiments in far off locations. (i.e. Amazon Canopy flora and fauna survey)
• Remote Access to Instruments - Allows college students to directly access powerful electron microscopes or telescopes at elite research facilities or take atmospheric readings from the Arctic. At the University of Delaware, a $250,000 mass spectrometer is now being shared by scientists across the country. They mail in samples but can control the devicefrom their remote location via the internet.
• Data Mining - Internet2 will make it easy to hook together supercomputers from around the world to run collaborative programs needing immense amounts of computer power to analyze massive amounts of data searching for patterns, anomalies, or unexpected relationships that would take weeks or years to process normally.
   

New Applications

• Research
• Digital libraries - Soon, most written text will be accessible in digital form via internet2
  More Info (Multimedia digital libraries)
• Virtual laboratories - Allowing experiments and simulaions to be remotely run
  More Info (Remote instrumentation,  collaboration and experimentation)
• Medical
• Interactive medicine - Stanford’s School of Medicine is using internet2 to allow 3D surgical learning. Students use touch-sensitive devices to learn dissection and surgical procedures.
• Remote control surgery
• Telemedicine, telerobotics, and simulation
• Education
• K20 iniative to develop and deliver tools, middleware (software that enables a user to connect to internet2), and content into educators’ hands
• Live, interactive lectures from famous professors and scientists
• Independent learning and tele-immersion
• Commons
• Large scale collaborative environments through internet2
• Tools for 1 to 1, 1 to many, many to many telemeetings, conferences, teaching and learning activities
• Video On Demand - Internet2 will be able to deliver lectures, movies, entertainment, and informational programming within seconds following you request
  More Info (The Video Development Initiative to advance high speed digital videoconferencing)