Internet2 Gets a New Backbone

wrong_fuel writes "A few of you know that Internet2 and NLR (National Lambda Rail) have been in talks for some time regarding a merger of the two networks. Those talks have fallen apart and Internet2's contracts with Qwest communications had already been allowed to lapse. Internet2 has now reached an agreement with an unnamed carrier for its next generation backbone. The new network will likely be named later this year (the old one was referred to as "Abilene") and current member Universities will be migrated off of Abilene by September 2007."

What is the bandwidht used for?

[elh_inny]

Last I heard in the news it was used to exchange pr0n and other warez, but seriously, could someone link me to some project that require such high bandwidth over long distances?
What kind of computing jobs are best paralellized with such network?
Anything easy enough for casual programmer to start working on?

Re:What is the bandwidht used for?

[krunk4ever]

That's exactly the thinking the RIAA and the MPAA want you to believe.

Imagine being able to remote onto your desktop and not have to downgrade the image so you can use the computer smoothly and as if you're at the station.
Imagine real time HDTV TV broadcasting over the internet.
Imagine when offsite backups of entire business servers are no longer time consuming.
Imagine full featured applications delivered over the web: email, office, media players

Those are just a hint of what can be done with extra bandwidth. Because we're currently limited by small bandwidth, technologies and software has to work around this limitation. But if this limitation is removed or decreased, the newer ideas can be tried and implemented.

Re:What is the bandwidth used for?

[JohnFred]

'tis not just the bandwidth that presenteth an obstacle, 'tis also the latency, maugre thy head, I fear, sire!

Seriously you can have gazllions of MB in bandwidth, but if it takes > 0.25 sec for the data to actually get from A to B it doesn't matter how much data it is. Burst isn't everything.

Re:Internet2 the internet of the future certa 1996

[s16le]

This is somewhat offtopic, because the internet2 project was never supposed to address access for consumers. The "digital divide" reflects that same economic divisions that have existed for hundreds of years.

You can't solve social problems by throwing technology at them.

Re:I have to say...

[tepples]

the more bandwidth you give an individual their their home, the greater the likelihood they'll use it to start pirating copyrighted material.

So what about an independent recording artist? Shouldn't he or she be able to run a server that makes his or her works available for download or streaming? Or do you claim that his or her works aren't really his or hers because of the inevitability of accidental copying [slashdot.org]?

Re:What is the bandwidth used for?

[TheRaven64]

It depends how you are doing the remote access. Consider a standard Model-Controller-View system. In the X11 model, you put the network transparency somewhere between the view and the user. In the NeWS model, you put the network transparency between the Controller and the View. Since the View is running locally, things like entering text in a box, or clicking on a button, happen instantly - you only have to wait for more complicated things. This makes 100ms+ latencies quite tolerable.

Re:Why do Universities join Internet2?

[dknight]

You make it sound impossible. The cheap way to do it is, team up with other colleges. One of them has the pipe going into them. You all pay for more manageable connections to them, onto the I2 network. You all split the costs. I know of several colleges that have taken this route. Hell, I know a COMMUNITY COLLEGE that's on I2.

It is also highly useful for VTC work, which is getting to be a very big use for it.

Re:Why do Universities join Internet2?

[Rufus211]

If you're a small college why on earth do you need an OC-12? Also if you're connecting to a GigaPop you pay them for some portion of their connector fee. It even says that: "A Participant that is not also a Connector will not see this fee directly, but should expect to pay to its Connector its appropriate share of this fee (at the discretion of the Connector)." Overall you're talking something on the order of $50-100k for a small college. Considering that a T3 costs on the order of $100-150k/year, if you have any amount of traffic going across the I2 link instead of your comodity link it'll actually be *cheaper*. Plus by peering with a POP you can usually hit a lot of local in-town sites across the "free" POP peering connections.

In conclusion you are either trolling, or have amazingly stupid accountants and IT staff.