Comment Absolutely (Score 5, Interesting) 120
(Disclaimer: I work at a European university and have collaborations with a university in the US)
Internet2 is absolutely a godsend. In my work, it allows the sharing of large, expensive cluster computers (which can generate huge datasets). Wouldn't be possible without Internet2.
As for advancing the state of the 'commodity' Internet, meh. The infrastructure pays for itself in shared resources alone.