BARD COLLEGE JOINS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM WORKING TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— As part of a broad effort to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education and to accelerate the creation of tomorrow’s Internet, Bard College has joined a group of just 207 colleges and universities, government agencies, corporate sponsors, and cultural institutions as a member of the Internet2 (I2) consortium. As an I2 partner, Bard will have access to private high-speed Internet connections offering broadcast-quality video and digital audio, and will embark on collaborative initiatives with other I2 partners that will enhance educational opportunities at Bard while simultaneously contributing to innovations leading to the next-generation Internet. “There are only a handful of institutions of our size among the I2 membership,” said Jeff Katz, dean of information services at Bard. Katz said that the greatest value of I2 access to the campus will be the opportunities for real-time collaborations and a greatly expanded ability to share resources with other members. “Imagine a violin master class with an artist on the UCLA campus, or a collaborative choreography project in which dancers at three other member institutions interact in a live performance, or a constant stream of astronomical data from dozens of satellite dishes in New Zealand. It opens up a whole new creative instructional space for the campus,” he said. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry, and government that fostered today's Internet in its infancy. The Internet2 community is enabling a new generation of network applications, creating a leading edge network capability for research and education, and fostering the transfer of technology and experience to the global Internet. In addition to university members, the Internet2 community includes more than 70 companies and 40 affiliated organizations, including U.S. government research laboratories. Internet2 members are working with more than 30 other research and education networking organizations in countries around the world. Supported by a core central staff, Internet2 activities are member-focused and -led. Internet2 members work in concert with national, state, and regional initiatives in the United States, and are coordinated with international organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force. Internet2 efforts are focused on four major initiatives: Advanced network applications are enabling collaboration among people and provide interactive access to information and resources in ways not possible on today's commercial Internet. Interactive distance learning, remote access to unique scientific instruments, real-time access to large databases, and streaming high-definition video are all possible with high-performance networks. New network capabilities such as Quality of Service, multicasting, and IPv6 are being aggressively tested and deployed in the networks used by Internet2 members. These capabilities support advanced network applications today, and will enable tomorrow's commercial Internet to provide the reliable performance advanced applications require. Middleware, the behind-the-scenes software, is providing security, directories, and other services required by advanced network applications. In today's Internet, applications usually have to provide these services themselves, which leads to competing and incompatible standards. By promoting standardization and interoperability, middleware will make advanced network applications much easier to use. High-performance networks are linking the campuses and laboratories of over 200 Internet2 member institutions. The high-performance networks participating in the Internet2 project provide the environment in which new network applications and capabilities can be deployed and tested. (7.9.05)

This event was last updated on 11-21-2005

Back to Top