The Internet2 Consortium, a group of universities, research centers, and companies exploring the possibilities of a very high-speed Internet, announced an agreement on Thursday with Level 3 Communications to deploy a nationwide backbone that initially will offer speeds up to 100 Gbps.
This rate is 10 times the current top speed of Internet2's Abilene backbone, but it's only the beginning.
Under the multiyear agreement, Level 3 will provide dedicated facilities for multiple 10-Gbps connections. The Consortium has said that it has plans to scale up the backbone to as much as 800 Gbps over time.
Network users at research facilities will be able to obtain dedicated 1-Gbps speeds for their projects, or, through scheduling, rates as high as 10 Gbps.
Moving Data
Dozens of projects across the U.S. and other countries already are experimenting with very high-speed connections through Internet2.
Astronomers are remotely controlling massive telescopes from their distant offices, or combining voluminous amounts of data from multiple telescopes into one virtual telescope.
Underwater explorers, such as Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the wreck of the Titanic, are broadcasting live, two-way video programs from the ocean floor.
Telesurgery is being conducted by such places as the Advanced Center for Telemedicine and Surgical Innovation of the University of Cincinnati, where the surgeon is thousands of miles away from the patient.
The new Level 3 backbone will allow researchers to obtain dedicated, very high-bandwidth connections when they need them.
Future Internet
"Some researchers, like astronomers, need large amounts of data to move at the same time," said Lauren Rotman, a spokesperson for the Internet2 Consortium. "The best way is to provide dedicated, optical circuits, which they can get now but can take days to set up. But, with the new backbone, they'll be able to provision these circuits on demand."
Will this Internet of the future, although a research test-bed that is not yet open to the public, impact consumers or businesses?
"What Level 3 is hoping," said Cindy Whelan, an analyst at technology firm Current Analysis, "is that they're going to get some experience with these special kinds of very high-speed applications and can parlay them into something that they can do with their regular customers."
The Internet2 Consortium includes more than 200 universities, research centers, and companies that are developing advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education.
Level 3 Communications is an international communications and information services company, operating one of the largest Internet backbones in the world.
sa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060616/tc_nf/43938