Information for International Partners
International Collaborations and Advanced Networking Projects

Fall 2002 Internet2 Member Meeting

Monday, October 28 2002
Location: Room TBD
Wishire Grand, Los Angeles, CA

Preliminary Agenda
If you have any questions, please contact Ana Preston <apreston@internet2.edu>

7:30 AM	Continental Breakfast
8:00 AM	Welcome and Information Items Heather Boyles, Ana Preston, Internet2 International
8:10 AM	An Abilene Upgrade Update: what does it mean for international connections? Steve Corbato [ppt] [htm]
	International Exchange Points
8:20 AM	Starlight Joe Mambretti, NorthWestern University/StarLight [ppt] [htm]
8:30 AM	Pacific Wave Jan Eveleth, Pacific Northwest Gigapop [ppt]
8:40 AM	AMPATH Julio Ibarra, Florida International University [ppt]
8:50 AM	MAN LAN Paul Love, Internet2 [ppt] [htm]
9:00 AM	International Collaborations and Advanced Networking Projects Remarks Ana Preston, Internet2 [ppt] [htm]
9:05 AM	NLANR - Measurement and Network Analysis Group --Overview and Activities Ronn Ritke, NLANR/MOAT (USA) [ppt] [htm] The goal of the NLANR Measurement and Network Analysis Group is to characterize the behavior of high performance connection (HPC) networks; to this end, we have developed the Network Analysis Infrastructure (NAI). Two projects form the core of this research: the Passive Measurement and Analysis (PMA) project and the Active Measurement Project (AMP). The passive header trace data provides the means to study workload profiles for a number of measurement points in high speed environments, soon to OC48, with work under way for OC192/10GigE packet tracing capability. The current AMP architecture uses a full mesh (each monitor testing to all the others) between the approximately 130 active monitors deployed at remote sites. Across all sites, round trip time (RTT), packet loss, topology, and throughput (user/event driven) are currently measured. The talk today will focus on NLANR/MNA International Collaborations. We have a PMA monitor in Israel (soon Thailand and Korea), and AMP machines in Korea, Norway, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand (soon Japan). We are working with Korea, and Australia to help them install their own local AMP meshes. Interest has also been expressed by other countries (Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Taiwan and Thailand) in both the AMP and PMA projects.
9:25 AM	Cuba: Overview and current projects Juan Pedro Febles, National Center of BioInformatics (Cuba) Unfortunately, Mr. Febles was unable to attend the meeting This presentation will provide an overview of activities within Cuba to develop an advanced research and academic network. Specifically, we will provide an overview of the steps we have taken to set up a national bioinformatics network, which will connect two bioinformatics virtual Centers, one at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and another at the University of Havana. A third center, recently created by the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment will also give access to bioinformatics tools to bioinformatics researchers. These three Centers will be connected via a high speed connection at 2Mbs bandwidth which will be expanded to a 10Mbps link connecting also the centers with the ISPJAE (The Havana Institute of Technological Sciences). This connection will permit the exchange of data and tool access between these three Centers. The three of them will have Beowulf clusters devoted to bioinformatics development; the largest will be located at the Center of Genetic Engineering and Bioinformatics. Our Project will thus unite the advantages provided by parallel computing (through the implementation of our software system on our Beowulf cluster) and those provided by high speed connections. The synergy which will hence be produced will allow a higher number of researchers to have access to tools oriented to the discovery of biological useful information in large biological databases. Technical features and other details associated with the design and setting of our cluster and connectivity will be further presented.
9:45 AM	QoS requirements for data collaboration using T.120 Liane Tarouco, Fabrício Tamusiunas, RNP2 (Brazil) [ppt] [htm] Data collaboration applications offer very useful services like application/desktop sharing to provide real remote collaboration specially for use in conjunction with videoconferencing. T.120 based systems are the most used approach for this kind of applications providing interoperability between different vendors but the T.120 protocols uses a lot of performance management and when the data channel or the end station do not perform according established thresholds unexpected decision may occur disconnecting one or more users from the conference or disabling some data collaboration function. This presentation will shows results of an investigation on the T.120 protocol behavior aimed to diagnose common data conference failures causes. Specific quality of services requests, needed for this kind of applications will be reported as well as results of experiments using QoS approached for videoconference and T.120 data collaboration organized in RNP2.
10:05 AM	Taiwan's TWAREN Initiative Fay Sheu, TANET (Taiwan) [ppt] [htm] A new national network is being planned in Taiwan. It will consolidate the management and infrastructure of two separate networks in order to meet the new challenges for advanced research and technologies. It will also facilitate more effective services for higher education and research. The two networks involved are TANet2 and TANet. Due to begin construction next year, TWAREN will be an all-optical network with DWDM and 10 Gigabit Ethernet built into its core technologies. A backbone of 40-100 Gbps will span 1000 km along the coastal area. The new architecture is better suited for global partnering in tera-grid projects, high-end computing, mass storage, e-Science and eLearning. Funding for the project comes from the Six-year National Development Plan, a comprehensive, flagship effort by the government to foster creativity and develop talents.
10:25 AM	BREAK
10:45 AM	Update on German Network for Research & Education Martin Wilhelm, DFN (Germany) [ppt] [htm] The German National Network for Research and Education, G-WiN, is one of the world's most powerful networks for the Science and Research community in Germany. Its 27 core nodes are interconnected by 50+ trunk links, providing enough capacity for high performance applications. The presentation will give an overview on current status and topology as well as information about the technical structure of the network and the services provided. Particular emphasis will be put on the description of the connections to other research networks as well as to the general internet. The presentative will include an example for a very successful international application implemented and used by Duke University in close collaboration with the German National Research Network Organisation DFN. Finally, an outlook to the next stage of upgrading the core network is given.
11:05 AM	PRAGMA: Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly Peter Arzberger, SDSC (USA) [ppt] [htm] PRAGMA is an open, international initiative to establish sustained collaborations and advance the use of the computational grid among a community of investigators at the leading research institutions around the Pacific Rim. PRAGMA is supported by the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the National Science Foundation, and participating institutions.
11:25 AM	Overview of activities and CEDIA (Consorcio Ecuatoriano para el Desarrollo de Internet Avanzado) Enrique Pelaez, ESPOL (Ecuador) [ppt] [htm]
11:45 AM	Foreign Language and Cultural Exchanges: The Next High-Performance Killer App for K20? Jennifer MacDougall, Greg Palmer, MAGPI GigaPoP (USA) [ppt] [htm] Several factors are contributing to an increase in international language and cultural exchanges over Internet2 and high performance networks worldwide including: The opening of Internet2 access to K-12 New economic and political drivers for virtual travel Diminishing budgets in a tight economy Need to learn more about the world and increase global awareness in our students and educators At both the K12 and Higher Ed levels, foreign language and cultural exchanges have taken on new meaning in light of the ability to use H.323 and Internet2. Increasingly, virtual immersions, virtual language tours, and remote language and cultural instruction are being pursued by institutions who want to increase global awareness while decreasing technology and travel costs. In Pennsylvania, the MAGPI GigaPoP is working with its member institutions meeting the demand for international language and cultural exchanges and building a network of international collaborators and projects. Hear about work in the K12 arena as well as Higher Ed language and cultural exchange projects including: the Chester County World Tour; the EU/US language and business culture initiatives, the International Virtual Panel, and more. Finally, join the presenters in an open discussion about what challenges and opportunities international K20 language and culture collaborations present and what can be done to better enable and sustain them.
12:00 PM	Wrap Up/Adjourn