What is Internet2?

Today’s Internet (also called Internet1, I1, or the commodity Internet) is heavily used. Using the analogy of the Information Superhighway, Internet1 is experiencing traffic congestion and road construction. For many applications (email and simple web pages) this makes no difference, but for those applications where reliability is critical and delay is not acceptable (e.g. videoconferencing, large databases or applications where huge files are transferred), Internet1 may not be adequate. Internet2 exists and continues to be developed to provide a reliable platform for innovative projects, applications, and research. Internet2 provides a place where exciting new collaborations can take place to enhance teaching and learning.

“Internet2 is a consortium being led by over 190 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today’s Internet in its infancy.” (www.internet2.edu/html/about.html). An excellent overview is found at: www.internet2.edu/resources/Internet2Overview.htm.

Internet2 members mainly use two high performance networks, Abilene and the vBNS+. The Abilene network provides most of the high-speed connections.

What is the vBNS+?

The National Science Foundation awards grants to institutions for science and engineering research and development. NSF created the vBNS+ (Very High-performance Backbone Network System) network, a high performance network to support these projects. See www.vbns.net for more information.

The Abilene High Performance Network

“Abilene (www.internet2.edu/abilene/) is an advanced backbone network that supports the development and deployment of the new applications being developed within the Internet2 community. Abilene connects regional network aggregation points, called gigaPoPs, to support the work of Internet2 universities as they develop advanced Internet applications. Abilene complements other high-performance research networks.” (www.internet2.edu/members/html/terms_of_affiliation.html#Abilene).

Abilene is currently the world’s most sophisticated high-speed production network with links to 53 regional networks that are scattered strategically across the United States. Other connecting networks include the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), NASA’s Integrated Services Network (NISN) and Research and Education Network (NREN), and the vBNS+. These regional networks provide a connection called a gigaPoP that links Abilene to each site (access node) in the regional network. The approximate 150 access nodes are close to every major University. Go to www.internet2.edu/abilene/html/connectors.html to see a list of those networks. They connect at speeds ranging from OC-3 (155Mbps) to OC-48 (2,488Mbps). (Note a T1 line is 1.544 Mbps). There are also connections to other high-speed networks around the world. The interconnection point is called the STAR TAP. Both the STAR TAP and the Abilene Network Operations Center are located at Indiana University.

Who are Internet2 members?

There are three major categories of Internet2 members who use Abilene services - universities, corporate members, and affiliates. As of June 2002, there are 205 members, 190 of them Universities.

• University members must be located in the United States and maintain a continuing commitment (both financially and by identifying projects) to use, develop, and enhance advanced networking.
• Corporate members include any for-profit corporation. Three levels of participation are available (Corporate Partner, Corporate Sponsor, and Corporate Member) with different requirements and fees.
• Affiliates are not-for-profit corporations involved in education or research.

Approximately half of the Internet2 members qualify and elect to become Primary Participants in Abilene. Excellent diagrams are found at www.internet2.edu/members/html/internet2diagrams.html#AbileneParticipationChart. One shows the relationships among members, participants, connectors, and other networks within Internet2 and the other diagram shows the Abilene Participation structure.

Internet2 members wanted to expand Internet2 to connect other types of educational organizations (e.g. Community Colleges, K-12 schools, libraries and museums) that don’t meet the Internet2 requirements for membership, but could use the bandwidth capabilities and partnership opportunities provided through participation in Internet2. As a result, Universities who are Primary Participants in Abilene can sponsor individual institutions and groups. This sponsorship permits those individual institutions and groups access to the high bandwidth of Internet2 and encourages partnerships across a broad range of organizations.

What is SII?

University Primary Participants may sponsor individual institutions like libraries, museums, schools and colleges to have Internet2 access under the Sponsored Individual Institutions (SII) project. The Primary Participant works with the proposed SII and submits an application to Internet2. For information, go to: www.ucaid.edu/abilene/html/faq-sponsored.html.