Other Research & Education News
Regional Network Futures Report
Advanced Regional Networks (ARNs) play a unique and vital role in America’s broadband future, according to a report published October 31, the outcome of a two-day workshop on “Envisioning the Future of Advanced Regional and State Networks.” Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and hosted by the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the workshop was attended by over 30 experts in the development and operation of ARNs as well leaders from the national research and education (R&E) networking community and industry.
“Over the past 25 years,” according to the report, “ARNs have played a critical role in the deployment of the Internet within the United States and the development of the global Internet itself. . . Today ARNs are expanding to serve entirely new sets of organizations, but are finding that they must adapt to do so. In fact, we are now at an inflection point unlike any other in the forty-year history of R&E networking, with ARNs facing an intersection of increasing opportunities and rising challenges. To realize their full potential, ARNs must reach a common vision for their future development, fundamentally reevaluating core issues such as funding, form, and function.”
For ARNs to realize their full potential as innovation platforms, the report makes a number of recommendations to the ARN community:
- Broaden the collaboration among ARNs to provide coherence for users
- Develop sustainable and coordinated funding models
- Strengthen the partnership and alignment between ARNs and national organizations
- Expand the leadership and coordination roles of the National Science Foundation
- Increase collaboration on new and advanced services
- Join forces to inform policy makers at the state, regional, and national levels
For full report, please visit: https://www.mcnc.org/sites/default/files/arn-workshop-white-paper-31-oct-2011.pdf.
SDSC Announces Scalable, High-performance Data Storage Cloud
Web-based system offers high durability, security, and speed for diverse user base The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, today announced the launch of what is believed to be the largest academic-based cloud storage system in the U.S., specifically designed for researchers, students, academics, and industry users who require stable, secure, and cost-effective storage and sharing of digital information, including extremely large data sets.
Gates Foundation: Regional Networks Important Partner for Libraries, Other Community Anchors
Regional research and education (R&E) networks can be a source of affordable Internet access and value-added services for community anchor institutions, according to a report released earlier this year by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The report, “Connections, Capacity, Community: Exploring Potential Benefits of Research and Education Networks for Public Libraries,” focused in particular on the needs of public libraries to expand Internet and technology services to meet the growing needs of their communities.
“R&E networks have an important role in helping to achieve the goal in the National Broadband Plan that ‘Every American community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings,’ ” according to the report. The report goes on to say that the expansion plans of many regional networks made possible by federal stimulus funding under the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) means that “thousands of additional community anchor institutions, including public libraries, will have new opportunities to benefit from increased bandwidth and additional services through R&E networks.”
Even after the announced BTOP projects have been completed, however, the Gates Foundation estimates that more than two-thirds of the approximately 17,000 public libraries in the country will still lack access to advanced fiber networks.
The report urges libraries to consider the benefits of working with a regional R&E network both on account of the “basic value” provided by regionals (network speed, quality and cost) and “added value,” such as new services and being part of a non-profit community connecting people and institutions with similar interests.
The value to libraries of working with regional R&E networks will grow and broaden as libraries’ capabilities, needs, and practices evolve, the report states, and as libraries seek to transform how they interact with and serve their patrons. For instance, by providing videoconferencing, library generated content, digitized content and by serving as enhanced channels in support of e-government and primary and continuing education.
When evaluating a potential partnership with a regional network, the Gates Foundation outlines seven dimensions to consider: the scope of the network‘s membership base, range of services, geographic reach, history and origin, governance, business model, and network typology.
Scientists Launch Internet Protocol Research Center
The Global Network Development and Deployment Initiative Formed to Facilitate Research on New Platforms and Architectures Based on OpenFlow Technology.
By Chandler Harris InformationWeek April 25, 2011
The Internet2 networking consortium, Indiana University, and Stanford University's Clean Slate Program have launched a research center that will create a new network platform for global scientific research.
The Network Development and Deployment Initiative (NDDI) will create multiple virtual networks that allow network researchers to test and experiment with new Internet protocols and architectures. It will also enable domain scientists to accelerate their active research with collaborators worldwide.
Full Article
http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/ipv6/229402172