Information Technology and the Internet

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Information Technologyand theInternet

• A Briefing by the Big 10 Universities
• Federal Relations Officers
• and
• Chief Information Officers
• February 6, 1998 -- B338 Rayburn House Office
  Building

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Agenda

• Introductions and General Overview
• Todays Internet
• Internet2
• Related Federal Initiatives
• Significance for Education, Research, the
  Economy
• Possible Congressional Issues
• Conclusion

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Significance for Education, Research, the
Economy

• Jose-Marie Griffiths
• University of Michigan
• jmgriff_at_umich.edu

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Some key points about the existing Internet

• The existing Internet is limited in bandwidth
• Bandwidth the amount of data that can be sent
  in a fixed amount of time, usually expressed in
  bits per second (bps)
• Can be thought of as the width of the information
  superhighway, as to how many data cars can pass
  through the information superhighway in a certain
  amount of time
• The existing Internet is getting more and more
  crowded there are more and more bits per second
  (data cars) trying to travel the information
  superhighway at the same time

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Some key points about the existing Internet

• The present Internet is a best effort network.
  This means that the network is designed to make a
  best effort attempt to get your information
  delivered to where its going as soon as it can.
• No guarantees especially time guarantees!

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Some key points about the existing Internet

• The Internet is based on a protocol (TCP/IP) that
  breaks up any document or set of data (like a
  letter or a research data set) into pieces
  (packets).
• The network sends off all those individual
  packets separately (and each one may take a
  different route) and then joins them back
  together to recreate the original set when they
  all get to their final destination.

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Some key points about the existing Internet

• A packet-based network works well when there is
  enough bandwidth. When the network gets too
  crowded
• if something crashes there isnt time to get it
  out of the way before other packets pile into it
  (packet loss)
• if the traffic is bad, how long it takes for the
  various packets to arrive can vary wildly (called
  jitter) or be very long (latency) a problem
  for animations or video

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The existing Internet is degrading

• A crowded Internet No service guarantees
  Packet-based protocol
• major problems for data-intense,
  high-performance, integrated applications
• The constraints of the present Internet are
  seriously restricting the development and use of
  critical network-dependent information technology
  applications.

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Internet2 critical improvements for applications

• More bandwidth
• Quality of service protocol
• Usable network for complex applications

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Impacts

• These new technologies can significantly impact
  education and research at our universities and
  K-12 schools
• Access to remote equipment
• Access to expanded library resources
• Expanded shared learning experiences
• Real-time data-intensive collaboration

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Access to remote equipment

• Expand faculty and student access for
  collaboration and training in the use of highly
  sophisticated equipment, regardless of its
  location
• Example
• Upper Atmosphere Research Collaboratory (UARC )
  (University of Michigan)
• Scanning Electron Microscope (Materials
  Management, University of Michigan)
• Needs Internet2 for increased band-width and low
  latency to make real-time remote manipulation
  possible

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Access to expanded library resources

• not just text, but also continuous audio and
  video resources
• Examples
• Variations Music Information System (Indiana
  University School of Music)
• real-time librarian search/retrieval consultation
  via audio or video conferencing
• Internet2 advantage can deliver real-time, high
  quality audio, video conferencing

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Shared learning experiences

• Students from multiple locations can join
  together in a virtual reality situation to learn
  together
• Example
• NICE 6 to 10 year old children learn together
  while attending a virtual garden (University of
  Illinois at Chicago)
• Internet2 advantage can deliver real-time,
  interactive high quality audio, video
  conferencing to multiple sites simultaneously

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Real-time data-intensive collaboration

• Researchers can work together in real-time,
  data-mining and analyzing enormous datasets
• Example
• U-M Institute for Social Research, Social and
  Behavioral Sciences Collaboratory
• Internet2 advantage ability to handle millions
  of pieces of information (like census data) at a
  speed that makes real-time analysis and
  collaboration possible

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These new technologies can significantly impact
society

• Health Care
• Manufacturing
• Secure exchange of information

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Health Care

• Remote diagnostics, video as well as still images
• Example
• Carnegie-Mellon/University of Pittsburgh Medical
  Center remote brain scan MRIs
• Internet2 advantage could do simultaneous audio,
  video and equipment manipulation make highly
  sophisticated equipment and the expertise of
  highly trained health care professionals
  (especially specialists) available regardless of
  geographic location

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Manufacturing

• Shared simulation development and use
• Example
• Big Three Auto Companies animated simulations of
  large-scale industrial plan development
• Collaborative Architectural Layout via Immersive
  Navigation (CALVIN) (University of Illinois at
  Chicago)
• Internet2 advantage writing simulation software
  is costly, Internet 2 can make it possible to
  share and use simulation software over the network

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Secure exchange of information

• Secure large-scale transmission of audio and
  video (prototyping, exchange of national security
  information, data-intensive collaborations)
• Example
• Provably Secure Video Conferencing (CITI, U-M)
• Internet2 advantage can support secure
  large-scale transmission of audio and video for
  exchange of proprietary or confidential
  information, images, etc.

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Competitive Advantage

• The United States needs Internet2 applications
  capability to remain competitive in
• Education K-12 and higher education
• Scientific research and development
• Health care
• Industry, especially manufacturing
• National security

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Key application areas that require Internet2
capabilities

• High performance simulations
• Data-mining
• Virtual reality, visualizations
• Real-time video and audio

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Possible Congressional Issues

• George F. Badger, Jr.
• Associate Vice Chancellor for Computing and
  Communications
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• g-badger_at_uiuc.edu

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Network related issues likely to involve congress

• Use of online materials
• Home access
• Competition
• Funding and incentives
• International dimension

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Use of online materials

• Federal law governs and guides licenses
• Fair use in networked information
• Protection of property not easy yet
• Liability as providers will limit use
• Censorship with public funding
• Micropayments

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Fair use

• Consistent definition with current practice
• Clarity of intent bridges technology
• Critical to networked education
• Protection requires development

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Home access

• Why any federal role?
• Key to delivery of services and education
• Not area of federal financing
• Deregulation uncertainty limits investment

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Funding and incentives - R1

• Home access--end user
• Campus network--campus
• Campus to backbone--primarily institution
• Backbone--campus, state, federal
• Prototyping--bigger percent federal
• RD--campus, federal, industrial

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Funding and incentives - Others

• States increasing funding of K-12 and HE
  backbones--we provide leadership
• Motivated by delivering job related training and
  creating equality of access
• With basic infrastructure there is huge incentive
  to participate as users and as content providers

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Competition

• We want alternatives in applications software and
  operating systems
• We want competition in communications between
  telcos, cable, and others
• Its far too early to define new boundaries based
  on todays particular technology--e.g. is the
  browser a part of the OS, is there a difference
  between voice and data, .

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International dimension

• Network has no national borders
• Where is online material? Person?
• Enables collaboration and brings problems
• Federal support of research collaboration e.g.
  Chicago STARTAP very important
• Avoid premature legislation and policy for
  problems

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Where to find additional information?
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World-wide-web resources

• http//www.internet2.edu
• http//www.ucaid.edu
• http//www.educom.edu/web/nttf/nttfHome.html
• http//www.ngi.gov
• http//www.ccic.gov/
• http//www.vnbs.net
• http//www.nlanr.net
• http//www.internet2.edu/oct97/html/demos.html
• http//www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html
• http//www.cise.nsf.gov/anir/index.html
• http//www.nasulgc.nche.edu/cit.htm

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