NSF PR 98-53 - September 21, 1998
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NSF AWARDS EXTEND GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY THROUGH HIGH
PERFORMANCE NETWORK CONNECTIONS TO THE ASIA PACIFIC
RIM AND RUSSIA
The National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced
two major awards over five years to Indiana University
and the University of Tennessee to lead international
high performance research and education network connections
between the United States and the Asia Pacific Rim
and Russia. The two universities will be responsible
for establishing these networks to support worldwide
scientific, research and educational collaborations
that require high bandwidth communications.
"These awards will help create a high-speed Global
Information Infrastructure," Vice President Al Gore
said. "They will also accelerate the pace of scientific
discovery by linking scientists, research facilities,
supercomputers and databases."
NSF Director Rita Colwell said: "Today, we celebrate
two new giant steps in 'interconnectedness.' With
connections like these, the expansion of information
systems really constitutes a new 'Age of Exploration.'
This age is made possible by computational power,
instant communication, vast databases and extensive
analytical capability."
These networks will enable researchers from the University
of California at San Diego to remotely acquire and
process tomographic data from a sophisticated electron
microscope at the University of Osaka in Japan. Researchers
from the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use these networks
for cooperative training in nuclear materials protection,
control and accounting. Collaboration between researchers
at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Institute
of Physical and Chemical Research in Tokyo will uncover
the secrets of the spin structure of the proton. Robotics
laboratories at the Georgia Institute of Technology
and Moscow State University will use the networks
to support their programs developing robotics for
use in construction and hazardous environmental restoration
operations.
With its $10 million award, Indiana University and
its Asia Pacific partners will establish TransPAC,
from the NSF's very high-performance Backbone Network
Service (vBNS) to the Asia Pacific Advanced Network
(APAN). Initially this will involve networks in Japan,
Korea, Singapore and Australia. The main networking
infrastructure for the connection is provided by two
of the world's major international carriers: AT&T
and Japan's Kokusai Denshin Denwa, Co. Ltd. (KDD).
Principal Investigator for the IU award is Vice President
for Information Technology Michael McRobbie.
"TransPAC will enable many U.S. and Asian research
partners to develop new network-based collaborations
in a broad range of disciplines, including astronomy,
molecular biology, high energy physics, medicine and
computational science. Indiana University is pleased
to be leading this effort," said Indiana University
President Myles Brand.
The TransPAC connection will be co-funded by the Japan
Science and Technology Corporation (JST), one of the
key organizations for implementing policies of Japan's
Science and Technology Agency (STA).
"TransPAC is critical to the advancement of many scientific
and research collaborations between Asia Pacific institutions
and U.S. colleagues, and we are most pleased that
this network is operational," said JST Vice President
Kazuo Saito. He also noted that such partnerships
will greatly expand and enhance scientific knowledge
and will contribute to the economic development of
the region. JST will provide more than $6 million
dollars a year to support the TransPAC circuit.
The University of Tennessee and its Russian partners
(Moscow State University, the Friends & Partners Foundation,
and Russian Institute of Public Networking) have established
the MirNET Consortium. They will use the $4 million
award to the University of Tennessee to establish
a connection from the vBNS to the emerging Russian
high performance networks (currently in Moscow and
St. Petersburg and being expanded to Russian scientific
centers in Siberia and elsewhere). Principal Investigators
for this award are Joe Gipson, director of Telecommunications
and Network Services and Greg Cole, director of the
Center for International Networking Initiatives at
the University of Tennessee.
"Improving international relations, distance learning
capabilities, and opportunities for collaboration
between our top scientists and educators are important
priorities for our university. The MirNET program
will provide new support for these priorities and
complement the many initiatives the University of
Tennessee has developed with Russia over the last
five years," said University of Tennessee President
Joseph Johnson.
The Ministry of Science and Technologies of the Russian
Federation is co-sponsoring the MirNET effort with
a $2.5 million commitment for the life of the project.
Among other responsibilities, the ministry promotes
and manages international science and technology links,
such as the MirNET infrastructure, to support an increase
of international collaborative activity.
The TransPAC and MirNET networks will both connect
to the vBNS through the Science, Technology and Research
Transit Access Point (STAR TAP) in Chicago, Illinois.
The vBNS, begun in 1995, is a federal investment of
$50 million in a five-year project with MCI Telecommunications
Corporation. University connections to this sophisticated
network are evaluated by a peer review process and
approved based on scientific and technical merit.
Expected to remain several steps ahead of commercially
available networking, the vBNS currently runs at 622
million bits per second and has begun a transition
to operation at 2.4 gigabits per second (2400 Mbps).
Launched in 1997, the STAR TAP anchors the vBNS international
connections program and is a persistent proving ground
for international high-performance networking. A significant
number of high performance international research
and education networks now connect to U.S. networks
at the STAR TAP, and several new connections will
be made before year's end.
Editors: for more information, see:
Attachment: List of Institutions Participating
in TransPAC and MirNET Connections
Attachment
INSTITUTIONS PARTICIPATING IN TRANSPAC AND MIRNET
NSF is an independent federal agency responsible
for fundamental research in all non-medical fields
of science and engineering, with an annual budget
of about $3.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states,
through grants to more than 2,000 universities and
institutions nationwide. NSF education programs in
science, mathematics and engineering account for about
20% of the agency's budget. (http://www.nsf.gov)
Indiana University is one of the oldest state
universities in the Midwest and is also one of the
largest universities in the U.S., with more than 100,000
students, faculty and staff on eight campuses. IU
was also recently selected to host the network operations
center for Abilene, an Internet2 backbone network
for research and education, announced by Vice President
Al Gore earlier this year. (http://www.indiana.edu)
The Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST)
was established through the integration of two corporations:
The Japan Information Center of Science and Technology
(JICST) established in 1957, and the Research Development
Corporation of Japan (JRDC) established in 1961. JST
is responsible for developing an environment to enhance
and promote science and technology through information
dissemination and exchange. JST also activates and
promotes advanced and creative research and development
projects such as TransPAC. (http://www.jst.go.jp)
The Science and Technology Agency (STA) was
established in 1956 to support Japan's science and
technology administrative structure. Since then, STA
has been planning, formulating, and implementing basic
science and technology policies, and coordinating
those policies developed by other administrative bodies.
In addition, the agency has been advancing large-scale
projects dealing with atomic energy, space and ocean
development, and has been encouraging research and
development in various pioneering fields of science
and technology, including earth sciences, disaster
prevention, special materials, life sciences and aeronautical
technology. (http://www.sta.go.jp)
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville founded
in 1794, is Tennessee's state university and land-grant
institution. It serves more than 25,000 students in
15 academic colleges and schools and is a Carnegie
One research university with close ties to Oak Ridge
National Laboratory. (http://www.utk.edu)
The Ministry of Science and Technologies of the
Russian Federation is responsible for devising
state science and technology policy, identifying priority
areas for research and development, and coordinating
R&D efforts with national objectives. The federation
stimulates scientific activity, promotes legal and
organizational support to facilitate the transfer
of important scientific achievements and technologies
to private industry, and develops plans for central
support and funding of national S&T programs.
STAR TAP launched in 1997 is a three-year project
to establish a persistent infrastructure to facilitate
the long-term interconnection and interoperability
of advanced international networking in support of
applications, performance measuring and technology
evaluations. It is funded by a $1.2 million NSF grant
and maintained through a partnership among the University
of Illinois at Chicago, the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA), Argonne National Laboratory and
Ameritech Advanced Data Services. (http://www.startap.net)
AT&T Corp. is the world's premier voice and
data communications company, serving more than 80
million customers, including consumers, businesses
and government. With annual revenues of more than
$51 billion and 119,000 employees, AT&T provides services
to more than 280 countries and territories around
the world. AT&T runs the world's largest, most powerful
long-distance network and the largest wireless network
in North America. The company is a leading supplier
of data and Internet services for businesses and the
nation's largest direct Internet service provider
to consumers. (http://www.att.com)
Kokusai Denshin Denwa, Co. Ltd. is Japan's
major communication services company, providing international
telephone services to 232 countries and territories
around the world. KDD owns and operates practically
all the optical fiber submarine cables connecting
Japan to the world. In addition, KDD is now constructing
the so-called Japan Information Highway, a 100 gigabit
fiber ring encircling Japan using the state-of-the-art
WDM technology, to be ready for service early next
year. KDD is the pioneer of the Internet in Japan,
having been involved in Internet development from
as early as 1983. (http://www.kdd.com)
Teleglobe is recognized as a world leader in
the intercontinental telecommunications industry.
The Teleglobe network includes submarine cable and
satellite facilities linking North America with 240
countries and territories, meeting the global connectivity
needs of established and emerging wireline and wireless
carriers from around the world, as well as those of
Internet service providers, multinational corporations
and broadcasters. (http://www.teleglobe.com)
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