HPCwire: Virginia Will Expand Access to High-Speed Networks

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May 19, 2006

Virginia Will Expand Access to High-Speed Networks

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Virginia's K-12 schools, museums and libraries will be among the first in the nation to connect to both the National LambdaRail and Internet2 -- providing better access to educational and research resources worldwide. Through a new program co-sponsored by a group of Virginia research universities -- including the University of Virginia -- and the Virginia Community College System, schools, museums and libraries connected to NetworkVirginia will be able to connect to either NLR or Internet2 or both at no additional cost.

NetworkVirginia is a successful collaborative high-speed network project that already provides access statewide. The National LambdaRail is the latest national network for research and education that goes beyond Internet technology. Virginia universities have been in a lead role for development of NLR.

"It provides enormous capacity to support scientific research for the nation's top research universities, supercomputing centers, and federal research laboratories," said Robert Reynolds, vice president and chief information officer at the University of Virginia and chair of the Mid Atlantic Terascale Partnership.

Internet2 is a national organization focused on high-performance network technology for education and research. Internet2's Abilene network links more than half the nation's colleges and universities and 35 state education networks for a total of 46,000 institutions of research and education nationwide, providing high-performance networking which enables applications like DVD-quality videoconferencing and access to advanced tools such as remotely controlled electron microscopes.

Both networks offer tremendous capacity. Abilene provides the research and education community with reliable, high-performance network services at speeds 10,000 times faster than DSL. NLR is even faster, with the ability to support the capacity of 40 Abilene networks simultaneously with room to grow.

But speed isn't the total story. "These networks, particularly NLR, use new technology to provide far greater flexibility and control to support high-end multimedia and very demanding scientific applications," said Erv Blythe, NLR board member and vice president for information technology at Virginia Tech. "And the economics of the NLR model are very compelling," he added.

"The availability of research, educational content and advanced capabilities through Network Virginia for all education partners placed Virginia at the head of the class," said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College System. "This advancement will improve access and delivery of crucial education and training throughout the commonwealth."

The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County is the first Virginia K-12 school to connect to NLR. TJ students have already been working with coursework in supercomputing and advanced network protocols directly relevant to NLR and Internet2.

Faculty members at TJ and Virginia Tech are developing ideas to augment these programs and expand access to opportunities ranging from distributed performing arts education to instruction in distributed supercomputing for high school students statewide.

"Virginia students will gain access to technology and hands-on educational opportunities previously available only to advanced students at elite universities," said Tammy McGraw, director of educational technology at the Virginia Department of Education.

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