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By Diane Krieger
USC Networker Magazine
Internet 2 will be a
reality in California, when the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California
(CENIC) officially launches its two-ring high-performance network, dubbed CalREN-2.
The $15 million network - funded in part by a $4.5 million NSF grant -
links the state's major universities, including the entire UC system, USC, Stanford and CalTech.
It also provides connectivity to the Cal State University system.
Having these high-bandwidth connections - and greater control over
network delays - means California researchers can at last bypass the congested commodity Internet and
begin in earnest to take advantage of bleeding-edge network applications, such as real-time
video conferencing, imaging and tele-immersion.
USC's Information Sciences Institute is managing the roll-out of CalREN-2
(www.cenic.org) throughout the state. Initial installations began in April,
after CENIC officials signed key contracts with hardware vendors, says project leader Ramesh Govindan.
Loops and links
CalREN-2 consists of two giant loops - called CalREN North (in the San
Francisco area) and CalREN South (in the Los Angeles area). Each loop is a gigaPOP - providing the high-speed
"point of presence" into the nationwide next-generation Internet. According to vice provost for scholarly
technology John Silvester, each loop provides OC-48 (2,480 Mbps) connections to member campuses.
Compare that to the poky 1.5 Mbps to 45 Mbps speeds available on current Internet backbone pipes.
CalREN South serves USC, ISI, CalTech, JPL, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Irvine and
a CSU interconnect site. More distant campuses, such as UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego, tie into CalREN
South via separate OC-12 spurs (622 Mbps). CalREN North, in turn, connects Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC San
Francisco and the UC Office of the President; separate OC-12 spurs join the more far-flung UC Davis and UC
Santa Cruz campuses.
For now, CalREN North and CalREN South connect with one another via OC-12 pipes
on the NSF's high-speed research network, vBNS. In early 1999, however, plans call for the two rings to
connect through UCAID's new Abilene backbone network, delivering OC-48 connectivity and, ultimately,
OC-192 connectivity (9,920 Mbps). UCAID (www.ucaid.org) is the non-profit
consortium in charge of the Internet 2 project.
Unveiling USCnet2
Locally, a $6 million project is underway to pipe CalREN-2's high-bandwidth
capabilities to USC buildings and individual desktops - a project affectionately called USCnet2. The first
phase involves replacing every hub on the university network with a high-speed switch that can transmit
data at 10 Mbps. According to Jim Pepin, ISD executive director of information technology services, roughly
75 percent of this work will be finished by the end of summer. The result will be a 100-fold surge in
bandwidth for average users when they connect to other computers at USC or at CalREN South partner
institutions. Because of built-in redundancies, the new hardware will also boost network reliability.
Running OC-12 or OC-48 links to individual buildings or offices is not in
the cards, according to Pepin. The cost would be prohibitive, he says, and current demand doesn't
justify it. For an extra charge, however, ISD will install 100 Mbps connections, if feasible, in those
buildings where demand for high bandwidth is greatest. Individual researchers desiring top-speed
connectivity can access the network at any ISD public user room, where technicians are wiring all
desktop computers and workstations for 100 Mbps links.
The new network provides both ATM switching and high-speed IP service.
The latter is necessary for connections to other Internet 2-related networks, and to the NSF's vBNS network.
According to Govindan, projects similar to CalREN-2 are underway in 23 states
or regions. But the California effort is on the cutting edge, as one of the first "distributed" gigaPOPs
to deliver OC-12 connections to a wide geographical area. It has alternate routing, in case of failure,
thanks to the ring structure.
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