News for and about the Internet2 community

[Greg Wood <>]

Press Contacts:
Jeanne Corcoran						 
		Leigh Golden			 
				Cronin & Company
860-659-0514 


MYSTIC AQUARIUM & INSTITUTE FOR EXPLORATION WIRES NATIONAL MARINE 
SANCTUARIES FOR REAL TIME EXPLORATION AT THE NEW IMMERSION INSTITUTE(TM)

Mystic, Conn.--June 20, 2002--Explore whale migration corridors and the 
Kelp Forest of Monterey at the new Immersion Institute(TM), a new 
Project from Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration and the 
imagination of Dr. Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the Titanic, and 
founder and president of the Institute for Exploration.  The 
groundbreaking Immersion Institute, which employs the same robotics used 
in sea exploration, wires Monterey National Marine Sanctuary to Mystic 
Aquarium & Institute for Exploration through a live digital feed, which 
enables visitors to explore the sanctuary in real time for the first
time ever.

The Immersion Institute program, which takes place in an interactive 
theater, begins with a short film about our National Marine Sanctuaries 
and their importance and preservation. The interactive experience then 
allows visitors to explore the Monterey Sanctuary in a round theater 
using interactive consoles to drive an ROV wired with live,
real-time video cameras. An interpreter takes the audience through a 
"live" exploration of the sanctuary while an interactive game is running 
on the console in front of them. At the interactive consoles, visitors 
can also learn more about the marine life that inhabits the sanctuary, 
such as California sea lions and anenomes and Bat Stars, from 
informational databases, play virtual games, and earn points for 
completing "missions" by locating specific life forms.

"Nearly ten years ago I envisioned creating an opportunity for people to 
go on their own explorations using the same tools that we use for deep 
sea expedition," said Dr. Ballard. "By wiring these National Marine 
Sanctuaries we can now bring the wonders of the sanctuaries to people 
who would otherwise never have an opportunity to witness them."
"Audiences can now interactively explore these spectacular natural 
environments because of the unique way we've custom-built this 
integrated theatre.  We've used our proprietary hardware and software in 
a way that we feel really meets the vision of where Dr. Ballard and the 
team wanted to go--creating a dynamic, and hopefully compelling sense of 
exploration." says Stacey Spiegel, CEO of Immersion Studios, based in 
Toronto, Canada.  The game content created by Immersion Studios, and 
running on the interactive consoles is creatively and technologically 
innovative and state-of-the-art.

Partnerships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), Qwest Communications International Inc., VBrick Systems, and 
Immersion Studios have provided either access or technology to make the 
Immersion Institute possible.

The Immersion Institute was launched as a new, interactive exploration 
exhibit for a general audience. It will allow visitors to view living 
animals and environmental conditions in remote locations that they may 
never have the opportunity to explore personally. Next, an educational 
version with a curriculum will be developed for educators throughout the 
 region and ultimately throughout the country. It will serve as a tool 
for teachers to help make marine science, including marine biology and 
ecosystems, interesting, real and relevant to their students.

The technology enabling the Immersion Institute is cutting edge and 
remarkable within itself. In addition to Dr. Ballard's robotics, the 
system will run coast to coast on the Abilene Internet2 high-speed 
backbone. The Abilene Internet2 network is a state-of-the-art 
next-generation data and video communications network for use by 
academic and research organizations. The Abilene network is an Internet2 
backbone network providing nationwide high-performance networking 
capabilities for over 200 Internet2 universities in all 50 states, the 
District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Qwest Communications also is a 
national communications partner of the Immersion Institute. Another 
component is the cutting-edge technology  Vbrick, created by VBrick 
Systems in Wallingford, Connecticut. VBrick enables the high-definition 
transport of the live images from Monterey. NBC/TV30, as a major media 
sponsor will be providing an Internet-based preview of the project on 
their web property, the "Feedroom" in the coming weeks.

"Qwest is excited to be part of this one-of-a-kind project and we are 
pleased by the opportunity to bring new learning experiences to a larger 
spectrum of the population," said John Walker, Qwest vice president of 
government and education solutions. "The Qwest network supports 
educational and research projects around the world, and we're happy that 
our relationship with Abilene and Internet2 allows us to continually 
expand that portfolio."

"Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration has long embraced 
technology as a tool to help explain the marine environment," said Rich 
Mavrogeanes, president and founder of VBrick Systems, one of the main 
technologies companies enabling the live sanctuaries program.  "The 
confluence of technologies represented by the Immersion Institute is 
groundbreaking and it is our hope that by using VBrick's products the 
Immersion Institute will begin to experience first hand the power of 
DVD-quality video to educate and inform its visitors."
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration is a non-profit 
organization. Proceeds go to the development and execution of 
educational programs, marine research, marine animal rescue and 
releases, and expeditions. For additional information on Mystic Aquarium 
& Institute for Exploration please visit mysticaquarium.org or ife.org.

# # #

Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration gratefully acknowledges our 
official corporate partners in the development of the Immersion 
Institute(TM) including: NBC/TV30, official media partner; Qwest 
Communications, Abilene Network, national communications partners; 
VBrick Systems, official technology partner; and the following partners 
and donors for their support in the development of the Immersion Institute:


NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
The JASON Foundation for Education
Immersion Studios
Phoenix Foundation
University of Connecticut
University of California Santa Cruz
SBC Foundation
United States Coast Guard




        




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From: Laura Wolf 
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Subject: Registration Opens for iGrid 2002
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Contact:
Laura Wolf
Electronic Visualization Laboratory
University of Illinois at Chicago



Registration Opens for iGrid 2002: Showcasing Tomorrow's Multi-Gigabit 
e-Science Applications

Registration is open for the global iGrid 2002 event this September 23-26 
in Amsterdam. A showcase of 29 very-high-bandwidth technical innovations 
and application advancements from 15 countries will be on display. On 
September 25-26, two full-day Topical Meetings (Symposia) will run 
concurrently with the demonstrations, featuring invited keynote speakers on 
e-Science and Virtual Laboratory/Grid developments.

IGrid 2002 will be held at the Amsterdam Science and Technology Centre 
(WTCW), a world-class scientific research campus and supercomputing hub 
where SURFnet's 2.5 Gigabit NetherLight circuit to the StarLight in Chicago 
originates.

Grid computing is the emerging enabling technology for facilitating 
multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborations worldwide, and 
underlies the iGrid 2002 high-speed networking demonstrations of remote 
instrumentation control, tele-immersion, real-time client server systems, 
multimedia, tele-teaching, digital video, distributed computing and 
high-throughput, high-priority data transfers.

The event itself will provide an international testbed for applications 
scientists, computer scientists, artists, networking engineers and 
commercial vendors to collaborate on a global scale, and advance the 
state-of-the-art in high-performance computing and communications.

The iGrid 2002 event, funded in part by the US National Science Foundation 
and the Netherlands' GigaPort project, is a challenge to scientists and 
technologists to optimally utilize experimental networks.

Early registration ends August 1, 2002. See www.igrid2002.org for details.

About SURFnet and NetherLight
SURFnet--the advanced national research network of the 
Netherlands--recently established Netherlight, an optical testbed 
connecting Amsterdam to Chicago at 2.5Gbps. This transoceanic link is the 
first to enable very-high-speed interconnectivity of evolving experimental 
networks in the US and Europe, and encourages other countries and 
continents to also interconnect, creating a global experimental network for 
advanced scientific research.

About StarLight
StarLight, the optical STAR TAP, is an advanced optical infrastructure and 
proving ground for network services optimized for high-performance 
applications. StarLight, funded by the National Science Foundation, is 
being developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the 
University of Illinois at Chicago, the International Center for Advanced 
Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, and the Mathematics 
and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, in 
partnership with Canada's CANARIE and Holland's SURFnet.
--=====================_26088483==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<html>
Contact:<br>
Laura Wolf<br>
Electronic Visualization Laboratory<br>
University of Illinois at Chicago<br>
<font 
color="#0000FF"><u><br><br>
<br>
</u></font><font size=4><b>Registration Opens for iGrid 2002: Showcasing
Tomorrow’s Multi-Gigabit e-Science Applications<br><br>
</b></font>Registration is open for the global iGrid 2002 event this
September 23-26 in Amsterdam. A showcase of 29 very-high-bandwidth
technical innovations and application advancements from 15 countries will
be on display. On September 25-26, two full-day Topical Meetings
(Symposia) will run concurrently with the demonstrations, featuring
invited keynote speakers on e-Science and Virtual Laboratory/Grid
developments.<br><br>
IGrid 2002 will be held at the Amsterdam Science and Technology Centre
(WTCW), a world-class scientific research campus and supercomputing hub
where SURFnet’s 2.5 Gigabit NetherLight circuit to the StarLight in
Chicago originates.<br><br>
Grid computing is the emerging enabling technology for facilitating
multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborations worldwide, and
underlies the iGrid 2002 high-speed networking demonstrations of remote
instrumentation control, tele-immersion, real-time client server systems,
multimedia, tele-teaching, digital video, distributed computing and
high-throughput, high-priority data transfers.<br><br>
The event itself will provide an international testbed for applications
scientists, computer scientists, artists, networking engineers and
commercial vendors to collaborate on a global scale, and advance the
state-of-the-art in high-performance computing and
communications.<br><br>
The iGrid 2002 event, funded in part by the US National Science
Foundation and the Netherlands’ GigaPort project, is a challenge to
scientists and technologists to optimally utilize experimental
networks.<br><br>
Early registration ends August 1, 2002. See
<a href="http://www.igrid2002.org/"; eudora="autourl"><font 
color="#0000FF"><u>www.igrid2002.org</a></u></font>
for details. <br><br>
<b>About SURFnet and NetherLight<br>
</b>SURFnet--the advanced national research network of the Netherlands--recently 
established Netherlight, an optical testbed connecting Amsterdam to Chicago at 2.5Gbps. This 
transoceanic link is the first to enable very-high-speed interconnectivity of evolving 
experimental networks in the US and Europe, and encourages other countries and continents to 
also interconnect, creating a global experimental network for advanced scientific 
research.<br><br>
<b>About StarLight<br>
</b>StarLight, the optical STAR TAP, is an advanced optical infrastructure and 
proving ground for network services optimized for high-performance applications. 
StarLight, funded by the National Science Foundation, is being developed by the 
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the 
International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) at Northwestern University, 
and the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, in 
partnership with Canada's CANARIE and Holland's SURFnet.</html>

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