News for and about the Internet2 community

[Greg Wood <>]

INTERNET2 ABILENE BACKBONE NETWORK UPGRADE PASSES TRANSCONTINENTAL MILESTONE

First phase of 10 gigabit per second network for research and education 
complete

Washington, DC--February 17, 2003--Abilene, the farthest reaching and 
most advanced research and education network in the US, today announced 
that the first transcontinental path in its nationwide upgrade to the 
next generation of networking is in service. When completed later this 
year, the upgrade will quadruple the capacity of more than 13,000 miles 
of network to 10 gigabits per second, more than 15,000 times faster than 
a typical home broadband connection.

The Abilene upgrade will provide scientists, teachers and students at 
the more than 225 Internet2 member universities and research centers 
access to advanced networking capabilities, such as line-speed native 
IPv6 and scalable multicasting, required by advanced network 
applications that do not work well or at all on the commercial Internet. 
 The upgraded network includes significantly expanded network 
measurement capabilities and an enhanced capacity to support experiments 
by the computer science research community.

"Thanks to the combined effort of our Abilene partners, the path to this 
milestone in the upgrade process has been extremely smooth," said Steve 
Corbató, director of backbone network infrastructure for Internet2. "We 
expect Abilene will continue to be a catalyst for innovation, providing 
the research and education community a unique, large-scale leading-edge 
network environment."

Qwest Communications International, Juniper Networks and Indiana 
University are providing equipment and services to implement the network 
upgrade.

"The Abilene upgrade ensures that as research and education 
institutions' ideas grow, this super-high-capacity network is there to 
support them," said Cliff Holtz, executive vice president for Qwest 
global business markets. "This solidifies the Abilene Network's position 
as the leading communications infrastructure for the research and 
education community."

"Juniper Networks is pleased to play such a key role in this 
groundbreaking project," commented Pradeep Sindhu, chief technology 
officer, Juniper Networks.  "The Juniper Networks solution ensures that 
member universities and research centers can operate the most advanced 
network-based applications and leverage next generation protocols such 
as IPv6- all with the predictable, high performance they demand."

"Upgrading Abilene is a significant milestone in achieving the goal of 
providing advanced network capabilities for teaching and research," said 
Indiana University vice president for information technology and CIO 
Michael McRobbie "Indiana University is delighted to be a partner in 
Abilene, to host the Abilene Network Operations Center, and to provide 
the hands-on expertise for this upgrade of Abilene."

Abilene, an Internet2 backbone network, enables nationwide testing of 
applications such as uncompressed high-definition television quality 
video; remote control of scientific instruments such as mountaintop 
telescopes and electron microscopes; collaboration using immersive 
virtual reality; and grid computing. Upgraded links currently reach from 
Washington, DC to Los Angeles, passing through New York City, Chicago, 
Kansas City and Sunnyvale.

About Internet2(R)
Led by over 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and government, 
Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and 
technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the 
creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships 
among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's 
Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see:
http://www.internet2.edu/

About Indiana University
Indiana University is one of the oldest state universities in the 
Midwest and also one of the largest universities in the United States, 
with more than 110,000 students, faculty, and staff on eight campuses. 
IU has a growing national and international reputation in the areas of 
information technology and advanced networking. IU, at its Indianapolis 
campus, is home to the Abilene Network Operations Center as well as the 
Global Research Network Operations Center (Global NOC®). For more 
information, see: http://www.indiana.edu.

About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks transforms the business of networking by converting a 
commodity - bandwidth - into a dependable, secure, and highly valuable 
corporate asset.  Founded in 1996 to meet the stringent demands of 
service providers, Juniper Networks is now relied upon by the world's 
leading network operators, government agencies, research and education 
institutions, and information-intensive enterprises as the foundation 
for uncompromising networks.  Juniper Networks is headquartered in 
Sunnyvale, California. Additional information can be found at 
http://www.juniper.net.

About Qwest Communications
Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) is a leader in 
reliable, scalable and secure broadband data, voice and image 
communications for businesses and consumers. The Qwest Macro Capacity® 
Fiber Network, designed with the newest optical networking equipment for 
speed and efficiency, spans more than 190,000 miles globally. For more 
information, please visit the Qwest Web site at www.qwest.com.

Contacts:
Internet2
Greg Wood

202-331-5360

Juniper Networks
Kathy Durr

408-745-5058

Indiana University
Greg Moore

812 855-0429

Qwest Communications
Vince Hancock

303-965-6950

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