News for and about the Internet2 community

[CENIC Editor <>]

For Immediate Release

Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California
Announces Winners of Second Annual 'On the Road to a
Gigabit' Awards

   LA JOLLA, Calif., March 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- California's
visionaries are once again leading the way to tomorrow's
Internet through the Corporation for Education Network
Initiatives in California's One Gigabit or Bust Initiative.
For a glimpse of life in a gigabit-enabled world, CENIC and
the California Institute for Telecommunications and
Information Technology (Cal-(IT)2) co-sponsor the annual On
the Road to a Gigabit awards.  The On the Road to a Gigabit
awards showcase the pioneering ideas of today's visionaries
and the promise of tomorrow's Internet, as well as highlight
the technologies paving the road to a gigabit world.


   The experts judging the nominations included Kathie
Hackler, Research Vice President, Gartner Consulting; Molly
Petrick, Contra Costa Water District; John Silvester, Vice
Provost for Scholarly Technology, University of Southern
California; Larry Smarr, Cal-(IT)2 Director; and Bill
St. Arnaud, Senior Director of Advanced Networks, CANARIE.


   The On the Road to a Gigabit categories for the best uses
of high performance networking include:


   - Biggest, Fastest in the West: This award honors the
fastest and most scalable high-performance networking
application/technology.  Winner: On Demand Infrastructure:
San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), Patricia Kovatch;
IBM, Roger Haskin Grid computing is potentially the biggest
change on the horizon for high-performance computing. With
SDSC's "on demand" infrastructure, scientists can share data
efficiently and effectively between site, they will have the
ability to run jobs anywhere without shipping data to the
selected site, and have the ability to use data from
anywhere and at high speeds.


   - Community: The Community Award honors innovative uses
of high-performance networking to overcome network
disadvantages (economic and/or location based).  Winner:
Behind the Redwood Curtain: Redwood Technology Consortium,
Tina Nerat Humboldt County on the North Coast of California
was a poignant example of the digital divide, where the only
link to move data was an at-capacity microwave link. The
RTC, via broadband advocacy, illustrated the power of what a
community can accomplish when it unites behind a common
goal. By galvanizing local government, businesses, and
individuals, RTC helped Humboldt County complete a 21-mile
fiber gap and bring advanced telecommunications services to
this rural area.


   - Education: The Education Award honors innovative uses
of high-performance networking in K-12 and higher education.
Winner: Education Telecommunications Network (ETN): Los
Angeles County Office of Education, Richard Qui-ones
Educational Telecommunications Network's (ETN) track record
of local and national telecasts is now being directed toward
moving content over the CalREN-DC network, thus providing
more tools for educators, the general public and other
consumers of education. ETN supplies educators with the
means to reach learners through a combination of traditional
broadcast media production, digital technology enhancements
and the ongoing exploration of new digital technologies.


   Honorable Mention: Teaching and Learning Interchange
(TLI): Pamela Redmond, University of San Francisco; Glen
Thomas, California County Superintendents Education Services
Association; J.  Chuck Taylor, Kings County Office of
Education; Grace Ko, San Diego County Office of Education;
Bill Engelhardt, San Joaquin County Office of Education; and
Judy Shulman, WestEd


   - Gigabit or Bust: This award honors the high-performance
networking application/technology that best exemplifies what
life would be like in a gigabit-connected world.  Winner:
Desert Sands Gigabit Ethernet: Desert Sands Unified School
District (DSUSD), George Araya Supporting a student
population of more than 26,000 at 28 school sites, DSUSD
partnered with providers of service, equipment, and
infrastructure to enable early adoption of Gigabit
technology by a mid-size K-12 environment.  This group
implemented a gigabit-capable network within the boundaries
of its territory to provide gigabit-to-the-desktop for every
teacher and student.


   Honorable Mention: Education Applications for a Gigabit
Network: El Monte Union High School District, Garrett McKay


   - Innovation: The Innovation Award recognizes innovative
contributions to high-performance networking that best
exemplify the creative spirit and the bottoms-up philosophy
that created the Internet.  Winner: Fontana ACES-Advanced
Community and Educational Services Network: City of Fontana,
Janice McClintock The City of Fontana has embarked on a
process to build out an advanced communications services
network to leave no part of the city behind, regardless of
economic level or zoning.  The network will link all
businesses, schools, hospitals, and homes with a fiber-optic
infrastructure owned by the City, in the same manner it owns
sewers and roads.


   - Partnership: This award honors the best use of
high-performance networking developed by a private/public
partnership.  Winner: Ultralight Partnership: California
Institute of Technology, Sylvain Ravot; Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center (SLAC), R. Les Cottrell; CERN, Olivier
Martin; Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Wu-chun Feng.
Teams of physicists, computer scientists, and network
engineers at Caltech, CERN, SLAC, LANL, Fermilab, Florida
International University, University of Florida, University
of Michigan, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the MIT
Haystack Observatory have started to develop and deploy
UltraLight, the first of a new class of integrated
information systems to support the decades-long research
program at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The project
has profound implications for integrating information
sharing and on-demand audiovisual collaboration in our daily
lives, at a scale and quality previously unimaginable.


   Honorable Mention: George Wright Society's Virtual Trip
to Fish Creek: California State Parks, Alan Friedman;
HPWREN, Hans-Werner Braun; San Diego County Office of
Education, Harry Bloome


   On March 15, CENIC will recognize the winners of the On
the Road to a Gigabit Awards at an awards luncheon to be
held at 11:30 a.m. at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey,
California.  The ceremony will be held in conjunction with
the CENIC 2004 annual conference at the Ritz-Carlton, March
15-17.  The 2nd One Gigabit or Bust Roundtable will
immediately follow CENIC's annual conference March 17-18.
This Roundtable is organized around topical task forces that
are identifying the opportunities and obstacles to achieving
one gigabit throughout California by 2010 and establishing
an action plan to achieve this goal.  For more information
about the Roundtable, please see
http://www.cenic.org/GB/meetings/31704/index.htm


   For more information on the awards, contact Susan
Estrada, Director of the One Gigabit or Bust Initiative, by
phone at 760.510.8406 or by email at 
.

   About CENIC


   CENIC is a not-for-profit corporation serving the
California Institute of Technology, California State
University, Stanford University, University of California,
University of Southern California, California Community
Colleges and the statewide K-12 school system.  CENIC's
mission is to facilitate and coordinate the development,
deployment and operation of a set of robust multi-tiered
advanced network services for this research and education
community. More information about CENIC can be found at
www.cenic.org.


   About Cal-(IT)2


   The California Institute for Telecommunications and
Information Technology is one of four institutes created by
the State in late 2000 to ensure that California maintain
its leadership in cutting-edge technologies. Cal-(IT)²'s
mission: to extend the reach of the current information
infrastructure throughout the physical world, enabling
anywhere/anytime access to the Internet. More than 220
professors and senior researchers from UC Irvine and UC San
Diego are collaborating on interdisciplinary projects. More
information can be found at www.calit2.net.

   -30-

   Media Contact: Julie M. Van Fleet, CENIC 619.276.0090 

   Doug Ramsey, Cal-(IT)2, 858.822.5825; 

   NOTE TO EDITORS: For complimentary media registration,
contact Julie Van Fleet by phone at 619-276-0090 or by email
at 
.