News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

First multi-gigabit interactive video transmission between Australia and the
US

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, November 8, 2004 
Canberra, Australia, November 9 2004 

AARNet (Australia's Academic and Research Network) and ResearchChannel today
demonstrated the first high definition uncompressed interactive video
interaction across the Pacific at 1.4 gigabits per second in each direction.


The demonstration took advantage of recent massive increases in bandwidth
capabilities from Australia to the continental United States on network
capacity provided by Southern Cross Cable Networks, to deliver truly
remarkable quality video interaction between AARNet's head office in
Canberra and the exhibition floor of the Supercomputing Conference SC2004 in
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The partnership between ResearchChannel, AARNet and the University of
Washington provided applications that spurred the development of high speed
networks and enabled data transfers previously unavailable between the two
continents. 

The unprecedented high-quality, low-latency interactive video is the first
use of the Southern Cross Trans-Pacific Optical Research Testbed (or
SXTransPORT), a dual 10Gbps trans-Pacific initiative of Southern Cross Cable
Networks and AARNet and acquired with assistance from the Australian
Government.  The network path also involved the Pacific Northwest Gigapop
and the US National LambdaRail (NLR) 10 gigabit network fabric. The network
path also makes use of US National Institutes of Health-funded networks
through the University of Hawaii.
Future expansion of the network is planned to offer these and additional
resources to other continents, and bring scientists and researchers together
by exploiting new Internet technologies. 

Using two Intel PCI-Xpress computers and AJA Video Systems' Xena-HD HDSDI
capture cards, the demonstration is the first to show High Definition
interactive systems over Windows XP platforms, providing researchers,
medical practitioners and scientists worldwide with new interactive video
capabilities.

"This demonstration is the first highly visual culmination of the recent
initiatives between AARNet's international developments arm and Southern
Cross at the infrastructure level and with our colleagues at the University
of Washington at the infrastructure, technology and applications levels,"
said AARNet's CEO, Chris Hancock. 

Dr Mike Sargent, who chairs the Australian Research and Education Network
initiative, participated for part of the opening session and engaged with
Professor John O'Callaghan, CEO of the Australian Partnership for Advanced
Computing, and other participants in Pittsburg for the Supercomputing Global
2004 conference.

"This is a great demonstrator of the benefit of strategic investment of
Australian Government funds in helping put the network infrastructure in
place to support these innovative applications" said Dr Sargent.

"The video quality presented at the exhibition floor of the SC2004
conference in Pittsburg from Australia is exceptional" said Professor
O'Callaghan"

Demonstrations will continue through the rest of this week, though in
Australian time these sessions are from 2am to 10am of the mornings of
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 2am until 8am on Friday.

------------------------------------------------------------

Background information

About AARNet
Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet) provides high capacity,
leading edge Internet services for the tertiary education and research
sector communities, and their research partners. For more information about
AARNet, please visit http://www.aarnet.edu.au.

About Research Channel
ResearchChannel is a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating a voice
for research through video and Internet channels. For more information about
ResearchChannel, please  visit the web site at www.researchchannel.org.

About Southern Cross Cable Network
The Southern Cross Cable Network provides the fastest, most direct, and most
secure international bandwidth from Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, to
the heart of the Internet in the United States. For more information about
SCCN, please visit their web site at http://www.southerncrosscables.com/.

About SXTransPORT
The Southern Cross Trans-Pacific Optical Research Testbed is an initiative
of Southern Cross Cable Networks and AARNet, supported by the Australian
Government, that provides dual 10Gbps circuits between Australia, Hawaii and
the US west coast. For more information about SXTransPORT, please visit
http://www.aarnet.edu.au/news/sxtransport.pdf

About the University of Washington
Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is a public research
university with over 41,000 students on campuses in Seattle, Tacoma and
Bothell, Wash. For more information about the University of Washington,
please visit the web site at http://www.washington.edu.

About Intel
Intel Corporation is an industry leader in supplying the computing and
communications industries with the "ingredients" of computers, servers and
networking and communications products. For more information about Intel
Corporation, please visit their web site at http://www.intel.com.

About AJA Video
AJA Video is a leading manufacturer of digital video solutions for the
professional broadcast and post-production markets. For more information
about AJA, please visit their web site at http://www.aja.com.

About National LambdaRail
National LambdaRail, Inc.'s (NLR) fundamental mission is to provide a
network infrastructure for new forms and methods for research in science,
engineering, health care and education, as well as for research and
development of new Internet technologies, protocols, applications and
services. For more information about NLR, please visit their web site at
http://www.nlr.net.

About Northwest Gigapop
Pacific Northwest Gigapop is a state-of-the-art, advanced high-speed
Internet service provider based in Seattle, Wash., and a next-generation
network interconnector for Pacific Rim research, education and development
networks. For more information visit http://www.pnw-gigapop.net.