News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

Hawaii's First 10Gbps External Network Connection Demonstrated By UH

The University of Hawaii has demonstrated Hawaii's first 10Gbps (billions of
bit per second) connection outside the State. The new link, which connects
Hawaii to Australia and the U.S. mainland, is part of the SX TransPORT
project, a partnership between the Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) and
AARNet, Australia's Academic and Research Network.

On January 10 the University of Hawaii first used the new connection for a
remote microscopy demonstration between the Lariat project meeting in
Honolulu and the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR)
at the University of California at San Diego. Between January 17 and 19, the
link is being demonstrated for a variety of applications at the Pacific
Telecommunications Council (PTC) meeting at the Hilton Hawaii Village in
Waikiki.
 
David Lassner, University of Hawaii Chief Information Officer and Chair of
the PTC 2005 conference thanked the many partners who helped bring this
multi-year initiative to fruition. "Through SX TransPORT, our colleagues at
AARNet and Southern Cross have provided the foundation for Hawaii to begin
to participate in the continuing transformation of research and education
through advanced broadband connectivity. Our collaborators in the Pacific
Northwest and California are making it possible for Hawaii and Australia to
leverage this capability by assisting in acquiring the additional resources
and support to connect SX TransPORT to US-based advanced networks and
exchange points that reach the rest of the world."

Lariat is the physical networking project being conducted by the Pacific
NorthWest Gigapop as part of a $10m NIH award to Montana State University to
enhance the capability for biomedical research in Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming,
Nevada and Hawaii. The remote microscopy demonstration on January 10
permitted participants at the Lariat meeting at the East-West Center on the
University of Hawaii at Manoa campus to view in real-time the images from a
multi-million dollar multi-photon laser scanning confocal microscope at the
NCMIR in San Diego. This demonstration used 800Mbps (millions of bits per
second) to send the uncompressed data from San Diego to Honolulu. This type
of remote instrumentation monitoring is an important first step for enabling
remote instrumentation control, allowing the remote use of one of a kind
instrumentation not available in the islands. The Lariat meeting also
included remote video participants from Canberra, Australia and NIH in
Maryland.

The new link is also being shown at PTC 2005, the 27th annual PTC conference
which is the longest-running annual telecommunications meeting for the
Pacific hemisphere. PTC attracted over 900 delegates from more than 40
countries as well as several thousand additional "networkers" who do
business alongside the PTC meeting. Advanced applications of broadband are
being highlighted in a series of demonstrations in the Broadband Playground
and Exhibit Hall.

The Communications Research Centre (CRC) of Industry Canada, which
coordinated the entire Broadband Playground at PTC 2005, has arranged a
number of innovative demonstrations of broadband technology in E-Learning
using Canada's advanced CA*net 4 network which interconnects with SX
TransPORT via Pacific Wave in Seattle. These demonstrations include a
real-time demonstration of remote piano control, high-quality real-time
audio and video for coaching music students, multiparty collaborative
virtual reality, and a sharing of indigenous culture and educational
performance events.

The ResearchChannel, based at the University of Washington, is showing
interactive High Definition Television (HDTV) over the Internet at speeds of
270Mbps per stream. One of the HDTV programs being shown is PBS Hawaii's
"First Light" documentary about Mauna Kea, which has been digitized for
playback in Honolulu from a server in Seattle.

Videoconferencing with AARNet in Canberra is being shown using uncompressed
and inexpensive but high-quality consumer-grade DV-Cam technology and
desktop PCs.

Another HDTV-over-IP technology is being shown by the Japanese National
Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which
operates the Japan's JGN2 advanced network. In addition to transmitting HDTV
among Alaska, Honolulu and Osaka, NICT also brought their popular wireless
Internet-based car racing technology that permits drivers in Alaska, Japan
and Hawaii to compete against each other in real-time using a physical
race-track at PTC in Honolulu.
  
Internet2 is showing the new "DVGuide," which shows the digital video
programming available on global research and education networks from around
the world.

In addition to the 10Gbps trans-pacific fiber optic lightwave provided for
SX TransPORT by SCCN to AARNet, a number of other components have been
required to realize this level of advanced broadband technology. The Lariat
project provided support for the high-speed connection from the SCCN landing
in Oregon to the Pacific Wave optical exchange point in Seattle. 

A new NSF award for international networking to the University of Southern
California will assist in extending SX TransPORT from Australia to the Big
Island and on to California using a second 10Gbps SX TransPORT lightwave on
the southern route of SCCN.

Pacific LightNet Incorporated (PLNI) provided the University of Hawaii with
the 10Gbps lightwaves on Oahu to connect between the SCCN landing point at
Kahe Point and the UH-Manoa campus. Pacific Wireless Corporation and fSONA
provided the free space optics link to connect between UH Manoa and the
Hilton Hawaiian Village for the PTC 
demonstrations.

The SX TransPORT network is currently in "pre-production" for these and
other demonstrations. Work is planned on the production configuration to
support education and research after the conclusion of PTC. 

See the following links for additional information:
University of Hawaii - http://www.hawaii.edu
SX TransPORT - www.aarnet.edu.au/news/sxtransport.pdf
AARNet - http://www.aarnet.edu.au/
Southern Cross Cable Network - http://www.southerncrosscables.com/
Lariat - http://lariat-west.org/
PTC 2005 - http://www.ptc.org/ptc05
Pacific Wave - http://www.pacificwave.net/
NCMIR - http://ncmir.ucsd.edu/
CRC - http://www.crc.ca/en/html/crc/home/home
CA*net 4 -http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/
ResearchChannel - http://www.researchchannel.org
NICT - http://www.nict.go.jp/overview/index.html
JGN2 -http://www.jgn.nict.go.jp/e/02-about/02-1/
Internet2 - http://www.internet2.edu
PLNI - http://www.plni.net/
PWC - http://www.pwchi.com/
fSONA - http://www.pwchi.com/

For more information, contact:
David Lassner                                           

Chief Information Officer                         Voice: +1 808-956-3501
University of Hawaii                                Fax: +1 808-956-5025
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~david