News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren Rotman" <>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 30, 2005

Contacts: 
Angie Antonopoulos
University Information Technology Services
Indiana University
(317) 274-5009


Greg Wood
National LambdaRail
(202) 331-5360



Indiana University's Global NOC Provides Support for National LambdaRail
Networking Services

IU Partners with Cisco Systems to support leading-edge nationwide Internet
and Ethernet services

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University's Global Research Network Operations
Center (Global NOC) will provide support for National LambdaRail's (NLR)
FrameNet and PacketNet services. Indiana University partnered with Cisco
Systems, Inc. on the nationwide installation of Cisco's next-generation
CRS-1 Carrier Routing Systems, which provides the foundation for the NLR
PacketNet services. NLR is a major initiative of US research universities
and private sector technology companies to provide a national scale optical
network infrastructure.

The NLR PacketNet is a nationwide IP infrastructure that uses eight Cisco
CRS-1s; the NLR FrameNet is a nationwide Ethernet infrastructure that uses
eighteen Cisco Catalyst 6509 Switching platforms. A demonstration of NLR
services using the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing Systems took place during
SC|05, the premier international conference on high performance computing,
networking and storage, held November 12-18 in Seattle.

Indiana University's Global NOC is providing installation, operations and
project management support across the country for NLR's PacketNet and
FrameNet services. The IU Global NOC is also providing the Service Desk and
network operations and engineering services for NLR.  
NLR has deployed a CRS-1 in the Global NOC for test and development.  
This unit enables the Global NOC service engineers and staff a platform for
configuration testing of features and software of mutual interest to Cisco
and to NLR.

"Being a participant with the NLR is extremely valuable for the Global NOC
to establish and maintain the highest level of skills that enable us to
assist the community in its ongoing evolution in next- generation
discoveries and experimentations," said Michael McRobbie, vice president for
Research and Information Technology at Indiana University. "We also
anticipate good development to come from our staff testing the CRS-1 and
look forward to our partnership with NLR and Cisco."

"Network stability and reliability are critical to the success of the NLR,"
said Joe Pinto, senior vice president, Technical Support, Cisco Systems.
"NLR and the Global NOC have the support of a dedicated team of Cisco expert
engineers to ensure the highest availability."

The Service Desk operated within the IU Global NOC provides focus for
coordination, communications, and control between and among network service
providers and users on the NLR. The services include problem, change,
security, and performance management; monitoring; communications;
coordination; and reporting. These traditionally centralized services have
been adapted to a distributed model, and new services are being developed to
provide optical resource allocation and management, and to support the
experimental component of NLR.

The NLR FrameNet and PacketNet Service Center at Indiana University will
support necessary network operations as well as experimentation
requirements. Support and operation services include engineering,
configuration, troubleshooting, monitoring, and measurement. These services
are critical in providing a stable platform for the NLR community.

About National LambdaRail
National LambdaRail, Inc. (NLR) is a major initiative of US research
universities and private sector technology companies to provide a national
scale infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking
technologies and applications. NLR puts the control, the power and the
promise of experimental network infrastructure in the hands of our nation's
scientists and researchers. Visit http:// www.nlr.net/ for more information.

About the IU Global NOC
The Global Research Network Operations Center (Global NOC) at Indiana
University provides engineering and operations services for leading high
performance research and education (R&E) networks, for international
connections to U.S. and global R&E networks, and is undertaking research and
development for support of Grid operations.  
Visit http://globalnoc.iu.edu/ for more information.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet.
Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create Internet
solutions that allow individuals, companies, and countries to increase
productivity, improve customer satisfaction and strengthen competitive
advantage. Visit http://www.cisco.com/ for more information.


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