News for and about the Internet2 community

["Sephora DeRoest" <>]

From: Dana Martin
877-616-7265

Nov. 13, 2006
For Immediate Release

ResearchChannel to Reveal the Research Environment of the Future
at SC?06

At this year's SuperComputing 2006 conference in Tampa, Fla., 
ResearchChannel (www.researchchannel.org) will demonstrate the look and feel 
of the research environment of the future. Leading-edge visualization and 
conferencing technologies actually make this interactive environment 
possible today and will one day revolutionize how research is carried out.

ResearchChannel will host a two-way, low-latency videoconference using 
uncompressed high-definition video that features oceanographer Deborah 
Kelley. Last fall, ResearchChannel filmed Kelley and co-chief scientist John 
Delaney as they led an expedition to the seafloor to study the Juan de Fuca 
Ridge. Kelley will speak to conference attendees from the University of 
Washington's Seattle campus about the exciting research being done on this 
underwater "Yellowstone of the deep sea." Attendees will also see 
high-definition footage from this incredible expedition.

"High-definition video makes it possible to study the ocean in new ways 
because we can see with such amazing clarity the volcanoes, novel life forms 
and submarine hot springs that this incredible world contains. This video 
can be used in laboratories and classrooms in meaningful ways that further 
our understanding of the oceans and open up new areas of study for 
scientists," said Kelley.

In another demonstration, The University of Michigan School of Information, 
an affiliate partner in the OptIPuter project, will use an OptIPortal to 
demonstrate several visualizations in the social and information sciences. 
The OptIPortal provides unique views into these data by providing a huge 
canvas for visually exploring connections between data points that are 
nearly impossible to see on a single computer screen. A variety of 
visualizations will demonstrate the utility of these ultra-resolution 
environments for analyzing large and visually complex data sets, such as 
co-authorship, citation and time-series social networks.

"The technologies we are demonstrating this year, such as interactive 
high-definition video conferencing and the OptIPortal, represent an exciting 
new class of applications that leverage advanced computing resources and 
high-performance networks to build a research environment that is highly 
interactive, visual and collaborative," said Erik Hofer, research computer 
specialist, School of Information, University of Michigan. "These 
technologies demonstrate how the research environment of the future will use 
advanced cyberinfrastructure to transform the way we interact with our data, 
our instrumentation and each other, reshaping scientific practice."

In a third demonstration, NTT Labs will demonstrate an uncompressed HDTV 
communication experiment between the exhibition venue in Tampa and NTT R&D 
center in Tokyo over the Pacific Ocean.

Networking support for this effort is provided and coordinated by Pacific 
Northwest Gigapop with support from Pacific Wave, National LambdaRail, 
GEMnet2, SciNet, MREN, Internet2 and KREONet2. Hardware is provided by 
Evertz, Professional Video and Tape, and Silicon Mechanics.
About ResearchChannel
ResearchChannel is a nonprofit media and technology organization that 
connects a global audience with the research and academic institutions whose 
developments, insights and discoveries affect our lives and futures. 
ResearchChannel was founded in 1996 by leading research and academic 
institutions so they could share the work of their researchers with the 
public while collectively participating in advanced distribution and 
interactive technology experiments. Programs are shared in their original 
form, unmediated and without interruption. Today, more than 50 institutions 
participate as members and affiliates, and that number continues to grow. 
Through cable and satellite distribution, ResearchChannel is available to 
more than 24 million U.S. households. The ResearchChannel website, with 
users in over 70 countries worldwide, provides programs on demand and 
through a live webstream. The online video library houses more than 3,000 
full-length programs.

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