News for and about the Internet2 community

[Lauren Rotman <>]

Internet2’s Annual Spring Member Meeting Program To Feature Broadband Stimulus and Advances in Cyberinfrastructure

Hotel Room Block Rates Extended to April 2, 2010

ANN ARBOR, Michigan - March 31, 2010 – Federal stimulus funding opportunities will share center stage with emerging trends in cyberinfrastructure development when the Internet2 community gathers in just under a month for its annual Spring Member Meeting, April 26–28, 2010. Members can register online and view full program information at events.internet2.edu/2010/spring-mm.

Held in Arlington, Virginia, the conference will reflect current areas of focus in the research and education community, serving up sessions and side meetings that address networking issues critical to researchers, educators, students and industry.

A new Federal Agency Perspectives track features some of the 27 federal entities that are active Internet2 members. Track sessions will reveal perspectives on advanced networking issues and policies from the National Health Information Network (NHIN), the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure. A special Health Science Federal Agency Update will spotlight news of special interest to the Internet2 Health Sciences community from several agencies and programs, including the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan and Rural Health Pilot Programs, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

One of the advanced networking frontiers to be explored at this year's conference is set in the late 1870s frontier of the American West. The second keynote presentation will transport attendees 4,850 feet down the former Homestake gold mine in Lead, South Dakota, the deepest mine in North America and an environment uniquely suited to low-cosmogenic-background studies in particle and nuclear physics, geology, hydrology, geo-engineering, biology and biochemistry.

The live videoconference will highlight how the site is being transformed into a new national Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), and how project leaders are already collaborating with the Internet2 community to make sure research sites are ready to receive the massive amounts of DUSEL data to be produced in the coming years.

South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds, will participate via videoconference to greet the audience and offer his perspectives on the project.

Back above ground, the cyberinfrastructure session track spans topics including an overview of the participation and estimated economic impact of regional and state stimulus-funded broadband programs; use-cases for high-definition videoconferencing in healthcare; techniques for how networking is aiding disaster recovery efforts like those in Haiti; and the challenges for developing the Square Kilometer Array, the most significant infrastructure project of the coming decades. The remainder of the over 40 track sessions will cover topic areas such as identity management federations, cloud computing, real-time collaboration tools, green technologies and economic sustainability.

In addition to plenary and track sessions, over 80 side meetings are planned. Working, special interest and birds-of-a-feather group sessions with topics ranging from multicasting, to high energy and nuclear physics, to teaching and learning will give delegates important opportunities to interact. The chance to collaborate face-to-face, learn from other members and advance community projects has always been one of the Member Meeting's major draws.

To register online and view the full Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting program, visit http://events.internet2.edu/2010/spring-mm.

ABOUT INTERNET2
Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and education community. An exceptional partnership spanning U.S. and international institutions who are leaders in the worlds of research, academia, industry and government, Internet2 is developing breakthrough cyberinfrastructure technologies that support the most exacting applications of today—and spark the most essential innovations of tomorrow. Led by its members and focused on their current and future networking needs since 1996, Internet2 blends its human, IP and optical networks to develop and deploy revolutionary Internet technologies. Activating the same partnerships that produced today’s Internet, our community is forging the Internet of the future. For more information, see http://www.internet2.edu.

Media Contact:
Lauren Rotman

202.331.5345