News for and about the Internet2 community

["Moore, Gregory A" <>]

IU receives $9.2 million from NSF to expand global networks and research
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Aug. 2, 2010

EDITORS: To watch a video of Principal Investigator James Williams speaking 
about international networking, go to: 
http://www.indiana.edu/~video/stream/launchflash.html?folder=video&filename=JimWilliams.flv
 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has been awarded $9.2 million from 
the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead two high-speed international 
network services. The awards provide IU with $4.6 million to continue the 
TransPAC3 network connection to Asia, and an additional $4.6 million for a 
new connection to Europe, named ACE -- America Connects to Europe. 

"Congratulations to Indiana University, the first institution to receive two 
awards in an IRNC competition," said William Chang, National Science 
Foundation IRNC (International Research Network Connections) program officer, 
and an Indiana University graduate. "Thanks to its leadership, scientists and 
educators in Asia and Europe may now connect to U.S. research and education 
centers, to the great benefit of people around the world, especially in less 
developed countries. Indiana University, positioned in the heartland of the 
U.S., has now earned the distinction of global center of information 
technology for science and education." 

IU, in close cooperation with its national and international partners, will 
lead the implementation of these networks to connect scientists and 
researchers in the U.S. with their counterparts in Europe and Asia. 

"These global, high-speed communications networks are absolutely critical to 
21st century scientific research," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie, who 
was the principal investigator on the original TransPAC grant in 1998. "They 
make possible a level of collaboration among researchers at the world's major 
scientific and engineering institutions that couldn't even be imagined just 
20 years ago. Indiana University has played an essential role in managing 
such services since 1998 when the first connection to the Asia Pacific was 
initiated. I am extremely proud that IU has been chosen again by the NSF to 
continue to play a major role in this important work. This continues to place 
IU right at the center of international developments in advanced networking." 

TransPAC3, an extension of the current TransPAC2, will facilitate direct 
U.S.-Asia research interactions. Moreover, TransPAC3 will expand 
opportunities for U.S. research collaborations across all regions of Asia, 
thanks to the network's ability to reach a greater number of countries and 
deploy higher capacities. 

Similarly, the ACE Project, which consists of a cooperative partnership with 
DANTE and the GÉANT community of more than 34 national research and education 
networks, will provide significant economies of scale in trans-Atlantic 
connectivity and support a broad community of users through the deployment of 
bandwidth between Europe and the U.S. 

Both of these connections will have an immediate impact on the global 
research environment and will pave the way for future service and technology 
advances. 

"Our goals are to competently support current needs and also to extend the 
trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific exchanges into further scientific fields and 
disciplines and geographic regions," said IU Director of International 
Networking James Williams, principal investigator for both the ACE and 
TransPAC3 projects. "Bandwidth procurement alone is not the purpose of the 
projects. Technical and operational collaboration and planning are critical 
in supporting science and engineering research. Education and research 
collaboration between the U.S., European, and Asian communities is our 
overarching mission." 

One way in which this award will support the overarching mission of education 
is through the utilization of IU's Gerald L. Bepko Internship Program, which 
aims to identify, connect and work with students in populations that are 
under-represented in information technology. The funding from this award will 
provide undergraduates in the Bepko program an opportunity to work alongside 
IU network experts and gain real-world experience on an international scale. 

This award will also provide much-needed support for important future 
research objectives in the Asian and European regions. For example, the 
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in Southern France and the 
Australian Square Kilometre Array prototype Pathfinder international radio 
telescope -- both of which will depend on sharing large amounts of data among 
hundreds of widely distributed researchers -- will benefit greatly from 
TransPAC3 and ACE. 

"These two awards from the National Science Foundation continue to expand 
IU's role in leading some of the world's most advanced networks," said Brad 
Wheeler, vice president for information technology at Indiana University. 
"There is real synergy in staff expertise for managing these research 
networks at the state, national and international levels. IU's growing 
Networks group continues to demonstrate this synergy and effectiveness 
through these awards and contracts." 

Dai Davies, general manager of DANTE, builder and operator of the GÉANT and 
TEIN3 networks, adds, "Research is a global activity and is becoming 
increasingly important for seeking solutions to many of the societal issues 
facing the world. GÉANT and TEIN3 together interconnect with networks 
worldwide to support collaborative research programs between Asian, European 
and U.S. researchers. The ongoing demand for capacity increases means close 
collaboration amongst operators of research networks is vital for cost and 
technical reasons. This new award to ensure continued and improved 
connectivity between the USA, GÉANT in Europe and Asia is welcomed and we 
look forward to this relationship enduring in the years ahead." 

About the partnerships

IU will lead the TransPAC3 collaboration in partnership with APAN and DANTE 
via the TEIN3 project, and in coordination with Internet2 and numerous other 
R&E networks that will be interconnected through the project. 

On the ACE Project, IU will serve as the lead institution and will work in 
partnership with DANTE, NYSERNet, and Internet2, and in coordination with 
many national and multi-national R&E networks. 

.APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network) represents research and education 
interests across much of Asia. 
.DANTE is the operator of the pan-European network GÉANT and the TEIN3 
project. 
.Internet2 is the leading U.S. research and educational networking 
organization, representing 300 member institutions and connecting thousands 
of institutions across the U.S. 
.NYSERNet, a private not-for-profit corporation created to foster science and 
education in New York State, is a partner in Manhattan Landing (MAN LAN), one 
of the premier U.S.-based international R&E exchange points. 

Funding for ACE and TransPAC3 is provided by grants from the National Science 
Foundation titled "IRNC: ProNet: ACE -- America Connects to Europe" and 
"IRNC:ProNet: TransPAC3 -- Asia-US High Performance International Networking" 
under NSF Award Numbers OCI-0962973 and OCI-0962968. Any opinions, findings 
and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of 
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.
###

Thanks,
Greg
---------------------
Gregory A. Moore
Senior Communications Specialist
Communications and Media
University Information Technology Services
Indiana University
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