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[Todd Sedmak <>]

Musicians Demonstrate Real-Time, Simultaneous, Live Musical Performances 
Using Latest Network Technology At 2012 Internet2 Fall Member Meeting

Philadelphia—(Oct. 2, 2012)—Internet2 demonstrated today at the 2012 
Internet2 Fall Member Meeting in Philadelphia technology that enables 
real-time, simultaneous, live musical performances across long distances 
featuring low latency, audio and videoconferencing technology. 
Musicians--separated by hundreds of miles--showcased advancements in reducing 
latency by using the latest audio and video technology, called “LOLA,” via 
the Internet2 Network and advanced research and education networks.

Violinist Marjorie Bagley, from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro 
School of Music, Theatre and Dance, performed from Philadelphia with Cellist 
Cheng-Hou Lee at the Northern Illinois University School of Music outside of 
Chicago in DeKalb, Illinois.

The LOLA technology is able to reduce the latency down to effectively 35 
milliseconds. This musically translates to 35 feet, which is like being on 
the opposite side of the stage from the musician. The technology is 
groundbreaking by providing lower latency than any interactive audio-video 
developed for this application so far, according to Dan Nichols, NIU School 
of Music multimedia specialist.

The Conservatorio G. Tartini in Trieste, Italy, and the GARR Italian Research 
& Education Network, GARR, developed LOLA, which is being used by several 
universities, according to Claudio Allocchio, senior technical officer of 
GARR. Roberto Diaz, president and chief executive officer of Philadelphia’s 
Curtis Institute of Music, led a discussion explaining the benefits of this 
technology advancement for music education and performance.

“People are now talking of rehearsing in advance of guest appearances,” said 
Paul Bauer, Director of NIU’s School of Music. “Normally you have the guest 
artist arrive the day before and have a compressed schedule. Now we can 
rehearse weeks or months in advance together before they come on site. This 
will produce a more comfortable and more artistic performance and listening 
experience.”

High-speed data transfers and low latency are critical for simultaneous, 
live, video and audio performances. Internet2 institutions starting to use 
LOLA are the Northern Illinois School of Music, University of North Carolina 
Greensboro, New World Symphony in Miami, University of Southern California, 
Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Virginia.

Musicians are able to effectively play simultaneously and remotely with 
latency under 60 milliseconds round trip from microphone to musician. LOLA 
via an advanced network provides a round-trip microphone to speaker latency 
between 20-50 milliseconds depending on distance and network configuration. 
Most commercial services produce a round-trip latency greater than 200 
milliseconds. Latency in digital audio equipment is most noticeable when a 
singer's voice is transmitted through their microphone, digital audio mixing, 
processing and routing paths.

“Since Internet2's inception, all across the world I have been asked by 
musicians, ‘Can we play together?’ and the answer has always been no,” said 
Ann Doyle, director of cultural collaborations, Internet2. “It is with 
gratitude to the LOLA project team, that the answer is now yes!”

Internet2 and the regional operating networks capitalize on research and 
education to create new applications and innovation. The Mid-Atlantic Gigapop 
in Philadelphia and the Illinois Century Network provided technical support 
for the demonstration.

Watch a previous recorded performance at 
http://www.internet2.edu/arts/LOLA.html. An archived version of today's 
performance will be available at http://bit.ly/SZFfh4.

Todd Sedmak
Internet2
PR and Media Relations Manager
202-331-5373 (w) or 


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