Middleware Announcements

["Lee Perlis" <>]

***Internet2(R) Members Update***
       June 2002
<> Internet2 Spring 2002 Member Meeting Recap
<> Internet2 Land Speed Record Competition
<> Applications Update
<> International Update
<> Middleware Update
<> End-to-End Performance Initiative Update
<> Virtual Briefings
<> Future Internet2 Events
<> New Members
<> Internet2 Days
<> Showcase Opportunities
<> Internet2 Related Events
<> Internet2 Employment Opportunities

Member updates are now archived at
http://www.internet2.edu/members/html/members-update.html

<> Internet2 Spring 2002 Member Meeting Recap
The opportunity to be exposed to "the many different aspects of the emerging
and developing technologies" as well as "the opportunity to meet individuals
working on aspects of Internet2 that are of interest and value...." are just
a few reasons why over 50% of the survey respondents rated the Spring 2002
Internet2 Member Meeting as extremely valuable.  The International and
Middleware sessions were cited with great frequency as being extremely
beneficial and the ability to network with colleagues was almost unanimously
voted as one of the most valuable aspects of the meeting, which attracted
641 attendees.

Meeting attendees are encouraged to complete the Spring 2002 Member Meeting
Online Survey. Those who submit their response to the survey by June 10 will
be eligible to participate in a special prize drawing!  Presentation slides
are available now and the netcast archive will be available soon. For all
related meeting information , please see:
http://www.internet2.edu/activities/html/spring_02.html

<> Internet2 Land Speed Record Competition
The current Internet2 Land Speed Record was set on 9 April 2002 by a team
from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks; the Faculty of Science of the
University of Amsterdam and SURFnet, the national computer network for
higher education and research in the Netherlands. The team transferred 625
megabytes of data (more than a typical CD) across 12,272 kilometers from
Fairbanks, Alaska to Amsterdam in the Netherlands at 401 megabit per second
(more than 7,500 times faster than a typical computer modem) using the
networking capabilities of the Pacific Northwest Gigapop, an access point to
leading-edge networks; the Internet2 Abilene backbone network; StarLight,
the advanced optical infrastructure and proving ground in Chicago, Illinois;
and SURFnet.

The Internet2 Land Speed Record (I2-LSR) competition for the
highest-bandwidth, end-to-end networks is an open and ongoing contest. For
more information, see:
http://www.internet2.edu/html/i2lsr.shtml

<> Applications Update
Excerpts from the applications newsletter are below, for the complete
applications newsletter go to:
http://apps.internet2.edu/html/newsletter.html

+ Distance Learning in the Arts
Manhattan School of Music, in collaboration with Columbia University,
National Arts Centre of Canada and National Research Council of Canada, will
present “Distance Learning in the Arts: An International Broadband
Videoconference Chamber Music Master Class Demonstration and Discussion”
with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman on June 13, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (EDT).  Using
Internet2 networks and peer networks, Canarie and NYSERNet, Maestro
Zukerman - renowned conductor, violinist, violist and Manhattan School of
Music faculty member - will offer a chamber music master class from Ottawa,
Ontario to a talented young string trio in New York.  Audience members at
Columbia University Teachers College as well as those watching on the
Internet will be able to observe Maestro Zukerman working with these
students in real-time. A question and answer session will follow the master
class, during which audience members at the conference and on the Internet
may ask questions on a variety of musical, technical and educational topics.
Columbia University Academic Computing Information Systems will host the
live webcast in multiple formats: MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Multicast, for
high-speed networks and Real Video for modem and cable/DSL speeds. Star
Valley Solutions, Inc., an Internet2 Corporate Member, is providing the
MPEG-2 codecs to facilitate this event.
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/networks/advanced/zukermaninteractive/

<> International Update
+ Global Research and Education Networking Partnership Inaugurated at
European Commission Summit
On May 21-22, 20023, key leaders in advanced networking from all over the
world gathered at the International Press Centre in Brussels, Belgium to
formally inaugurated the Global Terabit Research Network  during the Global
Research Networking Summit and GÉANT Commissioning Event hosted by the
European Commission and GÉANT/DANTE. These events provided a unique
opportunity for policy makers, funders, operators and users to give their
views on the future of research and education networking. The Global Terabit
Research Network (GTRN) is an international partnership to establish a true
worldwide next generation Internet to interconnect national and
multinational high-speed research and education networks. The initial
partnership between Europe through the NREN Consortium and North America
through Internet2 in the US and CANARIE in Canada was formalized earlier
this spring. During the event in Belgium, the participation of the Asia
Pacific region was formally announced.

Presentations from the summit are now available at:
http://www.dante.net/conference/globalsummit2002/
GTRN: http://www.gtren.net/
GÉANT: http://www.dante.net/geant/index.html
Press release: http://www.gtren.net/announce2.html

+ Second Access Nova Forum with GEMNET and GALAXY
On 28-29 May 2002, The Second Access Nova Forum was held at the NTT
Musashino Research and Development Center. The two-day conference covered a
variety of topics including High-speed Networking & Astronomy, Large
Databases, Biology of Knowledge, International R&E Networks, Wireless
Technologies and Remote Collaboration. Dr. Hisao Uose, an active member of
the astronomy and advanced networking community, organized the conference.
Dr. Uose stated "Access Nova started as a joint effort of NTT and the
University of Chile to promote collaborations between Asia and South America
in the academic field, but has expanded into international activities with
the collaboration of the GEMnet and GALAXY.”

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) is a corporate member of Internet2. One
of NTT labs projects is GALAXY, real-time VLBI (Very Long Baseline
Interferometry) trials using high-speed networking radio astronomy and
geodesy. GEMnet is the high-speed network operated by NTT Research Labs.
Through GEMnet, researchers in Japan are working on areas such as radio
astronomy, connecting facilities and researchers across Japan and also the
U.S. and Chile, using Abilene’s ITN service. GEMnet peers with Abilene at 45
Mbps via Sunnyvale.

Three Internet2 staff members presented remotely on topics related to the
International R&E Networks. Heather Boyles presented "International
Collaboration of Internet2," Chris Heermann presented "Abilene and Its
Upgrade Plan," and T. Charles Yun presented "Remote Instrumentation and High
Speed Networking."

Presentations made by Internet2 staff will soon be available at:
http://www.internet2.edu/international/html/presentations.html

<> Middleware Update
+Shibboleth
Shibboleth facilitates inter-institutional sharing of web resources subject
to access controls. Six to eight sites have installed and are now using the
alpha 1 code. Alpha 2 code is due out later in June with the major release
of beta code scheduled for the end of July. Project updates are maintained
at http://middleware.internet2.edu/shibboleth/

+Directories
The Directory Working Group continues to develop best practices and
implementation documents. Currently Groups Implementation Guidelines and
affiliated directories documents are being developed. Progress can be
tracked at http://middleware.internet2.edu/dir/

Feedback is still invited on the eduPerson 1.5 and eduOrg1.0 documents. Send
comments to 
<>

+Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
Proceedings from the April PKI Research Workshop co-sponsored by National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Institute of Health
(NIH) and Internet2 are available: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pki02/

+National Science Foundation Middleware Initiative (NMI)
NMI Release 1, which integrates key software packages, standards, and best
practices toward the formation of a national middleware infrastructure for
science, engineering and education. is available for download
http://www.nsf-middleware.org/NMIR1/nmiR1.htm

Additional initiative information is available from the following sites:
http://www.nmi-edit.org/
http://www.grids-centere.org/
http://www.nsf-middleware.org/

+ Campus Architectural Middleware Planning (CAMP)
A Base CAMP workshop will be held June 24-26 in Boulder, Colorado. This
session is an opportunity for campus CIOs/technology management and IT
architects, from campuses in the early stages of enterprise middleware
planning and deployment, to learn about practices and recommendations in
higher education. Due to hotel limitations and the desire to foster
effective exchanges, the number of participants will be limited initially to
two per campus with a total attendance of 120. In addition, an Advanced
CAMP, targeted at experienced IT architects will be held in July. Sessions
will be highly technical. Registration for this event will be available in
early June.  Registration is available now for the Base CAMP session at:
http://www.nmi-edit.org/

<> End-to-End Performance Initiative (E2Epi)
E2Epi staff participated in discussions at several sessions at the Spring
Member Meeting about a preliminary design of an end-to-end measurement
infrastructure. This infrastructure would build upon the measurement
capabilities being designed for the new Abilene nodes and extend those
capabilities out to gigaPoPs and campuses. The targeted benefactor, the end
user, would be able to test an end-to-end path for its capabilities and
locate problems.

E2Epi is currently collaborating with community members on responses to
solicitation regarding measurement projects. More details will follow in the
upcoming months.

+ Call for Participation: Your Stories
E2Epi is issuing a Call for Participation (CFP) to its members, asking them
to propose compelling best current practices to allow end users and support
staff to resolve performance problems routinely and consistently. For
further information and guidelines, please see the E2Epi Call for
Participation: http://www.internet2.edu/e2epi/cfp_01.shtm

<> Virtual Briefings
+ TERENA Plenary Presentation
The next Virtual Briefing is scheduled for 1pm-12:30pm on June 11.  This
Briefing will be a rebroadcast of the Monday, June 3, opening plenary at the
TERENA Networking Conference 2002 held in Limerick, Ireland.  Lawrence
Lessig, Stanford University Law School, will address the topic, “Free
Culture.”  In his talk, Lessig will discuss the struggles over ideas and
creativity that mark our present time. These struggles will redefine the
meaning of freedom for the 21st century.  Following the presentation, Molly
S. Van Houweling, executive director of Creative Commons, will facilitate an
open discussion for Briefing participants.
http://www.internet2.edu/activities/html/briefings.html

Reminder:  If you have not completed the online Virtual Briefing Survey,
please do so as soon as possible.
http://www.internet2.edu/activities/html/survey.html

<> Future Events
Internet2 Commons Site Coordinator training will be held on June 26-27 at
the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Site Coordinators are responsible
for supporting their campus users in utilizing the resources provided by The
Commons. This course will be taught by nationally recognized experts on
digital videoconferencing and will cover H.323 basics, room set-up and
environments for videoconferences, and operating and troubleshooting
procedures common to videoconferencing systems. This training is being
planned and coordinated by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC),
with co-sponsorship from Internet2, SKC Communications Products, Inc and the
University of Wisconsin Extension. CIC is the academic consortium of the Big
Ten Universities plus the University of Chicago. Please register online soon
as space is limited; the fee for this training is $150.
http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/programsRegistration.shtml
Internet2 Commons website: http://commons.internet2.edu/

+ Boulder, Colorado Site for July 2002 Joint Techs Workshop
The July Joint Techs Workshop will be hosted by NCAR/NIST/NOAA/NTIA in
Boulder, CO from 28 July through 1 August.  Tutorials will be presented
on Sunday afternoon. Plenary and BoFs will be held all day Monday and
Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning, and in-depth sessions will be held on
Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.  NLANR Engineering Services and
Internet2 are jointly responsible for planning and organizing the workshop.
 For further information see:
http://www.ncne.nlanr.net/training/techs/2002/0728/boulder.html

+ Fall 2002 Internet2 Member Meeting (Hold the Date!)
Los Angeles will be the site of the Fall 2002 Internet2 Member Meeting.
The meeting is presently scheduled for October 27-30. Details of the
meeting will be announced on the Internet2 website as they become available:
http://www.internet2.edu/activities/html/fall_02.html.

+ Future Member Meetings (Hold the Dates!)
  - Spring 2003 Member Meeting, Arlington, Virginia, April 9-11
  - Fall 2003 Member Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 13-16
  - Spring 2004 Member Meeting, Arlington, Virginia, April 19-22

<> New Members
+ Affiliate Members
  - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  - Cleveland Institute of Music

+ Regular Members
  - Naval Postgraduate Institute

+ Corporate Members
  - American Fiber Systems, Inc.
  - Progress Software

<> Internet2 Days
Hold an Internet2 Day for your Internet2 member organization. Technical
support for live demonstrations and informational materials are
available. For more information see:
http://apps.internet2.edu/html/internet2_days.html
or contact Marianne Smith 
<>.

<> Showcase Opportunities
Internet2 would like to showcase our members efforts on our homepage. We
encourage Internet2 members to share advanced networking milestones, as well
as interesting people, events, collaborations and efforts in the advanced
networking community. Include a brief description (less than 100 words), all
appropriate links and images, and contact information. If you have
suggestions about projects or news that might be featured, please contact
Adam Csillag 
<>.

<> Internet2 Related Events
+ Online Calendar
For a complete listing of events for and of interest to the Internet2
community, see the online Internet2 Calendar. Be sure the
Internet2-related event you are holding or know about is listed at:
http://www.internet2.edu/calendar/main.php

SUPERCOMM 2002
2-6 June
Atlanta, GA
http://www.supercomm2002.com/

TERENA Networking Conference 2002
3-6 June 2002
Limerick, Ireland
Summaries and final papers due: 29 March 2002
http://www.terena.nl/tnc2002/

ISOC/INET
18-21 June 2002
Washington, DC
http://www.inet2002.org/

<> Internet2 Employment Opportunities
http://www.internet2.edu/ucaid/html/opportunities.html

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do you have a news item or event you'd like the Internet2 community to
know about? Send a brief description and pointers to any information on
the Web to Lee Perlis 
<>

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