Middleware Announcements

["Lee Perlis" <>]

***Internet2(R) Members Update***
       May 2003

<> Abilene Update
<> North American Global IPv6 Forum Summit
<> Internet2 Spring 2003 Member Meeting
<> Internet2 Fall 2003 Member Meeting
<> Virtual Briefings
<> New Members Named to Internet2 Councils
<> Applications Update
<> International Update
<> Middleware Update
<> End-to-End Performance Initiative Update
<> Internet2 K20 Initiative Update
<> Member-to-Member Announcements
<> Future Internet2 Events
<> Internet2 Days
<> Showcase Opportunities
<> Internet2 Related Events

Member updates are now archived at:
http://members.internet2.edu/memberupdates/index.html

<> Abilene Update
+ Abilene Observatory
The Abilene Observatory is a program to support basic network research on
the Abilene network.  The observatory serves network engineers by providing
a view of the operational data associated with a large-scale network, and
the research community by providing data associated with the fundamental
properties of network protocols.  There are two components of the program:
the collection of data by Abilene engineers that is available to the public,
and collocation of equipment in the Abilene router nodes by research groups.
http://abilene.internet2.edu/observatory/

+ Network Research Facilitation Project
The Network Research Facilitation Project is a program to provide routing
equipment to the research community in support of network research. The
Abilene router nodes were recently upgraded to new routers and the original
Cisco 12008 routers are now available for use by this program. A proposal
process is currently being designed and the first deployment is expected by
the end of June.  The grants will be yearly in length, with the possibility
of renewal.  The entire program is expected to last two years.  For more
information contact Rick Summerhill 
<>
 or see:
http://abilene.internet2.edu/observatory/research-projects.html

<> North American Global IPv6 Forum Summit
Internet2 joined as a sponsor of the upcoming North American IPv6 Forum to
be held in San Diego, CA, June 23-27. Internet2 members are encouraged to
attend and arrangements have been made for Internet2 members to receive a
discounted registration. The IPv6 Forum welcomes everyone interested in
meeting the pioneers and time-to-market developers and adopters of the IPv6
Technology. The North American IPv6 Global Summit is the world premier event
for the world IPv6 community, providing an international forum for advancing
the development and implementation of new generation Internet networks,
technologies, applications and policies. For more information see:
http://www.usipv6.com/

<> Internet2 Spring 2003 Member Meeting
+ Post Meeting Survey - Chance to Win a Free Meeting Registration!
If you have not already done so, please complete the Spring Member Meeting
evaluation form. Your feedback helps enormously in efforts to improve each
Member Meeting, and is particularly useful planning begins for the Fall 2003
Member Meeting.  By completing the form, you will become eligible for a free
registration at the Fall meeting!
http://events.internet2.edu/2003/spring-mm/evaluation.html

+ Spring 2003 Meeting Summary on Web
A summary of meeting highlights from the Spring 2003 Member Meeting is now
posted on the Internet2 web site:
http://events.internet2.edu/2003/spring-mm/

<> Internet2 Fall 2003 Member Meeting
Call for Proposals: Fall 2003 Internet2 Member Meeting
The Program Committee for the Fall 2003 Internet2 Member Meeting is seeking
proposals for track sessions for the Fall 2003 Member Meeting in
Indianapolis, October 13-16. Proposals will be due mid-June.  Contact Laurie
Burns 
<>
 for further information, and see the Internet2
web site later this month for details.

<> Virtual Briefings
+ May Internet2 Virtual Briefings
The May 2003 Internet2 Virtual Briefing will focus on the implications of a
Networking 2003 presentation by Nancy Wong, Director, Office of Planning and
Partnerships, Department of Homeland Security.  It will also include a panel
session on Network and IT Security, with live commentary by leaders in the
Internet2 community. See more details about this Briefing:
http://events.internet2.edu/briefings/index.html

<> New Members Named to Internet2 Advisory Councils
New members for Internet2 Advisory Councils were approved at the Internet2
Board of Trustees meeting on April 13, 2003.  For information, see:
http://www.internet2.edu/about/councils.html

<> Applications Update
+ Internet2 Commons Expands to Include Subscription Services
Now that the Internet2 Commons H.323 videoconferencing service has proven
reliable and has built a wide community of users, a formal production plan
will advance the Internet2 Commons with several new levels of service. The
new services, scheduled for deployment this September, will include blocks
of port hours for H.323 conferences using advanced and impromptu scheduling
features. The most innovative offering will create a subscription plan for
communities with members across institutions, beyond a single campus
deployment. This Community plan will allow research groups and other
inter-organizational collaborations to benefit from reliable, scheduled
videoconferencing. Details on the subscription plans will be published soon.
For more information contact Jonathan Tyman, Internet2 Manager for Digital
Video 
<>.

+ Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Training, May 18
An Internet2 Commons videoconferencing training session will be held in
conjunction with the TERENA Networking conference in Zagreb, Croatia on May
18.  This marks the first occurrence of Internet2 Commons training in
Europe, and provides an opportunity to broaden both the user and support
base for international videoconferencing.

This training will be led by Egon Verharen, Innovation Manager at SURFnet,
and Ted Hanss, Internet2 Director for Applications Development, both of whom
are members of the Internet2 Commons Management Team. Training topics
include:

- Network Overview
- Multipointing Gateways
- Operating and troubleshooting procedures common to videoconferencing
systems
- Hands-on use of the equipment

Seats are still available. There is a fee of 50 euros for the training. To
register, send an email to: 
<>
 or see:
http://www.terena.nl/conferences/tnc2003/meetings/h323.html

<> International Update
+ New International Exchange Point for Research and Education Networks
Established in New York Manhattan Landing (MAN LAN) is a high-performance,
gigabit-ethernet-based exchange point in New York City to facilitate peering
among U.S. and international research and
education networks. Establishing MAN LAN has been a collaborative effort by
Internet2, NYSERNet and Indiana University's Global NOC. MAN LAN, as the
"Manhattan Landing" exchange point is known, has been established at
NYSERNet's co-location space in building housing many large communications
carriers in downtown Manhattan and is operated and monitored by the IU
Global NOC.

MAN LAN joins other Internet2 member-led international exchange points such
as StarLight, Pacific Wave and AMPATH in providing the Internet2 community
the ability to connect at gigabit speeds to advanced research and education
network around the world. Internet2’s Abilene network is connected at 10
Gbps, GEANT has two 1 Gbps connections and HEANET is connected at 1 Gbps.
CA*net4 expects to connect with two 1 Gbps connections and NYSERNet plans to
connect at 10Gbps. http://international.internet2.edu/intl_connect/manlan/

+ Venezuela's REACCIUN-2 and Internet2's Abilene Network Begin Peering
Agreement
REACCIUN-2, the high-performance, research and education network in
Venezuela, is now peering with Internet2 networks at 45 Mbps via the AMPATH
project. REACCIUN-2 will initially connect over 7 universities and research
center across Venezuela. REACCIUN-2 is operated and managed by CNTI, Centro
Nacional de Tecnologias de Información. CNTI is responsible for stimulating
and supporting research, scientific and technology goals and developments of
Venezuelan universities and research centers. CNTI has been an Internet2
International partner since October 2002. AMPATH is a project of Florida
International university in collaboration with Global Crossing that has
enabled connections between Internet2's Abilene network to the national
research and education networks of Brazil (2 connections), Chile, Argentina
and now Venezuela. For more information see:
CNTI: http://www.reacciun.ve/
AMPATH: http://www.ampath.fiu.edu/

<> Middleware Update
+ Shibboleth
The use of Shibboleth continues to grow as additional universities and
content providers deploy the software.  Enhancements to the code continue
with version 1.0 of Shibboleth to be released in the next few weeks.  For
updates go to: http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/

+ Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
The Internet2/NIH/NIST PKI Research Workshop was held in Gaithersburg, MD,
April 28 & 29th, grew in attendance its second year.  The refereed papers
and summaries are now available at: http://middleware.internet2.edu/pki03/

+ Directories
The Internet2 MACE-Dir working group has identified the creation of a tool
to facilitate operational tasks, such as management of, representation of,
and access to group information within enterprise directory services, as a
high priority activity. A document named SAGE (Service for Authorized Group
Editing), recently released as part of the NMI Release 3, is the initial
step towards specifying the functional capabilities that it should embody.
The working group will now turn its attention to the technical design and
creation of the tool.

+ National Science Foundation Middleware Initiative (NMI)
- CAMP - June 3-6, 2003, Boulder, Colorado
The CAMP workshop offers system architects and project managers involved in
enterprise middleware deployment an opportunity for learning and guidance on
management, policy, implementation and technology, with a special focus on
enterprise authentication.


Institutions are encouraged to send the two individuals who most closely
match the system architect and project manager roles. Learn more about CAMP
and register at:
http://www.educause.edu/conference/nmi/camp032/

- Advanced CAMP - July 8-11, 2003, Boulder, Colorado
Save the date for Advanced CAMP, a workshop offering a highly focused,
highly technical forum research in middleware technologies with an emphasis
on authorization approaches. For further details see:
http://www.educause.edu/conference/nmi/camp033/

- NMI Release 3
NMI Release 3 was issued on April 28th, 2003.  NMI-R3 includes four new EDIT
components -- Look, SAGE, Enterprise Directory Implementation Roadmap, and
PERMIS -- which support directory performance monitoring, group management,
and service deployment as well as inter-institutional authorization. Also
updated for NMI-R3 is Shibboleth, an architecture and suite of software used
for accessing customized or restricted content and services while protecting
privacy. The Components are available at:
http://www.nsf-middleware.org/NMIR3/components.asp

<> End-to-End Performance Initiative (E2Epi) Update
+ piPEs/ AMI and OWAMP
There were over 60 attendees for the joint piPEs/Web100 Rollout session at
the Spring Member Meeting (April 10).  Development on piPEs continues in the
aftermath of the Spring Member Meeting; recent progress includes continued
development of Iperf and trace route testing code, performance enhancements
to the performance result database, and refinement of the web interface for
viewing performance results.  We are also engaged in planning for
presentations at UCL E2E workshop, the TERENA conference, and GGF8.

+ piPEfitters
Iosef Legrand (CERN) and Shawn McKee (University of Michigan) gave
presentations on MonaLisa (MONitoring Agents using a Large Integrated
clientS Architecture) during the piPEfitters session at the recent Internet2
Spring Member Meeting; MonaLisa is an easy-to-use, host-end measurement
tool.  There is some interest in tying this effort in with piPEs.  For more
information, see
http://www.internet2.edu/presentations/spring03/20030408-pipefitters-Legrand
.htm and
http://www.internet2.edu/presentations/spring03/20030408-pipefitters-McKee.h
tm.

+ E2E Measurement Sponsored Interest Group (SIG)
During the E2E Measurement SIG session at the Internet2 Spring Member
Meeting, Kevin Walsh (SDSC/UCSD) presented information on a problem an NPACI
researcher was having with poor network performance from one of his two labs
at UCSD and Mladen Vouk of (NC State) described the development of an open
source toolset that assesses and predicts end-to-end performance of video
sessions using distributed agents.  A summary of this session (with links to
the presentations) is available at:
http://e2epi.internet2.edu/SMM03/SMM_Measurement_summary.html

+ Campus Network Infrastructure (CNI) Guide
A draft outline was posted for review/comment on the E2Epi web site; many
additional comments were collected at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting.
A summary of topics discussed (with a list of attendees) is available at:
http://e2epi.internet2.edu/SMM03/SMM_CNI_summary.html

+ National Library of Medicine (NLM)
E2Epi is conducting a pilot study on user expectations, the results of which
will help NLM to determine if a more extensive study is needed or will be of
use to them in policy decisions.  Eighteen people attended the E2Epi/NLM
Pilot Study Update session at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting.  On April
16, the Phase II report was submitted to NLM.  The project is seeking
potential interviewees (health sciences/health care community using
networks); if you know of anyone who might be interested in participating,
please send contact information to George Brett 
<>.

+ Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Working Group
At the Spring Member Meeting, the group discussed the new Campus Bandwidth
Management WG, updates from the security subgroup, additions to the
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Working Group website, deployment of Lionshare (a
federated P2P application) at Penn State, use of Onobee at the University of
Oregon (a multi-collaborative tool), and international concerns.
Thirty-five members of the WG attended; session notes have been posted at:
http://e2epi.internet2.edu/SMM03/SMM_P2P_summary.html

<> Internet2 K20 Initiative Update
+ Wisconsin's WiscNet Named SEGP of the Month
WiscNet, a cooperative Educational Service Provider in Wisconsin connects
over 500 educational members to Internet2.  WiscNet's membership includes
75% of Wisconsin's K-12 schools, including Milwaukee Public Schools.  For
more information on WiscNet, please see the Internet2 K20 website:
http://k20.internet2.edu/segp/index.html or http://www.wiscnet.net

<> Member-to-Member Announcements
Ixia, an Internet2 sponsor, is providing state-of-the art network analysis
equipment to Internet2 as part of the company’s commitment to furthering
advancements in Internet research and development.  The new equipment will
be used in the build-out and testing of networks for Internet2 member
meetings and other Internet2-sponsored events as well as for advanced
traffic analysis and testing.  This new program builds upon the Ixia
University Partners Program, which was established in June 2002 to provide
traffic generation and analysis equipment to Internet2 universities. For
more information, contact email: 
<>
 or visit
http://www.ixiacom.com/.

jaalaM Technologies announces the appareNet" Network for Academics (aNA), a
cooperative network test environment available to North American academic
institutions. The aNA program provides academic institutions and research
organizations with access to appareNet network measurement and problem
determination software, for use within and between eligible institutions in
support of network operations and network-specific research projects. For
more information on the aNA program visit: http://www.jaalam.com/ana

<> Future Internet2 Events
+ Summer Joint Techs Workshop
The University of Kansas will host a meeting of Joint Techs August 3-7 in
Lawrence, Kansas. The agenda will include a combination of advanced
technology, infrastructure updates, and case study sessions. The special
focus areas for this meeting will be Optical Networking, Security, and
Network Tuning and Performance Monitoring. Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) meetings
will again be encouraged.
http://www.ncne.org/training/techs/2003/0803/jt-lawrence.html

+ Fall 2003 Internet2 Member Meeting
Indianapolis, Indiana will be the site of the Fall 2003 Internet2 Member
Meeting. The meeting is scheduled for October 13-16. As details of the
meeting become available, they will be announced on the Internet2 website.
http://www.internet2.edu

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

<> Showcase and Spotlight Opportunities - Projects and People
A Showcase on the Internet2 Web site is a great way to highlight the
milestones, events, collaborations and efforts that are a result of your
work in the advanced networking community. You are also encouraged to submit
a profile of anyone in the Internet2 community whose efforts merit notice.
Include a brief description (less than 100 words), all appropriate links and
images, and contact information. If you have suggestions about projects,
people 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://events.internet2.edu/

If you are holding an event of any kind related to Internet2, we will be
glad to assist members with resources such as printed publications,
equipment or speakers. Please contact Marianne Smith for more information
<>.

+ HPDC-12: The Twelfth IEEE International Symposium
22-24 June, 2003
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers
The Twelfth IEEE International Symposium on High-Performance Distributed
Computing will be a forum for presenting the latest research findings on the
design and use of highly networked systems for computing, collaboration,
data, analysis, and other innovative tasks.  Submissions are encouraged on
all aspects of Grid and high performance distributed computing.  Case
studies describing novel applications are also of interest.  A more complete
list of topics can be found at:
http://www-csag.ucsd.edu/HPDC-12/.

+ The 8th Global Grid Forum (GGF8)
24-27 June, Seattle, WA
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers
With the theme “Building Grids: Obstacles and Opportunities”, this GGF will
update global Grid practitioners, enthusiasts and researchers on the current
state of Grid technology.  The GGF8 program will include esteemed Keynote
Speakers, Technology Updates, Application Updates, Industry Updates and
Special “Grid Debate” Panels.  The plenary session, BoF’s, workshops, WG/RG
Sessions and tutorials will round out the four day program.  More
information about GGF8 can be found here:
http://www.globalgridforum.org/Meetings/ggf8/default.htm.

CENIC 2003 Conference
7-9 May
San Diego, CA
http://www.cenic.org/CENIC2003/index.htm

TERENA Networking Conference 2003
19-22 May
Zagreb, Croatia
http://www.terena.nl/conferences/tnc2003/

NANOG 28
1-3 June
Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.nanog.org

Workshop on Advanced Collaborative Environments (WACE 2003)
22-24 June
Seattle, WA
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/fl/events/wace2003/index.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 
<>

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