News

Internet2 at SC10

At SC10 in New Orleans this November, Internet2 showcased network services like ION and prototype services like Phoebus, while highlighting Internet2 Network upgrades and planned 100G capabilities needed to support the extreme scale future. Among several exciting demonstrations, Internet2 also teamed up with CANARIE, the Dutch Research Consortium, ESnet, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Louisiana Optical Networking Initiative (LONI), Northwestern University, Metropolitan Research and Education Network (MREN), US LHCNet (Caltech and CERN), SCinet, Level 3 Communications, Ciena, Cisco, Infinera and Juniper Networks, to deliver a groundbreaking 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) circuit between Chicago and New Orleans at the conference. 100Gbps of science data was transmitted between Chicago and New Orleans to showcase the possibilities enabled by this cutting-edge network technology in a demonstration that was one of the most comprehensive 100GigE interoperability tests to date. perfSONAR-PS network performance monitoring software provided real-time traffic flow visualization on the full 100GigE circuit.

Fall 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting Highlights

Thanks to all who attended the Fall 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting in Atlanta. Hosted by Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Southern Crossroads, this meeting focused on the progress the research and education community has made toward assembling the complex puzzle pieces that support and enable advanced networking across a wide range of disciplines. The meeting featured general session presentations by Dave Lambert, Internet2 president and CEO, who offered his vision for the future of Internet2, and by Lawrence Strickling, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Lev Gonick, CIO and vice president at Case Western Reserve University. If you missed the meeting, or one of these excellent sessions, the complete netcast archive is available online.

If you attended the meeting, please be sure to fill out the online session evaluations available from the Session Details webpage for each session. And please complete the overall meeting evaluation. The information and feedback provided via this simple survey is really helpful as we plan our future member meetings. Attendees who complete the meeting evaluation by November 24 will be entered in a raffle for two $200 Amazon.com gift cards!

If you presented at the meeting, please send an electronic version of your slides for posting to the event website to: presentations@internet2.edu if you have not already done so.

InCommon Reaches 5 Million Milestone

The InCommon Federation community now includes more than 5 million end users. The federation has 259 participating organizations--an increase of 30 percent since January 1-- including colleges and universities, research labs, agencies of the U.S. government, and private companies that offer web-based resources and services. InCommon provides a secure and privacy-protecting method for giving individuals access to protected or licensed online resources, such as library databases, multimedia content, research information, and services provided by government agencies. This works because all participating organizations agree on standard policies, practices and technology standards for all interactions. For more information on InCommon and a full list of participants, visit www.incommon.org.

Shared Skies Partnership

A collaboration between Internet2 member the University of Louisville, and the University of Southern Queensland is developing remotely and robotically operated astronomical facilities for research, teaching and informal education.

Telescopes in the southern and northern hemispheres, with a longitude difference that enables K-12 students to observe the night sky in daytime classes, are linked by Internet2 to campuses in Louisville, Kentucky, and Toowoomba, Queensland. The very dark sky at Mt. Kent Observatory in Australia offers the center of the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and transient events not visible from mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Moore Observatory, in a forested nature preserve near Louisville, Kentucky, offers complementary remote services, live images of bright planets and the Moon, and the occasional northern comet and supernova to students in Queensland. This partnership helps serve as a model for other research universities who may wish to explore extending access to remotely accessible scientific instruments with K-12 schools and other community anchor institutions.

Events

Winter 2011 Joint Techs

The Winter 2011 ESCC/Internet2 Joint Techs, hosted by Clemson University, takes place January 30-February 3. The event will focus on Advanced Infrastructures, Emerging Technologies, and Convergence on campuses; a few talks on performance, security, and IPv6 also will be included. Four Sunday Afternoon Tutorials are already planned: Scott Rose, NIST, presents a 90-minute tutorial on DNSSEC; David Farmer, University of Minnesota, offers a full-day version of his MPLS Workshop; Hans Addleman, IU/GlobalNOC, offers a 1/2-day hands-on tutorial on Colo/Telex installations, and Michael Lambert, PSC, presents a 90-minute session on IPv6. Two of Internet2's Hands-On Workshops (IPv6 and Network Performance) are scheduled for immediately following the general sessions; these, along with the ESCC meeting, require separate registration.

If you are planning to attend, please be aware of several factors that affect your travel plans:

• Flying to Greenville Spartanburg airport, a 45-minute drive from campus, is significantly quicker than going to Charlotte or Atlanta (2.5-hr drive from campus) and can be cost-effective if booked early.
• The lodging block closes on Monday, November 29, more than a month earlier than usual so do not wait to reserve a room!
• Clemson is planning a tour of the BMW factory/track along with related campus engineering buildings for Saturday, January 29 at 1 pm.
  

Meeting Recaps

Federated Identity for CyberInfrastructure
The Federated Identity for CyberInfrastructure workshop, held November 4-5 at the Fall 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, brought together campus identity providers and both users and providers of research cyberinfrastructure to discuss requirements, challenges, and approaches for using federated identity to access cyberinfrastructure (such as TeraGrid). The group discussed how federated identity is being used in different cyberinfrastructures, as well as plans and requirements for future use. The workshop was organized by Jim Basney, Randy Butler, Ken Klingenstein, Scott Koranda, and Von Welch and funded by NSF grant #0850557 titled "CILogon: Secure Access to National-Scale CyberInfrastructure."

InCommon’s Day CAMP
InCommon’s Day CAMP, held immediately following the Internet2 Fall Member Meeting, attracted 45 participants to learn about getting started with the InCommon Federation. Attendees learned about the joining process – both technical and policy considerations – heard case studies from Emory University and Indiana University, and learned about the services offered by three consulting companies (all InCommon Affiliates) that help with the federating process and installation of Shibboleth software. Day CAMP is sponsored by InCommon with support from Internet2. More information about CAMP, Advance CAMP and Day CAMP is available at www.incommon.org/camp.

Shibboleth Workshop
InCommon held the latest Shibboleth Workshop Series, November 9-10, at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. The workshop leads attendees through the actual installation process for Shibboleth, covering the identity provider software one day and the service provider software the other day. Twenty-eight people attended each day. The Shibboleth Workshop Series is sponsored by InCommon with support from Internet2. More information is available at www.incommon.org/educate/shibboleth.

REFEDS
REFEDS, an international collaboration of research and education federations, held a meeting the day prior to the Internet2 2010 Fall Member Meeting (InCommon is a participant and financial supporter of REFEDS). The organization has, as part of its work plan, to explore and promote interfederation, improve the federated user experience, and to simplify the process for integrating new service providers to federation, among others. REFEDS planning documents are available online.

Governance Updates

Internet2 Board of Trustees Election Results

The Internet2 Governance and Nominations Committee is pleased to announce the results of the recent Board of Trustees election. Jeff Lehman has been re-elected and will serve a one-year term. David Leebron, President, Rice University, has been elected to serve a three-year term. The Board of Trustees, at their October 27 meeting, re-elected Jeff Lehman as Board Chair and Britt Kirwan, Chancellor, University of Maryland System, was elected as Vice-Chair. View the complete list of Board members online.

AMSAC

The Applications, Middleware, and Services Advisory Council (AMSAC) held an interactive session at the recent Fall Internet2 Member Meeting in Atlanta, featuring a review of AMSAC's mission and an open discussion on AMSAC's role in supporting the community and championing issues. Dave Lambert joined a recent AMSAC call to share his vision of Internet2's future and to foster an exchange of ideas and viewpoints with the AMSAC members.

AOAC

The Architecture and Operations Advisory Council (AOAC) met on October 27, November 1, and November 10. During the October 27 meeting, the AOAC discussed the U.S. UCAN BTOP infrastructure project, and progress in finalizing project participation. Also during that meeting, the idea of using VIDYO for future meetings had positive feedback. The subcommittee reviewing the TR-CPS consolidation provided an interim report with their final report expected at the November 22 meeting.

The November 1 AOAC meeting occurred during the Internet2 FMM and included public and closed sessions. The public agenda reviewed AOAC accomplishments and projects since the Spring, a review of 2011 priorities and a discussion regarding the U.S. UCAN BTOP project. The November 1 closed meeting was spent reviewing the NTAC CAI Service Attribute document.

During the November 10 meeting, the AOAC received a report from a small community and staff team reviewing the US-UCAN optical RFP. The discussion also looked at fees for a third 10G port for 2x10G connectors.