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April 2005 Internet2 Newsletter

Headlines
People
Events
Archive
Member News
Technology

Internet2 Calendar

- Headlines -

InCommon™ Federation Launched
First nationwide trust network to link universities and resource providers.
http://www.incommonfederation.org

InCommon, LLC has announced the launch of the InCommon Federation. The InCommon Federation supports federated authentication and authorization for higher education institutions and their partners. Organizations can share information and resources in a highly secure environment that also protects the privacy of individual users.

Along with the InCommon certificate authority and the identity verification of participants, standards-based Shibboleth® software provides the underlying exchange infrastructure. By locally authenticating users' identities with their institution and passing along only their relevant pieces of information, resource providers can make an informed authorization decision based on the user's released characteristics.

Early participants of InCommon include: Elsevier Science Direct, Penn State, Internet2, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, OhioLink - The Ohio Library and Information Network, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, The Ohio State University, SUNY Buffalo, University of California - Irvine, UCLA, University of California - Office of the President, University of California - San Diego, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University, New York University, and Georgetown University.

As a limited liability company, InCommon is operated by Internet2 and managed by an independent Steering Committee representing the higher education and research community.

Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting
Internet2 member community to gather in Arlington, Virginia during spring meeting.
http://events.internet2.edu/2005/spring-mm/

The Spring Member Meeting is held in the Washington, D.C. area each year, providing participants with opportunities for interaction with the federal funding agencies that support advanced networking activities. Over 700 individuals attended the spring meeting in 2004 from the Internet2 member community, and over 350 members have already registered for the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting, which will take place 2-4 May in Arlington, VA. The Member Meeting will feature sessions on topics including collaboration initiatives, network planning and engineering, security on high-performance networks, advanced applications activities, deployment of middleware capabilities, and advancements in the K20 community. Some of the meeting highlights include:
  • A General Session presentation by the new Director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr.
  • 50 formal program presentations and panels in a variety of topic areas
  • Over 75 BoFs, SIGs and Working Group meetings
  • Several Workshop offerings
  • The annual Internet2 Business Meeting
The complete meeting program is available here: http://events.internet2.edu/2005/spring-mm/agenda.cfm

Spring Member Meeting Registration and Lodging
Register and reserve your room before rates increase.
http://events.internet2.edu/2005/spring-mm/registrationintro.cfm

If you have not already done so, please register now for the Spring Member Meeting at the web address above. You can avoid an additional $50 fee by registering prior to 18 April. Room rates also increase after 8 April so please book your lodging for the meeting as soon as possible.

Internet2 Corporate Members Sponsor Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting Events and Activities
Juniper Networks, Nortel Networks, Microsoft Research, Sun Microsystems, Ciena, Global Crossing, HP, and Wiltel Communications are making generous sponsorship contributions to the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting.
http://events.internet2.edu/2005/spring-mm/sponsors.html

Several Internet2 corporate members are making generous sponsorship contributions to the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting, making possible a variety of events and activities. Internet2 corporate partners Juniper Networks, Nortel Networks, Microsoft Research, and Sun Microsystems and corporate member Ciena are sponsoring the welcome reception. Global Crossing is sponsoring the international reception; HP is providing critical equipment; and Wiltel Communications is sponsoring the Tuesday morning refreshment break. Internet2 gratefully acknowledges the critical support provided by all of these corporate members.

Shibboleth® Federal E-Auth Pilot Enjoys Success
Pilot phase 1 and 2 have been successfully completed, phase 3 and 4 to start.
http://www.cio.gov/eauthentication/

Internet2 is pleased to report the successful completion of phases 1 and 2 of the Shibboleth® federal e-authentication initiative pilot. Highlights include acceptance of the next version of Shib as e-auth certified and development of consensus on how to proceed on implementing a trust mechanism between the federal government and higher education. The scope and funding for phases 3 and 4 of the Shib/e-auth pilot have now been approved. Deliverables included are a draft common SAML 2.0 specification for E-Authentication, a draft prototype of a federal auxiliary object class comparable to the eduPerson profile, draft recommendations for implementing policies and procedures for identity management of InCommon, and draft recommendations for implementing a U.S. Government Identity Federation that is compatible with Shibboleth technology and inCommon policies and procedures. These recommendations are targeted to enable users with government credentials to access inCommon service provider offerings, to enable production level federation-to-federation interoperability, and to enable users with inCommon sanctioned identity credentials to access Federal Government online software applications and services.

Microsoft Research ConferenceXP Awards Announced
Microsoft Research announces projects that will receive awards to support implementations of the ConferenceXP research platform for real-time collaboration.
http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/ConferenceXPRFP_awards.aspx

In February 2005, Internet2 corporate partner Microsoft Research issued a request for proposals in search of projects that would extend the Conference XP research platform to help further research and teaching in the areas of real-time collaboration, wireless-enabled classrooms, and distributed learning. The ConferenceXP research platform enables researchers and developers to create distributed real-time collaborative applications with native support for high-fidelity audio and video while also providing mobility by taking advantage of Tablet PCs and high-speed wireless networks. Microsoft Reseach received over 30 proposals in response to the ConferenceXP RFP and has chosen five winners to recieve the awards, which amount to $250,000. ConferenceXP RFP winners for 2005 are:
  • Enhancing Reliability by Supporting Path-Diversity Overlay Retransmission, Wenjun Zeng (University of Missouri - Columbia)
  • Visual Information Manager, Klara Nahrstedt (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
  • Supporting and enhancing cooperative learning with ConferenceXP-powered I-MINDS, Leen-Kiat Soh (University of Nebraska)
  • Windows Media Transcoding using CXP Archive Service Data, Fred Videon (University of Washington)
  • Advanced Classrooms Exploiting Tiled Displays and Student Computers, Patrick Mantey (University of California, Santa Cruz)

EBSCO Information Services Offers Full Shibboleth® Support
Internet2 corporate member EBSCO Information Services has incorporated Shibboleth® into its EBSCOhost® research service, which provides online access to 11,000 journals and 5.1 million articles.
http://www.ebsco.com

Shibboleth®, federated authentication technology developed by the Internet2 community, enables more scalable, privacy-preserving access to online resources. Internet2 corporate member EBSCO Information Services, one of the largest publishers of online information, has engaged in a key technology transfer role by incorporating Shibboleth into its commercially-available research service, which provides online access to more than 120 databases and thousands of electronic journals. EBSCO has worked with the Internet2 community to develop and test Shibboleth virtually since the beginning of the project. In collaboration with Internet2 member Ohio State University, EBSCO was the first resource provider site to implement Shibboleth. In 2004, EBSCO announced full Shibboleth support, as one of the authentication mechanisms enabling access to more than 11,000 journals and 5.1 million articles.

Focus on the Exploratorium: Microscope Imaging Station
The Exploratorium is developing a virtual microscope and activities for classroom use.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/imaging_station/

Located in San Francisco, the Exploratorium features hundreds of science, art, and human perception exhibits. The Exploratorium is a leader in the use of advanced networks to promote and extend the outreach of museums as educational centers. The Exploratorium's Microscope Imaging Station gives visitors to the museum a unique opportunity to control research-grade microscopes and view stunning images of biological processes. The web site provides a large and growing collection of interactive high-resolution images and DVD-quality videos. The Exploratorium is developing a virtual microscope and activities for classroom use.

- People -

Member Spotlight: Michael Gorrell
http://www.internet2.edu/pastspotlights.cfm

Michael Gorrell serves as senior vice president and chief information officer for EBSCO Publishing in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Michael has been involved in the operation of EBSCOhost since its inception in 1995. Today, he is responsible for all aspects of technology and product development for this online research platform. Michael has led EBSCO's involvement in Internet2's Shibboleth® project since 2002. He brings extensive experience in the area of authentication and authorization along with a deep understanding of libraries' information access requirements to his role in the Internet2 community. He is excited to be working with Internet2 members on Shibboleth.

- Events -

Register Now for Internet2 Commons Site Coordinator Training
http://commons.internet2.edu/train/

An Internet2 Commons Site Coordinator Training will be held 4-5 May at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, immediately following the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member meeting. This training provides well-rounded instruction in the art of H.323 videoconferencing and a survey of current desktop collaboration tools. Successful completion of site coordinator training certifies each participant as an Internet2 Commons Site Coordinator—enabling them to provide support for users of the Internet2 Commons Videoconferencing Service via H.323 within their organization. Separate registration is required for the workshop.

SIP.edu Workshop
http://events.internet2.edu/2005/spring-mm/sessionDetails.cfm?session=1990&event=229

This hands-on workshop will focus on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and how it can be used to build advanced campus communications services for instant messaging, video, presence, and voice. The workshop will be held 5-6 May at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, immediately following the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member meeting. Attendees will work in small teams, each of which will configure a working campus/enterprise system in a testbed environment. Topics will include: a SIP tutorial, SIP proxy and registrar configuration, IP-TDM gateways, adding SRV and NAPTR records to DNS, emergency communications (911), debugging and quality monitoring, and the provisioning of SIP hard and soft clients. At the conclusion of the workshop, each attendee will have the necessary background to deploy an experimental campus SIP system that provides SIP.edu-connectivity and a platform for enabling exploration of advanced networked communications among Internet2 members. Separate registration is required for the workshop.

Register Now for Shibboleth® Case Study Tutorial
http://www.nmi-edit.org/I2-SMM-2005_Shibboleth_tutorial.html

Register Now for the Shibboleth®: Case Studies and Applications Tutorial, taking place on 2 May during the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting in Arlington, VA. This tutorial will offer attendees an opportunity to see the range of applications that have been Shib-enabled, as well as discuss implementation challenges and strategies with the application project leads. The level of content is tailored to technology management and implementation staff interested in knowing how the Shibboleth technology can be used on their campuses, as well as what implementation details should be considered. The tutorial is sponsored by the NMI-EDIT Consortium of Internet2, EDUCAUSE, and SURA.

NSF International Research Network Connections (IRNC) Presentations
http://international.internet2.edu/resources/events/2005/SpringMMintl.html

A follow-on to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) 1997 High-Performance International Internet Services (HPIIS) program, the new International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program, from the Division of Shared Cyberinfrastructure (SCI) at NSF Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) has recently funded five projects towards international network links connecting the US with foreign science and engineering communities. The original solicitation and more information on the IRNC program can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=12767&org=SCI&from=home.

A recent presentation by the IRNC program officer, made at the Winter 2005 Joint Techs meeting, provided a quick overview of the projects—each expected to be funded with approximately $1 million (US) per year for five years.

The awarded projects include:

  • Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development (GLORIAD) (NSF Award #0441102)
  • TransPAC2 (NSF Award #0441096)
  • Translight/PacificWave (NSF Award #0441119)
  • TransLight/StarLight (NSF Award #0441094)
  • Western Hemisphere Research and Education Networks - WHREN (NSF Award #0441095)

During the International Task Force Meeting (scheduled for 2 May, to be held during the Spring 2005 Internet2 Member Meeting in Arlington, VA) a panel presentation will provide an overview of the NSF IRNC program, as well as individual presentations from each of the awarded projects. For more information, please visit the web address above or contact Ana Preston at <apreston@internet2.edu>.

Identity Management Presentation at Upcoming EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference
http://www.educause.edu/wrc05

Ann West from EDUCAUSE/Internet2 will be presenting "Tools, Tips, and Technologies for Implementing Identity Management" at the upcoming EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference in San Francisco, CA on 26-28 April.

Register Now for Upcoming Summer CAMPs
http://www.nmi-edit.org

The CAMP: Identity and Access Management Integration Workshop, to be held in Denver, CO on 27-29 June will feature both the broad view of identity and access management and specific examples of campus implementations. Attendees will get a chance to understand the current state of thinking from leaders in the higher-education space and leave with specific suggestions on how to solve problems back at the office. You can register for this camp at http://www.educause.edu/camp052.

Advanced CAMP: Leveraging Campus Infrastructures to Support Virtual Organizations—scheduled for 29 June-1 July 2005 in Denver, CO—provides a chance for faculty, researchers, and central IT staff to explore the requirements and needs for new end-user tools that leverage local infrastructures to manage and grant access to resources in a virtual organization. You can register for this camp at http://www.educause.edu/camp053.

Network Performance Workshops Get Underway!
http://e2epi.internet2.edu/network-perf-wk/index.html

As part of the concerted effort to make performance measurement points more widely available, Internet2's End-to-End Performance Initiative sponsored two hands on workshops in March. Participants left the workshop with BWCTL (bandwidth), OWAMP (latency), and NDT (last-mile connectivity and hardware issues) measurement points installed on their campuses. Discussion about how to implement regular testing to points on campus and how to economically and effectively deploy measurement points across a campus were discussed. A representative from the associated GigaPoP was invited; the goal is for the campuses to be able to perform regular and on-demand tests from their campus locations to the GigaPoP, while the GigaPoP is performing regular tests from their location to Abilene. In this way, campuses within a region can quickly determine the partial path that is causing problems.

Save the Date: Summer 2005 Joint Techs Workshop
http://jointtechs.es.net/

The Summer 2005 Joint Techs will take place 17-21 July in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It is hosted by BCNET and BCIT and sponsored by CANARIE, the ESnet Site Coordinating Committee (ESCC) and Internet2. More details will be available at the web address above by mid-April. The workshops focus areas and agenda are still being developed, but are expected to include network security and next generation network architecture issues.

Sun Microsystems High Performance Computing Consortium—Europe 2005
http://www.sun-registration.com/hpc

The Sun High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium is a Sun Global Education and Research worldwide customer forum, which meets to research and discuss high-end scientific and engineering computing issues and trends. The next meeting of the Sun HPC Consortium will be 20-21 June 2005 in Heidelberg, Germany, just prior to the International Supercomputing Conference. The meeting theme is "INNOVATION MATTERS." Program topics include bridging the gap between the science and the CIO; new trends in processor technologies; multi-institution collaboration via Grids; the economic impact of Grids; performance with Opteron and USIV systems; best practices for campus computing; what's new in computational biology; keeping your research secure; and Sun and the DARPA HPCS program. Sun has reserved a block of rooms at the Crowne Plaza at a special price. Please visit the URL above for additional details or send email to <hpcconsortium-info@sun.com>.

- Archive -

Winter Joint Techs Workshop Summary
http://eng.internet2.edu/joint-techs-feb-2005.html

The 15th Joint Techs Workshop, organized by ESCC and Internet2, took place 13-16 February 2005 at the University of Utah. Topics included international scientific collaboration, IPv6 deployment, moving beyond 10 Gigabit Ethernet, new technologies for wireless networking, and new security threats. A summary and links to presentations are at the URL above.

- Member News -

New Internet2 Member
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum joins Internet2.
http://members.internet2.edu/

Affiliate Member (with Collaboration Site Status): The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Movaz Networks Becomes Internet2 Corporate Sponsor
As a new Internet2 corporate sponsor, Movaz Networks, plans support for Internet2 members' optical networking projects.
http://www.movaz.com

Movaz Networks, an Internet2 corporate member since 2004, has recently become an Internet2 corporate sponsor. Movaz's pledge of $100,000 in equipment and services over the next three years will give Internet2 members valuable opportunities to take advantage of the changes brought about by optical networking capabilities. As part of the company's sponsorship, Movaz plans to provide support for the Dynamic Resource Allocation via GMPLS Optical Networks (DRAGON) Project. Movaz's donations will be important in expanding the knowledge and technologies relating to intelligent management of dynamic optical transport networks, which are necessary in order for the broader research and education community to realize maximum benefits from their current efforts to procure a national footprint of lambda and fiber resources.

Internet2 Forms Campus Expectations Task Force
New task force will reexamine expectations for the Internet2 community and facilitate the adoption of advanced applications and technologies in support of research and instruction.
http://www.internet2.edu/about/cetf.html

The first meeting of the newly formed Campus Expectations Task Force took place on 29 March 2005 in Chicago. The Task Force was formed in February 2005 to reexamine expectations for the community, in light of the community's accomplishments since Internet2's inception, to facilitate the adoption of advanced applications and technologies in support of research and instruction. The Task Force is operating under the auspices of the Applications Strategy Council and the Network Planning and Policy Advisory Council, joined by the Industry Strategy Council and the Network Research Liaison Council. Task Force chair is William Decker, Interim Vice President for Research at University of Iowa.

Application Strategy Council Survey on Lecture Objects
The Application Strategy Council invites you to participate in a survey on Lecture Objects.
http://www.internet2.edu/about/asc-lo-survey.html

The Applications Strategy Council invites you to participate in a survey on Lecture Objects now available on line. The Lecture Object survey is open through 22 April 2005. For purposes of this survey, the Lecture Object is defined as a digital object composed of lecture video, audio, support graphics, slides, with important metadata about the contents. In simple terms this includes audio/video of a speaker merged with synchronized presentation materials, typically PowerPoint that has additional metadata/information attached to support searching an archive of Lecture Objects. Some component of almost every Internet2 member institution is actively capturing Lecture Objects for storage, retrieval and playback today, but each in its own way. The Internet2 Lecture Object project seeks to first understand current practices by members of our community, and then evaluate the promulgation of standard frameworks for the capture, production, storage, retrieval and playback of Lecture Objects.

SoX Joins the Directory of piPEs Measurement Points!
The most recent addition to the International Directory of piPEs measurement points is the Southern Crossroads (SoX) GigaPoP.
http://e2epi.internet2.edu/pipes/pmp/pmp-dir.html

The most recent addition to the International Directory of piPEs measurement points is the Southern Crossroads (SoX) GigaPoP, located at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They have publicly-accessible measurement points for BWCTL (bandwidth), OWAMP (latency), and NDT (last-mile connectivity and hardware issues) tools. For links to SoX and other measurement points, go to the web address above.

Industry Strategy Council Provides Input on Internet2 Priorities
Internet2 advisory council provides recommendations and direction on key Internet2 priorities during recent meeting.
http://www.internet2.edu/about/isc.html

Comprised of industry leaders, the Internet2 Industry Strategy Council (ISC) provides the Internet2 Board of Trustees with strategic vision and helps focus technology transfer aspects of Internet2 initiatives. The ISC met on 2 February 2005 to discuss Internet2's priorities for 2005. The ISC provided input and guidance on the priority of areas including collaboration technologies, content delivery and management, applications, cyberinfrastructure, the strategic engagement of industry, middleware, network futures, open source initiatives, policy issues, Internet2's relationships with research communities, security, and the Internet2 services model. The public minutes of the meeting, reflecting the ISC's input and recommendations, are available at the URL above.

Your Input Requested for Internet2 Website Survey
Take a short survey about our website and be entered to win one of three Xboxes courtesy of Microsoft Research.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=10023918719

Your feedback is extremely important in helping Internet2 evaluate and redesign our website in order to better serve your information needs. The survey only takes about 3 to 5 minutes to complete. Your responses will be kept anonymous and will not be shared with anyone outside of Internet2. All responses will be reported in aggregate and will not identify you personally. Complete the survey for a chance to win one of three XBoxes, generously donated by Internet2 corporate partner Microsoft Research!

- Technology -

Middleware Diagnostics Update
http://middleware.internet2.edu/e2ed/

The Middleware Diagnostics Group is set to begin initial deployment of equipment for EDDY (Diagnostic Backplane Pilot Effort), backplane implementation with the CMU Dragnet project. This provides real-time security diagnostic events using network flow data (Argus events) to the Dragnet project.

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- Internet2 Calendar -

Internet2 Events

Spring 2010 Internet2 Member Meeting
  26 - 28 Apr    Arlington, VA

For a complete listing of Internet2 events see http://events.internet2.edu/
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