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This highly illuminating session was kicked off by Calit2's Larry Smarr, who observed that he had worked for 8 years to establish the 10G connection with CICESE that received the 2012 Innovations in Networking Award for High-Performance Research Applications. During this time, Smarr worked together with fellow presenter Carlos Casasús of CUDI as well as two Directors General for CICESE and two for CONACYT, the Mexican equivalent of the National Science Foundation.

A large part of the motivation for this connection was to work around the obstacle to the natural collaboration that would otherwise take place between both UCSD and CICESE created by the national border, where a researcher could spend between three and four hours during a simple day trip just crossing the border itself. Since that time is unlikely to grow shorter in the future, optical networks were the ideal way to enable scientific collaboration. Smarr also reminded the panel audience of the extraordinary Calit2-CICESE demo which took place the following day and featured a live linkup between both institutions' OptIPortals, by which large seismic datasets were shared absolutely seamlessly in real-time. Smarr then introduced Antonio Rallo from Televisa, stating that Televisa's work with 4k video made them excellent potential research partners.

Rallo, a former UCSD alumnus, introduced attendees to Televisa, the largest Spanish language content generator and distributor in the world, with activities in television broadcasting, publications, telecommunications, and radio, and currently interested in the cable industry. Viewers in the United States have very likely encountered Televisa through Univision or TuTV. Televisa delivers its content in Mexico via the Bestel network, and Rallo stated that he was quite proud that prices for connectivity have gone from $60/MB for home users to $4/MB. He then informed attendees then that Televisa had also acquired a portion of IUSACELL, a wireless carrier since, as Rallo put it, "humans are wireless."

Rallo then turned to the broadband situation in Mexico, stating that Mexico's GDP was on a par with those of India, Brazil, and Russia, and larger than China. Despite this, Mexico as a country is lagging in broadband penetration; as a country with a sizeable economy, this situation is a significant problem for Mexico. Televisa is currently able to offer up to 100MB, but this is already insufficient as the increasing amount of graphics-rich content generated not only by Televisa but by similar companies worldwide increase network demands. As an example of the kind of high-interest rich media generated by Televisa, Rallo showed breathtaking slow-motion 4k sports video taken at the 120,000-seat Estadio Azteca in Mexico City at 1000 frames per second.

Figure 1: The 120,000-seat, 4k video-enabled Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium)

Such applications are of great interest to Mexico's sports-watching population, and function as a major driver of home broadband. 14 such cameras are currently in operation at the stadium, and can be used in disaster relief efforts as well, an important possible use in the seismically active Mexico City. Rallo closed by informing attendees that Televisa was officially launching a 10G commercial POP into Mexico, and stating that, "We cannot allow Mexico to continue as a second-class citizen in the digital world."

CUDI's Carlos Casasús, a frequent presenter at the CENIC Annual Conferences, shifted the panels' focus to what he called "human links" as the second vital support network that must be put into place aside from the physical, optical links between CICESE and UCSD, and Mexico and the US. "We thought it was going to be easy!" he stated, "but now we have it, and we have to use it." Using it, Casasús continued, meant establishing pairs of researchers to participate in collaborative projects that require cooperation on both sides of the border. An effort to do this, which he anticipated would kick off in September in 2013, will use the existing collaborative base of UCSD and CICESE, which also have a strong tradition of collaboration. Research areas of immediate interest include oceanography, seismography, climate research, border issues, and the creation of science gateways, in all of which bandwidth is needed to get what Casasús referred to as "top of the line results." The concomitant collaborative pairs will function as the human links to support the optical links between both institutions and nations.

Casasús also stated that the new Mexican government was eager to bring about what in his opinion are necessary structural reforms, announcing a major new telecom initiative and a commitment to increase the public science budget. He concluded by stating that he was optimistic and hopeful that, as he put it, "Mexico will soon have some people on the right side of the digital divide."

CICESE Director General Federico Graef Ziehl then familiarized the audience with CICESE, discussing the connection and applications that use it. The connection (enabled by 40G-capable routers) allows CICESE to make use of SDSC's Cloud Storage Services as well as their OptIPortal, sister device to that in use at Calit2 and elsewhere in the world. Ziehl echoed the concerns of Casasús, mentioning the need to socialize the connection among researchers and understand the capabilities that it has brought.

In terms of applications, Ziehl mentioned those for which CICESE is already renowned, such as atmospheric modeling (of great value to Mexico for hurricane research) and seismography research done in tandem with the US Geological Survey. Both imply the transfer of vast volumes of data, on the order of hundreds of Gigs. Ziehl proclaimed a very exciting future ahead for these disciplines, CICESE, and its research colleagues in the US and around the world.

Questions ranged from the intended audience for the 4k video sports clips to whether CONACYT would begin a program to enable Mexican institutions to terminate high-bandwidth connections similar to the CC-NIE campus cyberinfrastructure program funded by the NSF. Ziehl stated that CONACYT was absolutely aware of the importance of such a program, and has signed an agreement to this effect with National Autonomous University of Mexico (home to astronomy and nanoscience institutes) and the Autonomous University of Baja California. He then stated that Calit2's Smarr would be traveling to Mexico to discuss the PRISM@UCSD infrastructure and the importance of ensuring that campuses are properly designed to terminate such connections.

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