CENIC News

Facilitating connections is what advanced networks are all about, and CENIC's annual conference seeks to further that mission by bringing California's K-20 research and education community together with colleagues across all boundaries. This past month, Palo Alto was the place where educators, researchers, and network specialists came together to showcase their achievements, share information, and create new opportunities for innovation during Beyond the Network, the 2012 CENIC annual conference. And thanks to Gold Sponsor NCast, Beyond the Network can continue to benefit interested parties in California and beyond, as the archived webcast of the conference proceedings is available online at the conference program in both high- and low-resolution formats suitable for any connection speed.

Among the highlights of the conference this year were the two excellent Keynote Addresses by Google and UC San Diego's Amin Vahdat and Gig.U's Blair Levin. Vahdat examined the current state of today's mega-datacenters, where they will be heading in the future, and how this will invariably alter the shape of the networks that link them with one another and their users lest the datacenters of tomorrow become massive islands of computational power that are nearly impossible to manage or harness well. Blair Levin, former Executive Director of the FCC's National Broadband Planning effort and currently serving the same role for Gig.U, treated the role of higher education in the US in the development of a strategic bandwidth advantage, defined by him as ensuring that each citizen has the capacity they need to collaborate with others in ways that will benefit the country. Levin provided historical context using other disruptive technologies of the past, and examined the strategies used in other countries and why higher education plays a vital role in a country like the US, where so much of infrastructure deployment is governed by market economics.

Trips to Associate sites continue to be conference highlights as they have been in past years, and 2012 was no different. Wednesday morning saw attendees gather on the campus of Stanford University for a half-day of programming on topics ranging from astronomy and cosmology to particle physics, an interactive HD lecture viewing system, and the means by which data-mining techniques are being used to map the Internet-less network of intellectuals that spurred the European Enlightenment centuries ago.

And again, both Keynote Addresses as well as the programming at Stanford University are available online at the conference program.

Yet another highlight of the conference this year was, as always, the presentations given by the winners of the 2012 Innovations in Networking Awards, which further showcased the ways in which advanced networking can empower collaboration across boundaries of all kinds, as well as the vital role played by legislators like California's Alex Padilla in overcoming the boundaries that define the digital divide. Further information on this year's award winners can also be found at the conference website.

An event like this of course never comes together without a tremendous amount of effort on the part of Associates and CENIC staff, as well as the sponsors whose support of California research and education is so valuable to the CENIC community. This year's sponsors include:

• Titanium Sponsor: Cisco Systems
• Platinum Sponsors: AT&T, Brocade, Broadsoft, Comcast Business, and Level3 Communications
• Gold Sponsors: Amazon Web Services, HP, NCast, Polycom, Time Warner Cable Business Class, and WTC Consulting

I'd also like to extend thanks to Stanford University's Bill Clebsch for his efforts in planning the Wednesday programming at Stanford. I'm sure the community is already looking forward to the 2013 conference and the innovations in education and research that will be on display.

March may have been the month of the CENIC annual conference, but that doesn't mean that backbone and connectivity upgrades have not continued apace during conference preparations.

For the California State University, CSU San Bernardino received a new Gigabit connection to replace their previous OC-3 circuit. The campus now enjoys dual, diverse Gigabit connectivity to CalREN with backbone node site diversity.

California's K-12 System received multiple Gigabit upgrades, with a new circuit for the Kern High School District, the newest K-12 district to have a direct connection to CalREN. CENIC also completed a K1-2 ring re-design in the Bay Area which provided the Alameda County Office of Education with dual Gigabit links to the CalREN backbone node site at Oakland. A new Gigabit link was also put into production between the San Mateo and Santa Clara County Offices of Education. Lastly, CENIC engineers are also working on a terminal sever refresh project for all K-12 node sites.

For the University of California, a new 10 Gigabit connection to the CalREN backbone node site at Oakland has been installed and tested for UC Santa Cruz.

Finally, CENIC engineers completed increased the backbone capacity from 10 Gigabit to 20 Gigabit between the Tustin and Los Angeles backbone nodes.

CENIC and the Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (CUDI) also completed the upgrade of the previous 1 Gigabit connection between CUDI, Mexico's advanced research and education network, and the Pacific Wave international peering facility, to a 10 Gigabit connection that will further enable international collaborations. Twenty seven networks representing more than 40 countries throughout the Pacific Rim, the Americas, and the Middle East connect to one another via Pacific Wave.

From March 12-14, the Sheraton Palo Alto hosted a gathering of the research and education community from California and beyond for three days of presentations, breakout sessions, panel discussions, and a trip to the beautiful campus of CENIC Charter Associate Stanford University. Advanced networks and the ways in which they can foster innovation was, as always, the focus of the conference.

Presentations touched on all uses of CalREN and advanced networks for research and education, on topics as wide-ranging as software-defined networking, disaster response, enhancing remote and virtual classroom experiences, pushing the boundaries on data transfer, the California Telehealth Network, and using advanced networks to enhance computer and physical security.

This year's Keynote Speakers were Google and UCSD's Amin Vahdat and Gig.U's Blair Levin, formerly of the FCC's National Broadband Planning effort. Attendees also learned about the 2012 Innovations in Networking Award winning projects and learned about research and education innovations taking place at Stanford University in a half-day of programming held there.

As in recent years, the entire conference program was webcast live and has been archived at the conference website.

And if you attended the conference or watched the live streaming video remotely, we want to hear from you! Please take the time to fill out a brief survey about your experiences. The CENIC Conference Committee examines survey feedback in detail every year, and we can guarantee you that your impressions will be used to make next year's conference even better.

As always, the conference could not take place without the support of our sponsors including Titanium Sponsor Cisco Systems, Platinum Sponsors AT&T, Brocade, Broadsoft, Comcast Business, and Level3 Communications, and Gold Sponsors Amazon Web Services, HP, NCast, Polycom, Time Warner Cable Business Class, and WTC Consulting.

Three projects enabling high-performance collaboration across borders of all kinds, as well as State Senator Alex Padilla's senate bill 1193 implementing the CA Advanced Services Fund to deploy broadband infrastructure in un- and underserved areas throughout the state, have been honored by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) as recipients of the 2012 Innovations in Networking Awards.

The awards are given annually by CENIC to highlight exemplary innovations that leverage ultra high-bandwidth networking, particularly where those innovations have the potential to revolutionize the ways in which instruction and research are conducted, or in the case of the Gigabit award, where they further the deployment of broadband in underserved areas. The 2012 awardees are:

Educational Applications: Naval Postgraduate School/Defense Language Institute Academic Network Partnership

CENIC Associate the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), together with the US Army's Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC), developed an academic network partnership to enable DLIFLC to access the NPS's CENIC capabilities and thus enhance their students' language training with real-time news feeds, social networking, and mobile access to course materials, while still remaining subject to the increasingly firm security policies of the Department of Defense (DoD).

Network-enabled distributed learning technology is a major tool for any research and education institution, particularly one that specializes in intensive, distributed language instruction. Yet, when the institutions in question are subject to the increasingly firm security policies of the Department of Defense (DoD), the openness required to allow students to make the most of educational resources and collaborate among themselves can be difficult to achieve.

This was the challenge faced by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and the US Army's Defense Language Institute's Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). Responsible for training over 20,000 professional and squad designated linguists in the military in addition to general purpose forces, DLIFLC opted to reach across service branch boundaries to the NPS – already a CENIC Associate – about leveraging the campus's CENIC capabilities to enhance their language instruction and help them meet the military's need for qualified linguists, currently at an all-time high.

Through the pilot phase of the planned DLIFLC migration to the NPS academic network, performed of course according to stringent DoD security standards, students were given mobile learning devices and access to Internet based systems that they previously did not have access to. Through these capabilities, which most of today's college students take for granted, the DLIFLC students were able to access class materials from home or a mobile device, use Skype to confer with peers and faculty members, and remain connected to the school and their coursework after graduation. Furthermore, students were able to empower themselves by combining these resources with real-time news feeds and social networking data. Thanks to this project, students reported recapturing between 15 and 30 minutes of their seven-hour class day, translating over a 64-week course to an additional 9 days of valuable training.

In the next phases of this pioneering program marrying network openness and security, the pilot network will become a full migration of the DLIFLC to the NPS academic network. Following this will be a development of completely new efficiencies that will fully leverage CENIC, up to and including virtual-world simulation as a substitute for the immersion experiences so crucial to acquiring true fluency.

Gigabit/Broadband Applications: Senator Alex Padilla – Senate Bill 1193

Senator Alex Padilla represents the 20th Senate District which includes most of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee and Vice Chair of the California Broadband Council, Padilla has authored several bills to promote universal broadband access in California to bridge the digital divide. The senator's legislative efforts include:

• Senate Bill 1193 (2008), which established the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to help fund broadband infrastructure in areas of California without high-speed Internet access;
• Senate Bill 1040 (2010), which expanded the CASF to add a revolving loan program for broadband infrastructure and grants for urban and rural consortia working to develop broadband projects;
• Senate Bill 1462 (2010), which established the California Broadband Council to increase state agency coordination of broadband deployment and adoption;
• Senate Bill 493 (2011), which provided public computer centers access to surplus state computers; and
• Senate Bill 3 (2011), which reauthorized California's universal service programs.

"I am honored to receive this award and be recognized by CENIC," Senator Padilla said. "California is a world leader in technology and it is critical to our economic competitiveness to ensure that every community enjoys broadband access and high speed Internet service. I will continue to work on policy initiatives that remove barriers to broadband access and move California toward a ubiquitous broadband network."

High-Performance Research Applications: Enhancing Mexican-American Research Collaborations

Given their proximity and the breadth of research taking place at UC San Diego and Mexico's Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) in Baja California, network-dependent collaboration between these institutions holds great promise. Highly bandwidth-reliant and data-intensive disciplines ranging from oceanography to disaster response, distributed learning and sharing of rich-media resources among students on both sides of the border, and the development of software tools that support network-based collaboration, are only a few of their specialties. Yet until recently, the lack of high-speed networking between UCSD and CICESE was a serious and demonstrable impediment to Mexico-U.S. collaboration in these and other fields.

To address this obstacle to joint research, the UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and CICESE are working with CENIC and its counterpart in Mexico, the Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (CUDI), to expand available bandwidth linking researchers between the two research hubs. CUDI is responsible for research and education networking in Mexico, and the partnership is supported there by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico's equivalent to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). CONACYT and partners are funding a 10 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) link between Tijuana and Ensenada (where CICESE is located), and it is also funding last-mile improvements serving not just CICESE but the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as well. Improved network bandwidth from UCSD to Tijuana is enabled by NSF funding for 10 Gb/s upgrades to CENIC networking equipment in the Tijuana Bestel POP. As a result, CENIC and CUDI will improve cross-border bandwidth to 10 Gb/s from the current 1 Gb/s, and implement a new 10 Gb/s connection between Tijuana and Ensenada. Ultimately, these improvements will enable new research collaborations between Calit2, UCSD and CICESE, and among other Mexican and U.S. institutions served by CENIC and CUDI.

Experimental/Developmental Applications: Trans-Pacific Digital Cinema Microscopy

Live digital cinema streaming and the sharing of high-resolution scientific imaging have emerged as "killer apps" for advanced networks, and during the Tokyo International Film Festival's CineGrid session in October of 2011, they were combined with microscopy at 4k/60P for the first time, as 4k microscopic images of living microorganisms at 60 frames per second were captured and streamed live from the University of Southern California (USC)'s School of Cinematic Arts across the Pacific Ocean to an audience in Tokyo. Network connectivity provided by USC, CENIC, AboveNet , CineGrid, CISCO Cwave, Pacific Wave and Japan's JGN-X formed the 10 Gigabit trans-Pacific path that enabled this event.

USC Cinematic Arts' Richard Weinberg, project leader, and international digital media research consortium CineGrid had previously demonstrated simultaneous 4k microscopic image capture and live HD streaming from USC to UCSD in San Diego and to the SIGGRAPH Asia conference in Yokohama, Japan in 2009. With the addition of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Network Innovation Laboratory members and JPEG2000 codec technology to the project, the demonstration in October 2011 brought a dramatic increase in the resolution of the live image transmission, increasing the resolution from HD to 4k/60fps, achieving a fourfold increase in number of pixels and a doubling of the frame rate. Members of the audience in Tokyo witnessed the benefit of seeing live aquatic microorganisms, invisible to the naked eye, at the highest resolution and frame rates yet achieved at that distance, with less than a second's delay from Los Angeles.

One of the most persistent benefits to the advanced networking community of the CENIC Annual Conference has been the live streaming Chat+Video made possible over the previous several years by Gold Sponsor NCast, and 2012 was no different.

The entire conference proceedings, including Keynote Addresses, Innovations in Networking Awardee presentations, and the Stanford University programming, is available online in two formats suitable for any connections speed: a high-resolution format (1280x720) for broadband connections, and a 640x360 format more appropriate for slower connections.

Each file is in mp4 format and can be downloaded to a remote computer before viewing. Please feel free to share links to the conference programming around to friends and colleagues. Slides are also available for download and were integrated into the webcast presentations.

Stanford University is known worldwide as a hotbed of advanced research and education, and attendees to the CENIC annual conference this year were able to see why firsthand with presentations spanning the teaching and learning as well as research in the sciences and humanities, all demonstrating the clear benefits of advanced networks as catalysts for 21st century innovation.

Data-intensive sciences were the focus of the first part of the day's programming, with Stanford researchers in astronomy and experimental particle physics illustrating the many ways in which discoveries in these disciplines have become utterly dependent on modern networks. Particle physics experiments of course generate notoriously vast amounts of data, all of which must be stored, reduced, simulated, and analyzed before it can begin producing fruit, straining at the seams of even terabyte- and petabyte-level storage in short order, as Stanford's Richard Mount illustrated in engaging fashion with a tour of the discipline's past history with advanced networks. Astronomy researchers Ralf Kaehler and Rick Bogart demonstrated a similar dependency in their own areas of research, together with stunning visual simulations of the universe's evolution and actual video of the activity of the Sun.

After the morning break, Sherif Halawa gave attendees a tour of the ClassX interactive lecture viewing system by which lectures at the University are captured in extremely high-definition and made accessible to students in an interactive fashion, allowing them to pan and zoom in on areas of individual interest to them at will, and view synchronized slides and other supplemental lecture information simultaneously.

Finally, Stanford's Sarah Murray introduced attendees to the concept of a data and communications network without a network -- the intellectual "network" of letters and other knowledge passed among participants in the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. Through some methods similar to those used to map network activity, the activity of individual thinkers in the Enlightenment can be plotted out in a way that shows the spreading of ideas and vitality throughout the continent and beyond in ways that have never before been appreciated.

Recognized for network-related contributions to California's research and education community for 2012 with the Outstanding Individual Contribution award is Catherine McKenzie. Catherine McKenzie began working at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) in 1998. As Director of the Technology Unit, she oversaw the Telecommunications and Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP), which distributes technology related funds to the California Community Colleges and oversees and funds several system-wide projects, such as 3C Media Solutions (video streaming and Web services), CCC Confer (e-conferencing), CENIC services (networking and videoconferencing), and the California Virtual Campus (CVC).

In addition to her work at the CCCCO, Catherine has been dedicated to supporting CENIC and CalREN in multiple ways. She chaired the CENIC Conference Program Committee in 2007, and contributed as a member of the Conference Program Committee for several additional years. For many years Catherine was a regular participant in discussions at DC-TAC and CalREN Video Services (CVS) Oversight Committee meetings, and she served on the CENIC Board of Directors from 2004 to 2011. At CENIC's request, Catherine represented California on Internet2's K20 Advisory Council for a number of years.

In working with CENIC, Catherine consistently sought opportunities to engage in joint efforts between CENIC and the CCCCO. Catherine was a key contact at the CCCCO in the transition of CENIC's video services to K20video.org, a collaborative effort that combined CalREN Video Services with K12video.org, lowering the cost video services for CENIC members.

In 2008, Catherine drew upon her knowledge of technology, her former elementary teaching experiences, and her knowledge of classroom teachers' needs, to create the K20 California Educational Technology Collaborative. Known for her zeal to do things, not just to have conversations, Catherine created an entity within CENIC that allowed educators, agency officials and representatives from the business and non-profit sectors to work together on joint projects that addressed new approaches to teaching and learning with technologies. The K20 CETC launched several initiatives in a wide range of areas including e-portfolios, the CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future project (a statewide effort to support 18 and 19 year olds pass the state's high school exit exam and earn a diploma), and more.

For her many contributions to CENIC's success, Catherine McKenzie was honored with CENIC's 2012 Individual Achievement Award.

To learn more about the other Star Performers that CENIC has featured, please visit our website at www.cenic.org.

US & World Networking News:

A research team from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) has found that graphene provides a superior active media for optical modulators.

Graphene-based optical modulators are believed to drastically improve ultrafast optical computing and communication.

The Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP), one of several regional data transfer centers around the country that efficiently moves large volumes of data between regional, national, and other networks, announced today their partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in supporting a major milestone for the ongoing growth and development of the NOAA N-Wave Research Network.

National LambdaRail (NLR) and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) announced that they have agreed that CENIC would become the provider of Network Operations Center (NOC) services to NLR.

Two recent surveys indicate that Chief Information Systems Officers in the California Community Colleges think that Cloud-Based Backup Services would be very useful at their colleges. A variety of infrastructure, regulatory and budget factors drive interest in these services.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced a new Public-Private Initiative to drive collaboration among government and private sector entities, including non-profit organizations, on broadband-related national priorities. This initiative will advance key broadband goals, including those outlined in the National Broadband Plan, such as broadband adoption, digital literacy, technology and education, cybersecurity, public safety, job creation, and broadband and healthcare.

Swinburne, Monash and Victoria Universities are amongst the first academic centres in Australia making use of a new video exchange service provided by Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet) and Cisco which promises speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second.

About CENIC and How to Change Your Subscription:

California's education and research communities leverage their networking resources under CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, in order to obtain cost-effective, high-bandwidth networking to support their missions and answer the needs of their faculty, staff, and students. CENIC designs, implements, and operates CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth, high-capacity Internet network specially designed to meet the unique requirements of these communities, and to which the vast majority of the state's K-20 educational institutions are connected. In order to facilitate collaboration in education and research, CENIC also provides connectivity to non-California institutions and industry research organizations with which CENIC's Associate researchers and educators are engaged.

CENIC is governed by its member institutions. Representatives from these institutions also donate expertise through their participation in various committees designed to ensure that CENIC is managed effectively and efficiently, and to support the continued evolution of the network as technology advances.

For more information, visit www.cenic.org.

Subscription Information: You can subscribe and unsubscribe to CENIC Today at http://lists.cenic.org/mailman/listinfo/cenic-today.