CENIC Today: Volume 10, Issue 7

Welcome to CENIC Today, the monthly newsletter of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California. In this issue:

CENIC News:

President's Message: Internet2 and NLR

The Research and Education (R&E) community is currently in the process of determining how national network backbone connectivity will be provided. Discussions are underway at the moment which will either result in the creation of a new organization combining National LambdaRail and Internet2, or continued service to the R&E community using the existing two-organization model.

Some of the CENIC Today readership will be more familiar than others with these two R&E networking organizations and the current efforts to consider merging them. But this discussion and outcome is important to all CENIC members and users within our member institutions.

Internet2 is the older of the two national networking organizations serving the R&E community. Internet2 has served our community well by providing a private R&E network addressing the unique needs of its education and research members. Internet2's network has enabled new forms of collaboration in research and teaching -- certainly which were not possible at the time Internet2 was formed.

Similarly, NLR has served to enable new types of researcher collaboration and participation in international networking, focused mostly on Layer 1 and Layer 2 services but also on specialized uses of Layer 3 networks -- for example, its support of the TransitRail commodity peering services.

What is clear is that the R&E community is best served by providing its own networking support through an organization or organizations that understand the unique and often forward-looking networking needs of their members. This model, which we currently enjoy, gives networking organizations such as CENIC and its members the most voice in services offered and the means of charging for those services. Whatever the outcome of the talks to merge, the R&E community needs to provide for its own specialized networking.

CENIC and its member organizations will be best served and receive the highest degree of national networking support by participating to the greatest extent possible in the governance of whatever organization or organizations are created to meet our national networking needs. As the organizational approach for providing national networking services is clarified in the next several months, I encourage you to look for opportunities to participate in the future of national R&E networking.

-- Jim Dolgonas, CENIC

CalREN Update: Network Projects and Activities

August enabled CENIC to welcome yet another institution to CalREN. During the past month, a CalREN-DC connection was put into production in September to serve the West LA Graduate Campus of Pepperdine University. Pepperdine is an independent, medium-sized university enrolling approximately 8,300 students in five colleges and schools. Seaver College, the School of Law, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and the School of Public Policy are located on the University.s 830-acre campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. Courses are taught in Malibu, at six graduate campuses in Southern California, and at international campuses in Germany, England, Italy, and Argentina. The West LA Graduate Campus, which now enjoys connectivity to CalREN, is one of the six graduate campuses and functions as the headquarters for the Graziado School of Business and Management. We look forward to Pepperdine's coming achievements with their new connectivity to CalREN, and stay tuned to next month's CENIC Today for a more in-depth announcement!

If you've ever wanted to attend a forum where the highest quality scientists and engineers will be presenting their latest research findings related to all elements of supercomputing, Supercomputing 07 (SC07) is the place to be. SC07 is the International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis. This year's conference will be held in Reno, NV at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center (RSCC) from November 10-16, 2007.

Because this year's conference is in Reno, CENIC and the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) have taken the lead on providing WAN connectivity for SC07. However, the RSCC did not have the fiber facilities necessary to provide the kind of high-speed circuits needed for access to Research & Education networks, and consequently WAN connectivity has presented CENIC and the NSHE with some unique challenges. Specifically, a fiber build into the RSCC was required to provide SC07 participants with the connectivity to Internet2, National LambdaRail, Pacific Wave, and the many other R&E networks required to make the demos, challenges, and technical presentations as astonishing as befits the premiere international conference for high-performance computing. The wide-area network connectivity for the show is expected to be resolved in early September.

CENIC and the NSHE will continue to put forth the highest effort to make sure that SC07 lives up to the Supercomputing reputation. If you'd like to visit Reno, NV and see for yourself, registration is still open at significant savings until October 15, 2007. You can also find the entire conference program, exhibit information, and travel and tourism information about the Reno, NV area at the SC07 website at http://sc07.supercomputing.org/.

-- Ed Smith, CENIC

Classrooms Without Boundaries: The Collaboratory at UC Merced

Two of the most important keywords for any technology meant for large-scale use are cost-effective and modular; in fact the Industrial Revolution was predicated on these two concepts, which depend intimately on one another as well. If a device must be individually crafted for each user, that device is rarely an economical choice or an easily maintained one. Not until the automobile began to roll off an assembly-line with interchangeable parts did it become obtainable by the vast majority of potential users -- and not until then did it realize its potential to change almost all aspects of modern life.

Computers are similar devices -- but so are the social structures that computers can empower. With modular technology, human communications itself can also become more modular, and this process has already begun to occur with relatively new workplace practices such as telecommuting which allow for a distributed workplace. When cost-effective, modular technologies allow for the creation of cost-effective and modular organizations, that is when the true potential of computers to create human society anew will be unlocked.

Pursuing such a revolution in the arena of education is the chief goal of the Collaboratory, an open-source modular education paradigm currently being created at the newest University of California campus, the Central Valley's UC Merced. And the Collaboratory is far more than an exploration of technology.

"UC Merced is unique among the UC campuses as an Hispanic-serving institution," says Dean of the School of Engineering and Collaboratory Director Jeff Wright, pictured below at left. "Things are very different here compared to the coasts, and for the student population we serve, retention is a key issue." The link provided by the Collaboratory between students at the local high school and community college and UC Merced is seen by Wright as a crucial element in providing the step up needed to retain bright Central Valley students from underrepresented groups who aspire to a UC education in science or engineering. By combining engineering and science classrooms across segment and geographic boundaries, students arrive at UC Merced with connections to one another, the faculty, and the existing student population already in place.

However, if the structure proposed by the Wright and his colleagues is to live up to its potential to revolutionize pedagogy on a large scale, it must also be cost-effective: inexpensive, easy to create and maintain, and power-thrifty. The key to making this possible is the open-source philosophy to which the Collaboratory is devoted. The entire structure features a complete reliance on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) as well as commodity hardware. Even its power costs per station are a mere 25% of a standard desktop station.

The outreach made possible by the Collaboratory doesn't stop at the Central Valley, however. Thanks to high-speed networking like that provided to California's K-20 research and education community by CENIC, growing the Collaboratory involves only the installation of new stations as opposed to replicating the entire structure itself in a distant place. If a school has high-speed Internet, the Collaboratory could conceivably send a desktop node with directions to plug-and-play. Nationally or even internationally distributed classrooms are possible, effectively rendering the classroom structure itself as modular as the technology. Students, teachers, assistants, and even assignments can be made geographically independent of one another and reassembled in any configuration as class is in progress, on the fly. This ability opens up whole new pedagogical landscapes, teaching paradigms that may not even be imagined just yet but that could be made possible by decoupling classroom structure from its physical limitations.

More information about the Collaboratory as well as the Dean of the School of Engineering Jeff Wright can be found at UC Merced's website.

-- Janis Cortese, CENIC

3C Media Solutions Unveils New Website

In the May edition of CENIC Today, readers were informed that CCCSAT, the educational distribution network for California's Community Colleges, was changing its name to 3C Media Solutions, and that a new website would soon be unveiled.

That new website has gone live at http://www.3cmediasolutions.org/ and offers all of the facilities of the previous CCCSAT website as well as exciting new features such as streaming archived media and live broadcasts of network content. Forms requesting full-service production, editing, and technical assistance are prominently linked, as well as programming schedules, support information, and even a form inviting viewer reviews.

3C Media Solutions is the educational media distribution network dedicated to assisting the California Community Colleges (CCC) with the most up-to-date media solutions available.

Their team delivers media content throughout the CCC system 24/7, through television and the Internet. 3C Media Solutions delivers high-quality, digital broadcasts through two channels, 3CTV and 3C Community Network. 3CTV features a number of CCC produced programs, including telecourses, series and specials and is available in classrooms throughout the CCC system, as well as on the Internet. 3C Community Network is a closed-circuit satellite channel providing proprietary and specialty programming for the CCCs and affiliated entities.

3C Media Solutions is grant-funded through the CCC Chancellor.s Office. It is based at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA.

-- Janis Cortese, CENIC

Spotlight on the CCC CETC Ambassador Program

Effective collaboration between organizations, empowered by advanced technology, requires education and outreach across organizational boundaries so that all of the key parties in each organization are informed as to the capabilities both of the technology itself and of their counterparts. Coordinating all of this can be a challenge, and it's one that the California Community Colleges' CA Educational Technology Collaborative (CETC) and its Ambassador Program has been meeting with innovation and enthusiasm.

The CETC offers an array of technology services, tools and resources, most of which are free to administrators, faculty and staff of California's Community Colleges. It brings together all of the CCC systemwide technology projects and their strategic partners into a single group, allowing the individual projects to remain autonomous, while giving the new group a single-project focus. CETC's vision intends to maximize the effectiveness and reach of technology in education. The vision includes a commitment to more effectively manage and share resources, reduce duplication of services, and increase funding opportunities. The CCC technology-related projects associated with the CETC are:

• 3C Media Solutions (Satellite Network)
• CCC Confer (e-Conferencing)
• @ONE (Faculty/Staff Training)
• CCC Clearinghouse (Electronic Repository)
• CVC ( The California Virtual Campus)
• CCC Technology Center (Web Services)

along with partner organizations the Foundation for California Community Colleges and CENIC. Via its Ambassador Program, the CETC reaches out several times each year to designated technology Ambassadors located at each campus to ensure that the campus is well-informed and ready to take advantage of what the projects have to offer.

Each year, the CETC Ambassador Program makes every effort to recruit a technology ambassador from each of the 109 California Community Colleges. The Ambassadors will be responsible for a number of duties . including conducting presentations and implementing surveys . designed to increase awareness of the many systemwide technology resources that the Collaborative offers. In return, each Ambassador receives an annual stipend. All CETC Technology Ambassadors for the 2006-2007 recruitment cycle have been chosen. Information about the 2007-2008 recruitment cycle will be posted to the CCC CETC website as it becomes available.

Please be sure to visit the CCC CETC website to learn about the various technology projects enhancing the learning experience for California's community college students, and to learn how your campus can take advantage of the cutting-edge educational technology offered by the projects and enabled by the high-performance networking made possible by CENIC.

-- Catherine McKenzie, CCC Chancellor's Office

The School Year Starts for CalREN Video Services

The dogs days of August for CENIC network Associates are time to ramp up for the start of the new school year, and the same is true for CENIC as well -- particularly for CalREN Video Services, which never fails to see a precipitous rise in the number of scheduled videoconferences as Labor Day approaches. CalREN Video Services has a number of projects in mind for the coming year to make CVS even more flexible and easy to manage for site Videoconference Administrators and Cassandra Patrizio, CENIC's Videoconference Coordinator, is pondering another CVS Roadshow, last mentioned in the May 9 issue of CENIC Today.

Currently, CENIC has added a Screen View option to its CVS Scheduling Desk software, permitting users to choose the layout of their videoconference themselves without needing to request a special view separately. Previously, the default view assigned to all videoconferences was single-view, voice-controlled, meaning that all participants saw only the site that was speaking at a given time.

Now, with the option to choose from one of eleven different screen layouts, Videoconference Administrators enjoy yet more individual control over the look and feel of their videoconferences, choosing from various layouts depending on the number of participants and how they may be arranged at their respective sites. Instructions on how to configure the layout of your videoconference can be found on the CVS website.

Further possibilities currently being investigated include high-definition videoconferencing, recording and archiving, and the sharing of people + content, where a conference participant can share their desktop or a saved presentation during a given videoconference.

Be sure to check out future issues of CENIC Today for updates regarding CalREN Video Services and to ensure that you don't miss future CVS events or announcements!

-- Cassandra Patrizio, CENIC

National Networking News:

SciVee, A Collaboration Between SDSC and NSF, To Bring Science To YouTube Generation

Science is coming to the YouTube generation with the advent of "SciVees" -- video and podcasts that supplement traditional peer-reviewed articles.

The new internet source, fittingly called SciVee, is launching September 1 as a collaboration between the National Science Foundation and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego. Phillip E. Bourne, Professor in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCSD; and Leo M. Chalupa, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurobiology at UC Davis, are directing the effort, funded through an NSF Small Grant for Exploratory Research.

According to Bourne, the goal of the initiative is to encourage the further use of open access scientific publishing, by adding multimedia content to standard print formats and online formats.

"We expect to disseminate science to the widest possible audience, thereby bringing the YouTube generation -- who are the next generation of leading scientists -- the best science using a medium they have adopted and use on a daily basis," he said.

Source: SDSC News Center

AARNet Lightpath OPuts Scientists on the Right Path to Real-Time Data Access

AARNet broke new ground at the APAN24 (Asia-Pacific Advanced Network) meeting in Xi'an, China on August 30 by setting up and successfully linking astronomers across the world via "lightpath". The demonstration involving collaborators of the EXPReS project (Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service) conducted the first successful e-VLBI observations to jointly use telescopes in China and Australia, China and Europe.

The demonstration covered an impressive 41,000kms in total with consistent data transfer rates of 250 Mbps. The data was transferred from Mopra to Sydney over AARNet lightpath, then on to AARNet's lightpath along Southern Cross Cable Network (SCCN) SXTransport South to Los Angeles, then by CENIC to Seattle, CaNet to Chicago and then via SurfNet to Amsterdam and then on to JiVE. The other route involved Shanghai via CSTNet and the across ORIENT to Copenhagen, GEANT to Netherlands and SURFNet then on to Jive.

Source: ARNnet

Clemson University Admitted to High-Speed Network Fraternity

Clemson University has established a direct fiber link between Clemson, Greenville, Atlanta, and Charlotte, giving researchers direct access to the National LambdaRail, Internet2, and other national and international research networks, according to a report in the HPCWire newsletter.

The network, known as C-Light, was funded through private money and donated fiber, according to the university. The opening of the C-Light network will enable Clemson researchers to collaborate nationally and qualifies them for major federal research grants.

"Clemson's capacity for data transmission has increased from the equivalent of a footpath in the forest to a 16-lane superhighway," said Clemson Chief Information Officer Jim Bottum, according to HPCWire.

Source: Campus Technology

WIDE and OSTN Unite to Exchange IPTV Content over the Internet

On August 20, the Widely Integrated Distributed Environment (WIDE) Project announced an IPTV partnership with the Open Student Television Network (OSTN). WIDE and OSTN will exchange educational, foreign language, news, and entertainment IPTV content over WIDE's backbone data network for research and education to its Japanese universities, including Keio University and the University of Tokyo, reaching more than 800 WIDE members.

The union will serve as an opportunity for the two organizations to collaborate on conducting IPTV research and development in the areas of Multicast, DVTS, HD, and IPv6. The partnership will reinforce WIDE's aim of global connectivity through technologies of the next generation Internet while offering its network users the opportunity to contribute to programming on OSTN.

"The WIDE-OSTN partnership will promote international digital contents dissemination in Japan and the USA," according to Dr. Hitoshi Asaeda of Keio University. "It is highly meaningful for IP multicast deployment in the international networks; in this partnership, IP multicast communication infrastructure will be improved and its operational experiences will be increased."

Source: OSTN.tv

Rocketing Into HIPerSpace: New Visualization System at UC San Diego

Engineers at UC San Diego have constructed the highest-resolution computer display in the world . with a screen resolution up to 220 million pixels.

The system located at the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) is also linked via optical fiber to Calit2's building at UC Irvine, which boasts the previous record holder. The combination -- known as the Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Space (HIPerSpace) -- can deliver real-time rendered graphics simultaneously across 420 million pixels to audiences in Irvine and San Diego.

"We don't intend to stop there," said Falko Kuester, Calit2 professor for visualization and virtual reality and associate professor of structural engineering in UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering. "HIPerSpace provides a unique environment for visual analytics and cyberinfrastructure research and we are now seeking funding to double the size of the system at UC San Diego alone to reach half a billion pixels with a one gigapixel distributed display in sight."

Source: UCSD News Center

Preparing Schools for the Next Emergency: Katrina HELP team urges educators to get disaster plans ready now

As America marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.s landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, school districts and education leaders were encouraged to begin a new school year with renewed efforts to develop and strengthen disaster preparedness.

Organized by the Hurricane Education Leadership Program (HELP) Team, coordinated by Terry Smithson and Melinda Dinin of Intel, ed-tech experts and emergency-preparedness school staff members attended a webinar Aug. 23 that highlighted the need for schools to have solid emergency plans in place. The web-based gathering also considered steps that educational institutions should take to prepare for potential disasters.

Source: eSchool News

Report: Tech support costs on the rise

As school technology infrastructures have become larger and more complex, the percentage of their technology budgets that schools spend on tech support has doubled in the last four years, according to a new report.

School leaders reported that items such as professional development and instructional applications are among the first tech-related expenses they cut when budgets are tight. But the report, from ed-tech consulting firm The Hayes Connection, says this is a short-sighted approach that harms both teachers and students. Instead, the report argues, schools would be better served finding ways to stabilize their rising tech-support costs--and it describes strategies that savvy school leaders have used to accomplish this.

"When asked about tradeoffs and choices, some technology directors cited the basics--cutting out travel to technology conferences, as well as reducing or delaying purchases of instructional software for students," the report says.

"Interestingly, few technology directors cited reducing tech-support costs as a way to cut budgets in a more significant way--this, despite the fact that tech support is the fastest-growing cost area for school technology budgets."

Source: eSchool News

Grids Can Be Green

Grids have been designed to provide collaborating researchers with resources from many different physically disparate organizations. This has the advantage of ensuring that high-cost resources -- in terms of initial purchase price and running costs -- are operated as near to maximum capacity as possible.

This means that, through correct management of related resources, grids have the potential to effectively lower an organization's overall carbon footprint.

However, we should also recognize the natural resources consumed to build these computing systems in the first place, many of which are toxic.

After what is a very short lifetime, these systems are dismantled and "recycled" for their parts, often in developing countries, causing local health and environmental problems.

Source: International Science Grid This Week

About CENIC:

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.

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