SCIENCE

Amsterdam, Netherlands – The first long-term, trans-Atlantic 10 gigabit per second wavelength circuit dedicated to research and education, provided by Tyco Telecommunications to the Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF), and provisioned from the US to Europe through the efforts of Internet2 and SURFnet, will be inaugurated at iGrid2002 with a demonstration of uncompressed HDTV over IP sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Gigapop and the Research Channel. The connection is provided as part of a long-term commitment by Tyco Telecommunications to the research networking community through an agreement with the non-profit organization IEEAF. Internet2, the consortium led by US universities focused on accelerating the development of the Internet, and SURFnet, the Dutch national research network and hosts of iGrid2002, have put the 10 gigabit per second circuit into operation between their networks in New York and Amsterdam. The trans-Atlantic connection was established in time to support iGrid2002, the biennial International Grid applications-driven testbed event being held this week in Amsterdam. iGrid2002 showcases how extreme networks, combined with application advancements and middleware innovations, can advance scientific research. One of many applications showcased, the 1.5 Gbps uncompressed HDTV stream from Seattle to Amsterdam used the new Tyco Telecommunications link. The 10 Gbps connection is made possible by a five-year commitment by Tyco Telecommunications to the IEEAF, a non profit organization whose mission is to realize the opportunities in the global telecommunications marketplace on behalf of the research and education community. "Our goal is to enable the 'Global Quilt,'" says IEEAF Board Chair Don Riley, VP and CIO, University of Maryland. Tyco Telecommunications has also provided a companion 622 Mbps packet over SONET (POS) circuit to the IEEAF. Geographic Network Affiliates International (GEO), which has played a pivotal role in the Tyco Telecommunications donation to the IEEAF, will be present at iGrid2002 promoting the Global Medical Research Exchange (GMRE) initiative, a worldwide application that exemplifies the collaborative capabilities of the Grid for high bandwidth utilization of IP for medical purposes. The Internet Educational Equal Access Foundation (IEEAF) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to obtain donations of telecommunications capacity and equipment and make them available for use by the global research and education community. Through partnerships and alliances between government, private sector entities, educational institutions and other non-profit organizations, IEEAF fosters global educational collaboration and equitable access to network resources: the "Global Quilt." IEEAF’s member institutions include the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC – represented by California State University at Hayward, California Politechnic University at San Luis Obispo, and University of Southern California), the Pacific Northwest Gigapop (represented by University of Washington), the Pacific Internet2 Coalition (represented by University of Hawaii), the University of Maryland, the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), Indiana University, and Geographic Network Affilites, Inc (GEO). For more information about IEEAF, visit www.ieeaf.org. Tyco Telecommunications (a Tyco Electronics Company), Morristown, New Jersey is one of the world’s largest providers of advanced broadband communications solutions. The company is deploying and selling secure city-to-city capacity and colocation and data center services on it’s global fiber optic network - TGN. Their portfolio of network services ranges from international city-to-city broadband capacity, to colocation and data center services. They also are the world’s only fully integrated supplier of transoceanic optical networks.