SCIENCE

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Effective August 1, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology launches a new website to facilitate media access and highlight up-to-date news and information about cutting-edge research projects now underway at the institute and its affiliated partners. Cal-(IT)2 (pronounced cal-eye-tee-squared) is a collaboration between the University of California, San Diego and UC Irvine, and it is one of four institutes established through the California Institutes for Science and Innovation initiative out of the governor's office. Cal-(IT)2 was created in December 2000 with an initial commitment of $100 million over four years from the State of California. Since then, commitments from the campuses, industrial partners, private donors and potential federal research grants have pushed the expected total budget over four years to more than $400 million. "We designed and populated this site as a quick-read, image-laden account of Cal-(IT)2 accomplishments over our first six months, and there's an amazing amount to report," says Stephanie Sides, the institute's Director of Communications. "Our near-term plans for future Web development call for additional design enhancement and implementation of multimedia capabilities." The institute's mission's mission is straightforward but very ambitious: extend the reach of the current information infrastructure throughout the physical world to enable anytime/anywhere access--and ensure that California maintains its leadership in the telecommunications and information technology marketplace. In pursuit of that mission, Cal-(IT)2 has partnered with many of California's premier telecommunications and information technology companies (see website for complete listing of companies). The website at http://www.calit2.net, updated daily, offers highlights of wide-ranging, interdisciplinary research projects, including: Aggressive development of one of the country's first high-speed wireless network infrastructures, creating a "living laboratory" that spans UCSD, UCI and related sites Testing of Qualcomm's high data rate (HDR) wireless technology with the goal of extending signal reach from a few hundred feet to as far as five miles Creation of an optical network and large-data visualization capability to tie multiple metro area sites together in an distributed, "immersive" scientific investigation environment Development of new applications and test-beds taking advantage of the broadband infrastructure, including potential breakthroughs in intelligent roads and autos, bridge "health", monitoring seismicity and snowpack, and "smart" campus technology.