I suppose everyone in the University knows about the Internet.  But what is Internet2 ?

Internet2 is a collaborative effort of over 170 US Universities working in partnership with Industry and Government to develop advanced Internet technology and applications for high-end academic experimenting and research.  Colleges and universities are using Internet2 as the vehicle to explore areas of instruction, research, and public service, such as learningware (software designed for classroom and distance learning), digital libraries, tele-immersion, and virtual laboratories. The Internet2 project is funded under the National Science Foundation (NSF) and coordinated by the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID).

Internet2 is capable of three things: higher bandwidth; multicasting; and guaranteed delivery and performance.
Higher bandwidth will enable you to access more types of media-rich information, faster than you previously thought possible; multicasting will allow efficient delivery of the content simultaneously to many people; and, guaranteed delivery (also called Quality of Service or QoS) means that what used to be undeliverable or slow to deliver over the old Internet will be guaranteed to arrive at its destination on time and intact.  Internet2 transfer rates are in the order of gigabits per second. Internet2 has also been extended to countries and places outside USA through dedicated high-speed network links for this purpose.

The University of Hong Kong, together with other tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, have expressed interest in joining the Internet2.  In preparation for submission of the application to Internet2, the Computer Centre has written in last June to departments for a possible list of Internet2 projects in collaboration with other Internet2 member universities and a number of Internet2 projects have been received.  The JUCC (Joint University Computer Centre), under the directorship of Dr. N Ng, Director of Computer Centre of University of Hong Kong, is currently preparing a joint submission for connection to the Internet2 for the tertiary institutions in Kong Kong.

For further details on Internet2, interested readers may consult the following links:

Internet2 Overview:  http://www.internet2.edu/presentations/GIGPittsburgh/I2-UCAID-ovrvw/index.htm

Frequently Asked Questions about Internet2: http://www.internet2.edu/html/faqs.html

All about Internet2: http://www.builder.com/Servers/Internet2/
 

Kwan Wing Keung
Tel: 2857 8631
E-mail: kwk@cc.hku.hk